If you’re a fan of horror movies, you’ll likely have an affinity for Blumhouse. Known for shepherding plenty of bonafide hits in the modern film and TV horror space — such as Insidious, M3gan, and Paranormal Activity to name just a select few — the production company is now setting its blood-splattered crosshairs on video games.
During this year’s Summer Game Fest live event, Blumhouse revealed six upcoming video game projects that it’s working on. First up we have Vermila Studios’ Crisol: Theater of Idols, a first-person shooter where players have to go toe-to-toe with a bunch of evil ceramic dolls. Next up came Perfect Garbage’s Grave Seasons, which is essentially Stardew Valley, but with a serial killer on the loose.
Thirdly, Eyes Out’s Sleep Awake is a trippy first-person adventure set in the far future where you assume the role of a young girl called Katja who is busy battling against a mysterious enemy known as The Hush. Then we have Cozy Game Pals’ Fear the Spotlight, a ’90s style survival horror where you’re tasked with exploring a haunted school after a seance goes awry.
Meanwhile, the fifth title that Blumhouse revealed was PlayMeStudios’ The Simulation, which tasks you with conducting an investigation using the only piece of remaining evidence: a cursed video game. And finally, Half Mermaid’s Project C rounded out the presentation giving players a taster of what Sam Barlow (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) and Brandon Cronenberg (Infinity Pool) have been cooking up together.
What really struck me during the show was not only how eclectic this sixsome of eerie games were, but how effectively the developers played with the cinematography at the heart of their experiences. From Project C‘s bonkers third-person traversal to Sleep Awake‘s surreal insomnia-inducing terror to Fear the Spotlight‘s old-school fixed camera angles, a prevailing through-line was the clever use of the camera’s gaze.
Sure, while movies have this down pat, video games on the other hand often stick rigidly to a specific perspective, so it’s noticeably refreshing witnessing a group of devs really pushing the boundaries using the art of cinematography. Indeed, when you really think about it, that makes a whole lot of sense considering the cinematic nature of the production company bringing these horror titles to market.
Really, at its core, horror is built upon the unknown. And much like the CEO and founder of Blumhouse mentioned on-stage: what’s more “f’ed up” than a world where what you see is definitely not what you get.
