Destur: The Bathhouse Jinn

February, 1962. An old bathhouse in a small Anatolian town.

Tonight the women held a bridal bath for your sister Gülizar. There was henna, there were songs, there was the frame drum. Now it is past midnight and you are alone in the furnace room. The fire is almost out, Rahmi the bath keeper is gone, and from inside the locked bathhouse come the sounds of wooden clogs, a drum, a wedding song… and your sister's voice.

They say a bathhouse is never empty. When the last attendant leaves and the fire turns to ash, others come to bathe. Tonight they have chosen a bride.

DESTUR is a short first-person horror game rooted in the old Anatolian belief in bathhouse jinn.

ASK PERMISSION
At every threshold, say "Destur" before you step inside. Say it again before you draw water from the basin. Forget, and something in the steam will know exactly where you are.

DO NOT TURN AROUND
It does not move while you look at it. It will call you in the voices of the people you love: your mother, your sister, your master. Answer, and you are lost.

KEEP THE FIRE ALIVE
If the furnace dies, the marble goes cold, and a cold bathhouse cannot protect the bride. Haul wood from the courtyard through the dark and keep the fire burning until the dawn call to prayer.

PROTECT THE BRIDE
Find the four old protections and lay them around Gülizar: her red veil, a blade of steel, the henna bowl, and silver water. Three times during the night the wedding procession will come for her. Be ready.

SURVIVE UNTIL DAWN
From 23:30 to the 05:30 call to prayer, one night, around twenty-five minutes. Hold out, or find another way: an old woman's last note tells of a bride who sat through their wedding, never raised her eyes from the floor, and was rewarded by morning.

FEATURES
• A complete, self-contained horror story told in a single night
• Eight endings to discover, including a hidden one
• Built for phones: simple touch controls, an oil lamp you must keep filled
• Three difficulty levels; change them at any time
• Real recorded sounds of water, steam and marble; best played with headphones
• Fully translated into 12 languages: English, Turkish, Arabic, German, Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Portuguese

DESTUR is the second episode of an Anatolian folk horror series. The jinn in this game are figures from folk tales, not a religious depiction.

Say "Destur."