Putt Down by Icehelm is their second attempt at making a golf horror game after Gone Golfing. Only, this time, you have a shotgun! Waking up in some industrial complex, our nameless protagonist must mini golf their way to freedom, one course at a time. The consequences are deadly.

Golfing in the Dark

Putt Down begins with the player strapped to an electric chair, approached by a man with a golf ball for a head and an eerie grin. He welcomes you to the demo for the game and leads you to a room with a locked door. In it is a monitor, a covered mini golf course, a button, and a corpse slumped against the wall clutching a shotgun. Taking it off the dead man’s hands, you press the button, and a generated golf course and ball appear. 

Each course in Putt Down works like this: there is a locked door on the other side of the room, and it will open if you complete three courses. You have three chances, with three shots for each hole. Failure to make it results in death via the shotgun barrel on the display monitor. Succeed, and progress down the elevator to the next floor.

Double-Barreled Putting

Well, what’s the catch? Glad you asked reader surrogate that was made up just now! Well, instead of a golf club, you use a double-barreled shotgun in Putt Down. There are three ways to strike the ball. One barrel blast is the short stroke, while using both barrels is a powerful hit that sends the ball flying. Finally, you can putt the ball properly by using the butt of the shotgun.

Now, there is also a durability feature. You can check your barrel in Putt Down to check the durability and your sanity. The durability stat is for the chance of the barrel to jam. The sanity meter, as far as I can tell, is linked to the enemies that pop in; bloodstained maniacs who one-hit kill unless you shoot them. Mid-demo, Putt Down introduces a shop that allows you to restore these stats and pay to change your current procedurally generated course. These shops are clearly a reference to those in Bioshock, to the point where I was a wee disappointed that they didn’t spout dialogue and maniacal laughter.

Final Thoughts

Putt Down is a promising “weird golf” game with an industrial horror aesthetic. The demo is a short and sweet experience where my only source of complaint is that it’s perhaps too short! Nevertheless, for those looking to add another Buckshot Roulette-like horror roguelike to their wishlist, Putt Down gets a hole in one!

Putt Down demo is available for free on Steam as part of Steam Next Fest: June 2025. The full version is planned for release in August 2025.