There’s a found footage flick you might remember from a few years back called Grave Encounters. The film followed a gaggle of ghost hunters who get trapped in an asylum that goes from “maybe haunted” to “definitely haunted” the moment this starts happening.
It’s a freaky moment that makes me wonder how Alan Wake would’ve played out if the Darkness could punch Alan in the side of the head without going through the hassle of possessing a weak-willed citizen of Bright Falls. I suspect it would’ve been a much shorter game.
This idea sits at the core of Song of Horror, a promising new indie title coming from Spanish developer Protocol Games. Inspired by old school survival horror, this story-driven adventure game is an amalgam of ideas that have been borrowed from various games and genres.
Featuring a cast of up to 16 playable characters, roguelike mechanics — there’s no health bar and death is permanent — and cameras that “follow you, back away from you, turn to face you, play tricks on you, and seamlessly blend with each other when needed,” this game promises to challenge even the most battle-hardened of genre veterans.
With just over a month left in its second attempt at crowdfunding, Song of Horror has already matched the first campaign’s total when it ended unsuccessfully back in July. That’s promising, but there’s a ways left to go before it reaches the €50,000 they’re looking for.
It can’t be easy starting over after a failed attempt at crowdfunding, and I’m beginning to wonder if the horror genre has reached critical mass. There’s only so much money to go around, so potential backers are being forced to choose between two games they might’ve otherwise supported had their developers not launched competing Kickstarter campaigns.
Ashen Rift was a success, but Friday the 13th: The Game has slowed down considerably in its final, critical week. This over-saturation might’ve already contributed to the disappointing reception seen by Mist Valley and Gray Dawn, but I can’t be sure of that.
