Check out the creepy trailers for a taste of some horror games coming soon(ish) to Steam.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle for a horror game, especially from smaller publishers, is creating a strong narrative and compelling characters that aren’t overly-dependent upon horror tropes. Granted, tropes are difficult to avoid, (who doesn’t love haunted houses and abandoned insane asylums?) but a lot of horror games mistake the tropes for the scares (and the fun).
Without a strong story and interesting characters, most horror games (and movies, for that matter) typically devolve into tired set pieces relying on equally tired cat scares and settings painted in blood and skulls that we’ve seen a million times before.
When horror games are done right, you get indie gems like Perception or Soma. When done wrong, you get tiresome, eye-rolling nonsense like Agony— or even Triple-A nonsensical mediocrity like The Evil Within.
Despite both of the following games relying on common horror settings (i.e. investigating an old house), here’s hoping they innovate and deliver the goods (and the scares): Read (and watch) on about The Conjuring House (from publisher/developer Rym Games), and Lunacy: Saint Rhodes (from publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer Lazarus Studio).
The Conjuring House—RYM Games
Despite the rather poor voice acting that opens this trailer, The Conjuring House still looks like it has plenty of potential. You play as the sole survivor of a group of investigators researching the death of a homeowner whose body mysteriously decomposed in a single day.
As you search through the house for the truth…well, you’ll see. Watch the trailer.
The Conjuring House is coming to Steam September 2018.
The Conjuring House Steam Page
Lunacy: Saint Rhodes
One of the interesting things about Lunacy: Saint Rhodes is that it features an artificially intelligent “Author” that watches you and adjusts how the game responds. This should (in theory) guarantee a different experience every time it’s played.
In Lunacy: Saint Rhodes, you are visiting your ancestral home to seek the truth behind your family’s ghastly murder. Investigate the history of your ancestral home in the town of Saint Rhodes, while fighting to survive what haunts it.
Lunacy: Saint Rhodes is coming to Steam in 2019.
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