Amnesia: The Bunker developer Frictional Games is seeking to in the reduction of on horror video games “to offer larger deal with different emotional qualities”.
Speaking to 80.lv, Frictional artistic director Thomas Grip echoed the feelings of fellow horror studio Bloober Team, which additionally just lately mentioned it was stepping away from the video games it was historically recognized for.
“While all of our video games have been horror ultimately, what we actually attempt to do is to get a type of playable immersion,” Grip mentioned. “We need to give the participant some kind of immersive fantasy, be that being a [World War 1] soldier trapped in a bunker or a robotic caught on the backside of the ocean.
“Horror video games naturally are the place feelings are entrance and centre. Games actually excel at this. However, we’re additionally exploring themes exterior of creating issues spooky.”
Grip defined that Frictional has made video games about non-horror themes, like caring for an unborn youngster in Rebirth or concepts of consciousness in SOMA, however simply packaged them in a horror setting. “It’s not concerning the worry, it’s concerning the holistic fantasy we ship in every of our tales,” he mentioned.
“For future initiatives, I feel we are going to in the reduction of a bit on the horror points so as to give larger deal with different emotional qualities. I’m assured that these video games will nonetheless really feel like Frictional ones. The immersion, the private journey, and a holistic imaginative and prescient are what I see as defining traits of a Frictional sport — not simply horror as such.”
Bloober Team, the developer behind the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake and different horror video games like The Medium, Blair Witch, and Observer, made the same announcement in June. Instead of stepping away from the style altogether, nonetheless, Bloober Team mentioned it was shifting on from psychological horror to one thing extra “mass-market”.
Frictional had discovered important success with the horror style, with its most up-to-date launch of Amnesia: The Bunker being praised by followers (holding a 92% “very optimistic” ranking on Steam) and critics.
In our 8/10 overview, IGN mentioned: “Amnesia: The Bunker is a smaller, extra self-contained episode within the groundbreaking horror franchise that reveals Frictional nonetheless has some chilling new tips up their sleeves.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.
