Markiplier is currently directing and starring in a film adaptation of Iron Lung, the short 2022 horror game that sees a convict exploring an alien moon's blood ocean in a cramped submarine. But, if that isn't enough, he's now also the star of a strange new mode of the original game.
On Monday, Iron Lung developer David Szymanski announced The Cheats Update via a Steam announcement. The update introduces a few useful cheats, but it also adds Markiplier Mode, which turns most of the submarine's textures into, well, Markiplier. When this mode is activated with the command "chmark," quite literally everything in the submarine (save for a few buttons and indicator lights) is overlaid with low-quality images of a few memes of the YouTuber.
Other cheats added in the update activate a "rave" mode that adds colorful lighting, a speaker, and the ability to see out of the submarine's front porthole. Along with the update, Szymanski also announced a price increase from $6 to $8 — though the game is currently on sale as part of Steam's Halloween sale, and future updates and DLC (including behind the scenes photos that Szymanski plans to release after the movie is released) will be free.
Markiplier helped popularize Iron Lung after playing it last year, but this wasn't the only event that propelled Iron Lung to relative indie stardom — earlier this year, the game saw a spike in sales (which Szymanski said "feels so wrong") after the disappearance of the Titan submersible due to the game's similar premise.
Markiplier also revealed that he had to turn down a role in the recently-released Five Nights at Freddy's movie to focus on Iron Lung. Iron Lung's movie doesn't yet have a release date, but it's headed to theaters, and the team behind the latter film revealed its first blood-drenched teaser earlier this month.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
