Editorials
Our Most Anticipated Crowdfunded Horror Games
It’s hardly a universal truth that absence makes the heart grow fonder, though the rule does seem to apply nicely to the increasingly competitive world of crowdfunded video games, and specifically for those of the horror persuasion.
Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have had a profound impact on the rise of indie developers in a time when the financial risks associated with modern games development have made breaking into this industry an inordinately difficult task without the aid of a publisher. Crowdfunding hasn’t, and very likely won’t, solve that problem alone, but it has and will continue to be a precious resource for developers to use to overcome one of the more frustrating issues that plague this industry.
As for the idiom I threw out earlier, it’s rung true for a growing number of developers that have sought the tools to excavate the beloved skeletons of horror gaming’s past. The community is eager to see more from the series that publishers might’ve deemed too risky, including Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Eternal Darkness, Pathologic, Friday the 13th and System Shock, among others. What these games have in common is they’ve all been backed by thousands of members of their respective communities who have spent millions of dollars to try and bring them back.
One fun fact about this week has to do with those last two games. Until very recently, Friday the 13th: The Game was the horror genre’s greatest crowdfunding success, having raised over $1.04M across two campaigns. That’s no longer the case, as Night Dive Studios’ hotly anticipated remake of the original System Shock has raised a little more than that with a week left in its enormously popular campaign.
Let’s celebrate that with a look at the horror games we have to look forward to over the next two years, thanks to crowdfunding.
Zombies | Science Fiction | Virtual Reality | Lovecraftian
What’s interesting about The Works of Mercy is how the indie thriller uses the player in such a genuinely unnerving way that you can’t help but be uncomfortable. It’s the video game equivalent of unsettling films like Funny Games and Would You Rather, only this time, the insidious puppeteer is sending his orders over the phone. With inspiration like Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, I suspect this game will find a way to get under our skin when it arrives later this year.
Crowdfunding Details: Pentacle raised $13,800 (approx.) on Kickstarter in March 2016.
Release Date: August 2016 (PC, followed by MAC/LNX, PS4, XBO)
In a few short months, we’ll finally have our long overdue reunion with one of the horror genre’s most iconic villains in the 7v1 asymmetrical multiplayer slasher game Friday the 13th: The Game. The story follows a tired Jason Voorhees as he picks up his machete one more time so he can rid Camp Crystal Lake of yet another infestation of ’80s teen stereotypes.
Crowdfunding Details: Gun Media raised $823,704 on Kickstarter in November 2015, $1,047,626 total.
Release Date: October 2016 (PC, PS4, XBO)
In addition to being the only dedicated mobile title on this list, Night Terrors may also be the most innovative. This supernaturally themed augmented reality game brings its horrors to life by populating your home with frightening scenarios and otherworldly creatures that appear real. It does this by processing the feed from your phone’s camera in real-time, which it uses to guide you through a uniquely harrowing experience.
Crowdfunding Details: Novum Analytics raised $46,732 on Indiegogo in June 2015, $49,747 total.
Release Date: October 2016 (iOS, Android)
At the heart of developer Antagonist’s upcoming third-person horror adventure game Through the Woods is a story about a mother and how far she’ll go to save her son. It’s sort of like The Park, if that game had been set inside a creepy forest on the western coast of Norway and inspired by Norse mythology. Its narrative comes with a clever twist, as your actions are dynamically reflected in the mother’s retelling of events that have already happened, as far as the game’s concerned.
Crowdfunding Details: Antagonist raised $43,833 on Kickstarter in June 2015.
Release Date: October 2016 (PC, PS4, XBO)
The slasher genre has finally returned to video games, its revival led by games like Until Dawn and Dead by Daylight, as well as the upcoming Friday the 13th: The Game and Last Year. With company like that, it’s refreshing to see a game like Camp Sunshine make an effort to stand out by slapping a delightful 16-bit art style on its familiar tale of secluded summer camps and the murderous maniacs that can’t seem to get enough of them.
Crowdfunding Details: Fossil Games raised $1,195 on Indiegogo in April 2016.
Release Date: October 31, 2016 (PC)
Remember what I said about the Friday the 13th game? Last Year is more of that, but with five ’80s teen stereotypes who must enlist the powers of teamwork and friendship if they’re going to have a chance at surviving a night with a stab-happy serial killer who’s very interested in seeing what their insides look like.
Crowdfunding Details: Elastic Games raised $88,600 (approx.) on Kickstarter in December 2014.
Release Date: November 2016 (PC)
Surreal is one word you could use to describe the gorgeous first-person shooter Inner Chains and its nightmarish biomechanical world that’s lousy with enemies, from the alien creatures that inhabit it to the deadly fauna that surrounds them. This game promises to be unlike anything else, and that goal extends to its arsenal, which features an assortment of creative weapons that use bones, lightning and hellfire for ammunition.
Crowdfunding Details: Telepaths Tree raised $18,708 on Kickstarter in April 2016.
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC/LNX)
The horror genre is no stranger to apocalyptic scenarios, and neither is Ashen Rift or the two characters it revolves around. When a man sees visions of his own demise, he and his trusty canine companion set out in search of answers and for a way to fight the Rift — a monster-spewing portal that’s spent a decade spreading demons and devastation — before it completely wipes out what’s left of the world.
Crowdfunding Details: Pyroclastic Games raised $13,500 (approx.) on Kickstarter in November 2015.
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC/MAC/LNX, PS4)
Perception is a story-driven horror game from some of the former developers of Dead Space and BioShock, but that’s not even the best part. That honor belongs to its lead character, a blind woman who’s able to “see” using echolocation, like Daredevil, but with less fancy karate. This gives the game an immediately recognizable art style that’s eerie all on its own, as pale apparitions are briefly illuminated by sounds in the environment.
Crowdfunding Details: The Deep End Games raised $168,041 on Kickstarter
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC, PS4, XBO)
I’ve had the opportunity to play two demo versions of Broken Window Studios’ surreal open-world horror game Grave, and both times felt comparable to experiencing a lucid dream. The world shifts and moves as if it were alive, obscuring or revealing things that weren’t there before, and when the sun goes down, the game transforms into a nightmare as light-sensitive creatures wander about in search of prey. It’s when the night comes that this mind-bending experience goes full survival horror, as you fight for survival using every source of illumination you can find (flashlights, flares, fire, and the environment).
Crowdfunding Details: Broken Window Studios raised $37,622 on Kickstarter in April 2014.
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC/MAC/LNX, PS4, XBO)
Senscape’s Asylum is a H.P. Lovecraft-inspired psychological horror game from Agustín Cordes, the creator of Scratches. It was successfully funded on Kickstarter more than three years ago, so it’s understandable that some fans would’ve come to the conclusion that it may never release. I might’ve thought the same thing, had it not recently been stirred from its slumber with some new footage and a “100% guarantee” from its developer back in January that Asylum will release this year. The sooner the better. I’m eager to get to work exploring the 100+ rooms — no joke — that comprise the Hanwell Mental Institute.
Crowdfunding Details: Senscape raised $119,426 on Kickstarter in February 2013.
Release Date: Fall 2016 (PC/MAC/LNX)
Of the handful of like-minded indie developers that have gathered to salvage something from the smoldering crater left by P.T., it’s in Visage that I can see the most potential. It’s also one of the more literal successors to Kojima’s game, with a blend of near-photogenic visuals and a creepy house that’s very clearly haunted by the vengeful apparitions of its former occupants, many of whom met brutal and premature ends inside its immaculate halls.
Crowdfunding Details: SadSquare Studio raised $92,800 (approx.) on Kickstarter in March 2016.
Release Date: Spring 2017 (PC, PS4, XBO)
Rides With Strangers is a game that exploits one of a great many (mostly) unnecessary fears that continue to inspire so many horror films by simulating the anxiety and desperation that follow the realization that you’ve just picked up the wrong hitchhiker. Like The Works of Mercy, it’s a genuine practice in psychological horror that actively aims to drag you, the player, out of your comfort zone and into the blinding headlights of an oncoming car, from which there’s no escape.
Crowdfunding Details: Reflect Studios raised $32,524 on Kickstarter in February 2016.
Release Date: Summer 2017 (PC/MAC, PS4, XBO)
It’s bizarre that we could go so long without a “serious” horror game about paranormal research and not realize how wrong that is. Fortunately, it’s no longer a problem as we await the arrival of Ghost Theory from Dex developer Dreadlocks. The concept is as simple as an episode of “Ghost Hunters: International”, as you’re tasked with exploring real-world locales that are believed to be haunted and investigate those claims using actual ghost-hunting gadgets and your character’s clairvoyant abilities.
Crowdfunding Details: Dreadlocks raised $76,400 (approx.) on Kickstarter in May 2016.
Release Date: Fall 2017 (PC/MAC/LNX, PS4, XBO)
Night Dive Studios is bringing SHODAN back with a comprehensive remake of the 22 year-old cyberpunk horror game System Shock. For those of you who never played the original, let me fill you in. The general goal is to wander about the space-dwelling Citadel Station looking for cybernetic abominations to bludgeon with a wrench, which the game makes more challenging with the introduction of a megalomaniacal jerk of an AI who wants nothing more than to squash your self-esteem.
Crowdfunding Details: Night Dive Studios raised $1,350,700 on Kickstarter in July 2016.
Release Date: Fall 2017 (PC/MAC/LNX, PS4, XBO)
Zombies | Science Fiction | Virtual Reality | Lovecraftian
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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