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Your Horror Game Release Schedule for April
Demon thumbs, broken controllers, katana-wielding badasses, and spooky ghosts are some of the things we have to look forward to in April’s selection of horror games. I really didn’t think this year could match the frighteningly awesome first half of 2015, but here we are, four months in and it still hasn’t slowed down. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up this month.
HTC Vive
The Oculus Rift ($599) has had a few weeks to get comfortable before the arrival of its only major competitor, and now the war is on for the virtual reality space. What separates the HTC Vive from the Rift can be summed up as price, specs and support. The Vive costs $799, has superior specs to match its more premium price, and it’s being backed hard by Valve. It also has one fantastic horror game you can grab right away in Albino Lullaby: Episode 1.
Release Date: April 5 (PC)
Dark Souls III
At this point, Dark Souls III doesn’t need an introduction. It’s going to ruin you, but you know this. It’ll break your confidence, leave you feeling incompetent and infuriated with yourself for not pressing the dodge button in time, but you know that too. You don’t care, because that’s the point. You’ll power through the frustration because you know there’s a light at the end of that tunnel, and when you get there, you know it’ll be one of the most rewarding gaming experiences that are out there.
Release Date: April 12 (PC, PS4, XBO)
Phantasmal: City of Darkness
Phantasmal: City of Darkness is a crowdfunded survival horror roguelike that released on Steam Early Access (review) last year. With its Lovecraftian themes and procedurally generated levels, this game has an incredibly high replay factor that should more than justify its budget price. It’s on sale for $11.99 until Thursday, then it’ll go back to $14.99.
Release Date: April 14 (PC)
The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode 3
Telltale’s spin-off miniseries starring fan favorite Michonne will come to an end this month with the finale episode ‘What We Deserve’ that should tidy up any loose ends left by the first two thirds of The Walking Dead: Michonne so we can all be ready for the premier of The Walking Dead: Season 3 this fall.
Release Date: April 26 (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO, iOS, Android)
Aliens vs. Pinball
This isn’t a “horror” game, but it is related to one of the best horror games of 2014, so here it is. Aliens vs. Pinball is an Alien: Isolation inspired pinball table for Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX2 that takes Amanda Ripley’s fight for survival against an alien and some rogue Working Joes and pinball-ifies it, because why not? And it’s coming on Alien Day, naturally.
Release Date: April 26 (PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, iOS, Android)
Crowdfunding Campaigns
We have two notable Kickstarter campaigns to keep an eye on this month, starting with the atmospheric exploration game Niten that borrows heavily from Dear Esther and Gone Home, then cranks up the isolation factor considerably with its remote Japanese island setting. The game needs to raise a little over $21k by May 5, and with just $4,000 raised as I write this, it still has a long road ahead of it.
We also have Ghost Theory, a game about investigating paranormal activity in real-world locales that have been recreated so they’re fully explorable in a virtual space. If it sounds familiar, it’s because this is its second attempt at crowdfunding, after the first failed to meet its lofty funding goal.
This time, Dreadlocks is seeking about $71k to get it made. It’s about a third of the way there with more than three weeks left before its campaign closes on May 13, the day Doom arrives. You can give it a little nudge over here.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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