That’s a headline I never thought I’d write. I usually don’t push for more adaptations when anyone who watches movies or plays video games knows that’s never been something we need more of. Scream is an exception to that rule and now that everything has lined up just right, it’s time we start talking about why it’s time for it and what we would like to see from a possible adaptation.
The reason why I’m bringing this up now is because of that excellent timing I mentioned earlier. Horror games are hot right now, and if you read Bloody Disgusting with any kind of regularity, you know that Scream is, too. Then there’s the growing number of slasher games we have on the way with Until Dawn, Last Year, Summer Camp and that mysterious Friday the 13th game, and in the next 6-12 months we’ll have a promising new subgenre of horror on our hands.
In other words, the road is being paved for a Scream game as you read this.
It will only take the success of a few of these games to prove this isn’t just a passing trend and that there’s a future — and more importantly, an audience — for slasher video games. Thankfully, as their numbers grow, so do our chances of seeing a few that get it right.
As for a Scream game, there’s a myriad forms it might take, and until we some of these games release so we know what works and what doesn’t, they’re all worth exploring. I can see it taking the Heavy Rain approach with a story comprised of several characters with interconnected stories. Until Dawn is going in a similar direction.
Asymmetrical multiplayer is the approach the makers of Summer Camp, Last Year and whoever it is that’s working on the Friday the 13th game took. It’s popular because that twist on multiplayer means one player can assume the role of the murderous villain while everyone else becomes their victims. I say we wait and see how an asymmetrical multiplayer agrees with them before we add another game to that list.
We went from having zero slasher games on the way to having several in such a small amount of time that I don’t think many people stopped to consider how confusing it might get. With the similarly titled Summer Camp and Splatter Camp, the former of which stars Kane Hodder, Jason Voorhees himself, even though there’s also a Friday the 13th game, and that game recently clashed with Last Year which featured a killer that looked like Jason… see what I mean?
Starting now, any developers that are itching to take a stab at making a game about a psychopath who hunts down horny teenagers needs to prioritize coming up with a way to make that game stand out. Even the small crowd we have now is taking on an amorphous shape already. It wouldn’t take much to make it nigh-impossible to distinguish one murder game from the next.
Scream can accomplish through two easy steps. The first is by not becoming the fourth multiplayer slasher game, because any more would be excessive, and the second involves its going episodic.
Granted, the upcoming television series should give us an idea of what an episodic Scream game might feel like, so it would be a good idea to wait and see how that goes, but even if it fails, I can’t see the fault resting with its new easier-to-digest format.
Episodic games got a significant amount of attention in 2012 with the impressive debut of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Several other studios have since joined in with their own series — including Capcom with Resident Evil Revelations 2 — but the force behind this episodic renaissance we’re seeing is still mostly being led by Telltale and their desire to become the HBO of the games industry. With series based on Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Minecraft and Fables, among others, they’re also the most invested in its future.
Telltale might be the best candidate to handle the development of an episodic Scream game. They’re very good at adapting TV shows into video games and they have some experience with the horror genre. The studio also comes with a stellar writing team, and that’s mandatory if the game is going to continue the Scream tradition of being self-aware and making full use of its medium.
It’s why I have some hope for the TV show, even if it is on MTV. There’s untapped potential there, just as there is in video games. The films have mined that vein for meta humor long enough that it took the fourth film all of ten minutes to run dry. It was a glorious opening ten minutes, sure, but then you’re left with the other 80 or so that can do little else but disappoint.
To recap: today we discussed how scary video games are hot, slasher games may be hot a year from now, and if Scream wants to reclaim its title as one of the “cool” and innovative brands in horror, it should look to the sometimes cool and always innovative medium that is video games.
If you’re still on the fence, just picture a Stab game you can play in a Scream game that’s being played by teens in the Scream TV show that’s playing on a television in a Scream movie.
