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Frictional Games Has Two Games in Development
Developer Frictional Games is taking a break from the lengthy development cycles that brought us the acclaimed Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the slow-burn existential sci-fi horror game SOMA — the latter took more than five years to ship — to try something different.
“For the first time in company history we’re now developing two games at the same time,” explains Thomas Grip, Frictional’s creative director, in a post on the company’s website. “This will require non-trivial changes in how we manage the team, but in the end we’re very sure it’ll be worth it all.”
“By having two projects going at the same time, we can release games at much higher frequency. In turn, this let us be more experimental as we don’t have to rely as much on each new game being a big money generator. We’re still in the early phases of this transition, but it’s shaping up really well so far.”
The middling success of SOMA is another reason for the change. Despite its considerably more advanced modding integration compared to its predecessor, it’s never caught on with modders. Fans and critics have been somewhat divided on its merits, but the majority have praised its ambitious narrative while criticizing its repetitive design.
In the six months since its release, SOMA has just about broke even with 250k in sales. Grip compares it to the similarly-themed Firewatch, which has managed to sell half a million copies in its first month.
Its blend of sci-fi and horror has divided some, and Frictional has noticed. Grip continues, “if we make another sci-fi game, we’ll probably tone down the horror elements and make the sci-fi narrative more prominent. The reverse would be true if we made a new horror game.”
With that in mind, what would you like to see come next from Frictional?
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.
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