Editorials
30 Upcoming Indie Horror Games You Should Be Excited About!
What makes it exciting: If visceral horror isn’t your cup ‘o tea, Fran Bow may be more your style. It replaces jump scares and intense chases with a twisted, engrossing story and buckets of gore. The thing is, you only see the its darker side when you take your meds. There’s essentially two different ways to see the world, and the game uses this idea to craft clever puzzles that force you to see things as they truly are.
When you can expect it: Summer 2014
What makes it exciting: An unsuccessful crowd-funding campaign didn’t stop this developer from striving to make their game a reality. Good thing too, because Frozen State looks fantastic. It takes a top-down isometric RPG, throws it in a frozen, post-apocalyptic wasteland located in a fictional Russian city, and sprinkles on a plethora of mutated beasts and miscellaneous other horrors.
When you can expect it: TBA
What makes it exciting: While not fully a horror game, Homesick is more of an atmospheric adventure game with unsettling, nightmarish moments that take place when your character — who, like the poor souls in many of the games on this list, finds himself trapped in an unfamiliar environment — falls asleep.
When you can expect it: TBA 2014
What makes it exciting: I’ll admit that some of my excitement for Kholat stems from my morbid interest in its inspiration — the Dyatlov Pass incident. It’s a real world mystery where a group of nine hikers were found dead near the mountain Kholat Syakl in the Ural region of Russia in 1959. The mutilated bodies of some of the hikers baffled experts at the time and continues to baffle people today. The explanation officials came up with for their untimely death? “Death by compelling natural force.” The makers of Kholat have a creepy story to draw from — I’m sure they won’t disappoint.
When you can expect it: TBA
What makes it exciting: Alas Vegas may call itself a “weird horror” game, but it has nothing on The Lady. I can’t even explain what this game is, aside from a bizarre, 2D puzzle game with a freakish visuals. If you’d like to see it in action, you can do so here.
When you can expect it: TBA 2014
What makes it exciting: This is another game that only recently caught my attention. Lethe follows Robert Dawn, a journalist who tries to kickstart his career by investigating an article that details an incident at an isolated pharmaceutical facility that went largely unnoticed by the world. Unfortunately for him, he soon realizes that this island might be inhabited by all sorts of horrors.
When you can expect it: TBA
What makes it exciting: The indie horror game Monstrum takes the terrifying scenario of being alone and hunted to the open sea, where no one but Jaws and a gaggle of Jellyfish can hear you scream. Not too much is known about this game, but that’s okay, because the idea of a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse on a rocking ship has me plenty excited.
When you can expect it: TBA
What makes it exciting: Not content to run from something scary on the ocean’s surface? That’s okay, because Narcosis drags us below it, to the ocean floor. In it, a deep sea diver finds his/herself stranded on the bottom of the ocean, alone and with little oxygen. Also, because it’s a horror game, something is totally out to get you.
When you can expect it: TBA
What makes it exciting: If you’re looking to experience a game that’s a little more personal, Matt Gilgenbach’s Neverending Nightmares should be right up your alley. It’s inspired by Gilgenbach’s life-long struggle with several mental illnesses, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. The result is a game that’s both horrifying and oddly emotional, as it serves as a window into the tumultuous life of a game designer who’s only outlet was this video game.
When you can expect it: TBA 2014
What makes it exciting: Stress can be a horrible, debilitating thing. I’ve struggled with it, and I’m sure many of you have too. Nevermind is developer Erin Reynolds’ concept for a game that doubles as a tool for managing stress. It accomplishes this by using biofeedback to monitor your stress levels and adapt accordingly. The more stressed you become, the harder the game gets. Eventually, the only way to progress is by learning how to calm your frayed nerves during an intense situation. It’s a neat idea and proves video games can provide much more than entertainment — they can be teaching mechanisms, too.
When you can expect it: TBA
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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