Critical Reflex

Critical Reflex

Founded	2020;5 years ago (2020)
Founders	Rita Lebedeva
Headquarters	Limassol , Cyprus
Website	criticalreflex.com

Critical Reflex (stylized in all caps) is an independent video game publisher based in Nicosia, Cyprus. ^[1] The studio is known for publishing games such as Mouthwashing, No, I'm not a Human, Arctic Eggs and Buckshot Roulette. They are widely recognised for "creepy" and "surreal" aesthetic of their games. ^{[2] [1]}

History

Critical Reflex was founded in 2020, as a fully remote video game publisher that focuses on "experimental, atmospheric, genre-bending titles". ^[1] The CEO of the company describes it as a publisher that wants to promote a developer's vision long-term, that makes projects 'from fans, for fans'. ^[3]

On 20 October 2023, Critical Reflex, a sub-label company CR Channel focused on working with horror games, now including games such as Drowned Lake, Teleforum, Buckshot Roulette and Flawless Abbey. ^[4] CR Channel was described by company as "haunted television broadcast you tune into by accident at midnight".

On 5 April 2024, the company released a game called Buckshot Roulette on Steam, that originally started as an indie-game on itch.io by Estonian developer Mike Klubnika. ^[5] The game quickly attracted mass attention, collecting more than 6000 reviews in 4 days on Steam, with 96% of them being positive, and peaking over 75,000 viewers on Twitch upon its launch. ^[6]

On 26 September 2024, a video game Mouthwashing developed by Wrong Organ was published on Steam. The game has collected about 1,500 positive reviews in 9 days, achieving a user score of 9.0 on Metacritic, being one of the highest-rated games of 2024. ^[7] By 20 February 2024, the game has sold 500,000 copies on Steam, winning "Best Narrative" and "Players' Choice" categories in The Horror Game Awards 2024. ^{[8] [9]}

List of published video games

Year	Title	Platform(s)
2021	Aeon Drive	Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
2022	How Fish Is Made	Windows
2022	ORX	Windows,
2023	Teleforum	Microsoft Windows, macOS
2023	Lunacid	Windows
2024	Outcast Tales: The First Journey	Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS
2024	Buckshot Roulette	Windows, Linux
2024	Arctic Eggs	Windows, macOS, Linux
2024	Mouthwashing	Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
2024	THRESHOLD	Windows
2025	No, I'm not a Human	Windows, macOS

References

1. WEST, AUTOMATON (23 June 2025). "Meet the creepiest publisher in indie games. Critical Reflex are "midwives bringing monsters into the world," backing projects no one dares to touch". AUTOMATON WEST. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
2. Federico, Philip (22 July 2025). "CRITICAL REFLEX EXPANDS THEIR TERRIFYING AND SURREAL PUBLISHING LINEUP WITH TWO NEW GAMES". Capsule Computers. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
3. Marshall, Cass (3 December 2024). "Critical Reflex's focus on horror has led to some of the year's best, weirdest games". Polygon. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
4. "CR Channel". www.criticalreflex.com. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
5. Obedkov, Evgeny (5 April 2024). "Horror game of chance Buckshot Roulette becomes another indie success of 2024, with 6k concurrent players and counting". Game World Observer. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
6. "The horror game Buckshot Roulette is another indie phenomenon of 2024. Online with 9 thousand players and 96% rating on Steam". WN Hub. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
7. Morris, Daniel (6 October 2024). "New Steam Horror Game Has 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Reviews". Game Rant. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
8. Blake, Vikki (15 December 2024). "Finally, an awards show gives Silent Hill 2 Remake and other horror games the love they deserve". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
9. Gerblick, Jordan (20 February 2025). "After hitting 500,000 copies sold and nearly 24,000 reviews on Steam, viral $13 horror game Mouthwashing is coming to consoles this year". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 31 July 2025.