News https://bloody-disgusting.com/tag/the-park/ Horror movie news, reviews, interviews, videos, podcasts and more Tue, 28 Feb 2023 20:18:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.11 https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cropped-bd_circlelogo.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 News https://bloody-disgusting.com/tag/the-park/ 32 32 38024669 6 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Children of the Corn’! https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3752894/6-new-horror-movies-releasing-this-week-including-children-of-the-corn/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3752894/6-new-horror-movies-releasing-this-week-including-children-of-the-corn/#respond Tue, 28 Feb 2023 15:44:37 +0000 https://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3752894 We move from February into March this week, which means the arrival of Scream VI is now just over one week away. But before we get there, we’ve got other fresh horrors to consume. This week, SIX brand new horror movies will be released, and included in the mix is the latest installment in a […]

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We move from February into March this week, which means the arrival of Scream VI is now just over one week away. But before we get there, we’ve got other fresh horrors to consume.

This week, SIX brand new horror movies will be released, and included in the mix is the latest installment in a long-running franchise based on a classic Stephen King horror novel.

Here’s all the new horror arriving February 28 – March 5, 2023!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.


First up, Gravitas Ventures unleashes Wolf Garden via On Demand outlets today (February 28), being described by Gravitas as a “elevated horror picture in the tradition of It Follows.”

Written and Directed by Wayne David, Wolf Garden tells the blood-curdling story of William (Wayne David), a young man who disappears upon experiencing haunting visions of the woman he loves and a mysterious creature in the nearby woods. You can’t escape fear.

Sian Altman, Grant Masters, and Jake Wood star in a “provocative and unique new horror film.”


Shudder‘s next original horror movie is Spoonful of Sugar, a cinematic LSD trip directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan and coming exclusively to Shudder on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

In the film, “A disturbed babysitter experiences a sexual awakening while using LSD to alternatively treat a seemingly “sick” child from a family with dark secrets of their own.”

The cast includes Morgan Saylor, Kat Foster, Danilo Crovetti, and Myko Olivier.

Mercedes Bryce Morgan is an award-winning queer Latina director. Mercedes just completed her feature debut, Fixation, premiering at TIFF. Mercedes has directed series’ for studios such as MGM, Facebook Watch, Snapchat, New Form, Eko, and Project Greenlight/ Adaptive.


It’s Lord of the Flies in an amusement park in The Park, a thriller from XYZ Films that releases on Thursday, March 2. The film was shot at the long-abandoned Six Flags New Orleans.

“The Park tells the story of a mysterious virus that starts killing all adults, leaving society to be governed by children living on borrowed time. After the adult population is wiped out, rival kids battle for control of an abandoned theme park. Danger lurks around every corner, and they must do whatever it takes to survive their hellish Neverland.”

Written and directed by acclaimed short filmmaker Shal Ngo, The Park stars Chloe Guidry, Nhedrick Jabier, and Carmina Garay; is executive produced by Ryan Chanatry, Nick Borenstein, and Matt Miller; and produced by Natalie Metzger, p.g.a.


Triangle, Black Death, and The Banishing director Christopher Smith returns to horror with Consecration, which IFC Midnight first released in theaters earlier this month.

Consecration next comes to Digital on Friday, March 3.

Jena Malone (The Ruins), Danny Huston (30 Days of Night, “American Horror Story”), and Janet Suzman star. Christopher Smith co-wrote the script with Laurie Cook.

In Consecration, “After the suspicious death of her brother, a priest, Grace (Jena Malone) goes to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland to find out what really happened. Once there, she uncovers murder, sacrilege, and a disturbing truth about her own past.”

Previously, Smith described the project as “a film about the nature of religion and how defining one thing as divine creates a false opposite that is heretical.”

He added: “This film is an opportunity to take the audience on a thrilling journey into the dark unknown, and I want to really push that to the limit both in terms of scares and the psychology of the main characters. …I want Consecration to be the scariest yet.”


Director Kurt Wimmer‘s new take on Stephen King‘s horror novel Children of the Corn will first hit theaters this Friday, March 3, for what we’ve been told is an 18-day theatrical run.

The new movie is the eleventh overall installment in the franchise, and once it’s actually released it’ll be the first movie since John Gulager’s Children of the Corn: Runaway in 2018.

In Wimmer’s movie, which is said to have very little to do with King’s novel, “Possessed by a spirit in a dying cornfield, a twelve-year-old girl in Nebraska recruits the other children in her small town to go on a bloody rampage and kill all the adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival.”

The new film’s cast includes Elena Kampouris (Before I Fall), Kate Moyer (“When Hope Calls”), Callan Mulvey (Avengers: Endgame) and Bruce Spence (The Road Warrior).

Kurt Wimmer, for those who don’t recognize his name, is the director of films including the Christian Bale-starring Equilibrium and the Milla Jovovich-starring Ultraviolet. Children of the Corn is his first movie since 2006, though he did more recently write films include Law Abiding Citizen, Salt, Total Recall, and Point Break, as well as the 2020 horror movie Spell.


The final new release for the week is The Burial from Terror Films, on VOD this Friday. Michael Escalante directed the film, starring Faith Kearns, Vernon Taylor, and Spencer Weitzel.

In The Burial, “When Molly’s boyfriend gets a phone call from his estranged brother, she thinks nothing of joining him on an impromptu family reunion at a remote cabin.

“However, she soon finds herself taking charge of a deadly situation when the trip’s true purpose is revealed and good intentions lead to a conflict with pure evil.”

Michael Escalante got his first start in the movie business interning at Roger Corman’s New Horizons Pictures during his last year earning a Bachelor’s in English at UCLA.

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‘The Park’ Trailer – “Lord of the Flies” in an Amusement Park [Exclusive] https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3750542/the-park-trailer-lord-of-the-flies-in-an-amusement-park-exclusive/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3750542/the-park-trailer-lord-of-the-flies-in-an-amusement-park-exclusive/#respond Wed, 08 Feb 2023 16:00:50 +0000 https://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3750542 It’s “Lord of the Flies” in an amusement park in The Park, a new thriller from XYZ Films that releases on March 2. “The Park tells the story of a mysterious virus that starts killing all adults, leaving society to be governed by children living on borrowed time. After the adult population is wiped out, […]

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It’s “Lord of the Flies” in an amusement park in The Park, a new thriller from XYZ Films that releases on March 2.

“The Park tells the story of a mysterious virus that starts killing all adults, leaving society to be governed by children living on borrowed time. After the adult population is wiped out, rival kids battle for control of an abandoned theme park. Danger lurks around every corner, and they must do whatever it takes to survive their hellish Neverland.”

Written and directed by acclaimed short filmmaker Shal Ngo, The Park stars Chloe Guidry, Nhedrick Jabier, and Carmina Garay; is executive produced by Ryan Chanatry, Nick Borenstein, and Matt Miller; and produced by Natalie Metzger, p.g.a.

A Vanishing Angle Production, Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive look at the trailer for the Mad Max-inspired thriller that was shot at the long-abandoned Six Flags New Orleans, which was closed and left to rot after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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[Review] ‘The Park’ on Nintendo Switch is an Effective Horror Ride Despite its Over-Reliance on Homage https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3590393/review-park-nintendo-switch-effective-horror-ride-despite-reliance-homage/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3590393/review-park-nintendo-switch-effective-horror-ride-despite-reliance-homage/#respond Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:18:28 +0000 https://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3590393 The Park is a pulse-quickening funfair where all the attractions are allusions to other, better works of horror. The Switch port, out now, faithfully maintains the excitement of the original 2015 release, as well as its uncritical embrace of the touchstones of the wider genre. It borrows its pall of mourning, monster design and parental […]

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The Park is a pulse-quickening funfair where all the attractions are allusions to other, better works of horror. The Switch port, out now, faithfully maintains the excitement of the original 2015 release, as well as its uncritical embrace of the touchstones of the wider genre.

It borrows its pall of mourning, monster design and parental anxiety from The Babadook, shrouds it in an ichor-drenched Lovecraft-style descent into madness and sets it against the dark-secrets-in-small-town-Maine backdrop of the works of Stephen King. 

And, on the off chance you didn’t catch these allusions, The Park riddles its world with explicit references. A kid in a Cthulhu t-shirt. A brochure mentioning the “Overlook Motel.” Tophats, trench coats and pointy fingers. It even offers up some mascot scares and teddy bears for the Five Nights at Freddy’s crowd.

 

The Park arranges these themes and story beats like Imagineers might map out rollercoaster placement at Disneyland. They don’t always make sense in conversation with each other; what’s this spooky New Orleans mansion doing next to the Hall of Presidents? You might wish that the developers at Funcom had picked a lane and stayed in it. But, each subgenre of horror is brought to life entertainingly enough on its own. And, against the odds, The Park manages to hold together thanks to an engaging story, some smart design choices and, crucially, a short runtime.

You play as Lorraine, a beleaguered single mother wandering a theme park after dark in search of her son, Callum, who, likewise, is searching for his lost teddy bear. Lorraine makes the rounds from ride to ride, calling out to her son — there’s a dedicated “yell at Callum” button — as things in the park go increasingly sideways. 

As you walk through the park, the big beats of Lorraine’s backstory (as well as the backstory of the park itself, and the land it’s built on) are revealed through narration and text-based pick-ups. This story involves mental illness and grief, and doesn’t handle either especially sensitively. But, Fryda Wolff gives a terrific vocal performance as Lorraine, and the writers did a pretty good job with the exposition (even if they didn’t do enough work interrogating some of their themes). I enjoyed exploring the park, finding what the developers had left waiting for me.

That exploration is, thankfully, unhurried. The Park takes, at most, about two hours to complete, and it was a surprising joy to play a first-person horror game in which I spent zero minutes running from monsters. Instead, The Park guides players from horror set-piece to set-piece. It takes cues from its setting, allowing players to — as riders on a rollercoaster  — sit back and experience the ride, rather than forcing them to Interact. Horror games, far too often, feel like Flinstones cars, needlessly propelled by their passengers’ efforts. The Park neatly sidesteps this, embracing the follow-the-leader model of high spectacle first-person experiences like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. As a result, its scares remained scary, rather than becoming the annoyance that horror monsters often morph into when we’re forced to escape them in exacting, automatic game over chase sequences.

You’ll stumble onto a park map early on that makes clear the scope of the game, laying out the attractions you’ll explore before The Park reaches its conclusion. Each is distinct and memorable, but none outstay its welcome. Each ride reveals its horror like a flashbulb, disappearing immediately, but leaving shapes swimming before your eyes.

But, The Park’s horrors are at times undercut by its unattractive presentation. This has never been a good looking game. By the standards of its contemporaries like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014) and Firewatch (2016), The Park is ugly, with consistent pop-in, PS3-era environmental art, and unimpressive character models. It looks more like Dear Esther, the mod for Half-Life 2, than Dear Esther, the game that got a console release. When docked, The Park’s graphics are on par with the original PC release. But, in handheld (where I tackled my first of two playthroughs) the already-weak graphics take another hit. This isn’t always a big deal — the strong voice work and well-written documents do enough to sell the story — but it is a problem whenever the camera lingers on a monster. These are not creatures that should be viewed at length, and The Park, unfortunately, lingers too long, at times.

Generally, though, The Park is an effective experience. It avoids the first-person horror genre’s worst habits while conveying an engaging story. It leans hard on horror tropes (and fails to interrogate well-trod stereotypical presentations of mental illness) but manages to unearth something potent in the process. Your mileage will certainly vary; roller coasters are thrilling for some, nauseating for others. I enjoyed this ride.

The Park review code for Nintendo Switch provided by the publisher.

The Park is out now on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

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GOG’s Summer Sale Horror Report: Day 2 https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3394365/gogs-summer-sale-horror-report-day-2/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3394365/gogs-summer-sale-horror-report-day-2/#respond Sat, 11 Jun 2016 03:54:32 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3394365 GOG.com’s annual Summer Sale continues, as expected, with a fresh rotation of discounted goodies that should help keep you indoors, where literally nothing bad can ever happen to you. I’ve never heard of anyone being murdered while playing Xbox in the park, but everyone’s heard about some weirdo who went to a park without an […]

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GOG.com’s annual Summer Sale continues, as expected, with a fresh rotation of discounted goodies that should help keep you indoors, where literally nothing bad can ever happen to you. I’ve never heard of anyone being murdered while playing Xbox in the park, but everyone’s heard about some weirdo who went to a park without an Xbox, like a fool, and got themselves sacrificed by some ancient blood cult or dive-bombed by a Pterodactyl, because there might still be a gaggle of them left in the world, wandering the skies directly above parks, ready to ruin the day of the first jackass who decides to go without the protection that comes when you’re surrounded by a roof and walls.

You know where there definitely isn’t room for this majestic creature’s 40 ft wingspan? My apartment, for one. I dare a Pterodactyl to try and squeeze its ancient bird ass into my home. That way, when the idiot inevitably gets stuck, all I have to do is force it Clockwork Orange style to watch me play Ark: Survival Evolved until it agrees to let me ride on its back.

Anyway, here are some notable discounts you can now find on GOG:

Dead State: Reanimated — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
Dying Light: Enhanced Edition — $35.99 (reg. $59.99)
Fran Bow — $7.49 (reg. $14.99)
Her Story — $2.99 (reg. $4.99)
Layers of Fear — $12.99 (reg. $19.99)
Metro 2033 Redux — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
Metro: Last Light Redux — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
The Park — $6.49 (reg. $12.99)
SOMA — $17.99 (reg. $29.99)
Sunless Sea — $9.49 (reg. $18.99)
Stasis — $9.99 (reg. $24.99)
Stasis: Deluxe Edition — $13.29 (reg. $39.99)
System Shock: Enhanced Edition — $2.99 (reg. $9.99)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)

Just like last time, many of these titles will soon be swapped out for a fresh batch of discounts, while the Summer Sale hangs around until Wednesday, June 22, at 8:59am EST. I’ll let you know what might be worth checking out when the list is updated. Until then, keep an eye on the skies, my friends.

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GOG’s Summer Sale Horror Report: Day 1 https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3393988/system-shock-2-free-gog-right-now/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3393988/system-shock-2-free-gog-right-now/#respond Thu, 09 Jun 2016 02:20:24 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3393988 Summertime. Some folks don’t seem too bothered by the months-long Hell it brings, though I suspect that’s just a side effect of living all your days inside a blazing inferno. That’s got to be tough on the brain. Summer unapologetically mistreats, with its inescapable heat that hides butt sweat in seats and reveals pale ugly […]

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Summertime. Some folks don’t seem too bothered by the months-long Hell it brings, though I suspect that’s just a side effect of living all your days inside a blazing inferno. That’s got to be tough on the brain. Summer unapologetically mistreats, with its inescapable heat that hides butt sweat in seats and reveals pale ugly feet. That’s why we need heroes like GOG.com looking out for us. They’re not here to make loads of money off people, like me, who will giddily snatch up a dozen $5 games so they can neglect all but two of them forever. No, they’re here to save us.

GOG’s Summer Sale benefits humanity by thinning out our wallets so our buttflesh can breathe more easily, thus reducing our chances of developing unwanted swamp ass. I call that a public service. These are the horror games I found in the current rotation — head here for the rest.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent — $3.99 (reg. $19.99)
Dead State: Reanimated — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
Dying Light: Enhanced Edition — $35.99 (reg. $59.99)
Fran Bow — $7.49 (reg. $14.99)
Layers of Fear — $12.99 (reg. $19.99)
Oxenfree — $9.99 (reg. $19.99)
The Park — $6.49 (reg. $12.99)
Penumbra Collection — $1.99 (reg. $9.99)
SOMA — $17.99 (reg. $29.99)
Sunless Sea — $9.49 (reg. $18.99)
System Shock: Enhanced Edition — $2.99 (reg. $9.99)
System Shock 2 — FREE (reg. $9.99)

These titles will be swapped out for new discounts on Friday, but the Summer Sale will be hanging around until Wednesday, June 22 at 8:59am EST. I’ll let you know what might be worth checking out when the list is updated. Until then, stay frosty, my friends.

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What Are the Best Horror Games of 2016 (So Far)? https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3391187/5-favorite-horror-games-2016-far/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3391187/5-favorite-horror-games-2016-far/#comments Mon, 16 May 2016 21:00:51 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3391187 The year’s about half over, and much of the bounty of new games we know of has been spent trying to please the writing mass of pale bodies that form us, the gamer horde and our insatiable appetite for fizzy refreshments and interactive amusements. Every year, games developers have their turn at the altar where […]

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The year’s about half over, and much of the bounty of new games we know of has been spent trying to please the writing mass of pale bodies that form us, the gamer horde and our insatiable appetite for fizzy refreshments and interactive amusements. Every year, games developers have their turn at the altar where they present a sacrifice to the Beast With Many Gamertags, afraid to unsettle the Slumbering One before its noon awakening, but eager to earn its fickle admiration.

It’s usually around this time of the year, when we’ve amassed enough tributes paid to us by the developers we allow to exist with us in this reality — praise be us, for we are Legion — that we conjure the ageless listicle from the Murky Depths of Many Pageviews to help determine the most epic of all the offerings.

That time has come, but rather than list my top offerings so they can endure your scrutiny, I’m going to leave it to you to decide which of 2016’s many spooky offerings is worthy of Transcendence. I’d do it, but I’m having trouble choosing between Doom, Oxenfree, The Town of Light and Dying Light: The Following. Please, lend me your aid, brothers and sisters of the Pale Horde, so that we can commence preparations for the return of The Three E’s.

Here they are:

Pony Island (PC)
Oxenfree (PC, XBO)
Resident Evil 0 HD (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO)
Calendula (PC)
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii U)
Dying Light: The Following / Enhanced Edition (PC, PS4, XBO)
Pesadelo – Regressão (PC)
Layers of Fear (PC, PS4, XBO)
The Walking Dead: Michonne (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO)
The Town of Light (PC, XBO)
UnderDread (PC)
Kholat (PC, PS4)
The Guest (PC)
Moving Hazard (PC)
Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh (PC)
At the Mountains of Madness (PC)
Resident Evil 6 (PC, PS3, PS4, 360, XBO)
Dark Souls III (PC, PS4, XBO)
Phantasmal: City of Darkness (PC)
Sylvio Remastered (PC)
The Park (PS4, XBO)
Neverending Nightmares (PC, PS4)
Doom (PC, PS4, XBO)

So, which game deserves our praise today?

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Your Horror Game Release Schedule for May https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3388113/horror-game-release-schedule-may/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3388113/horror-game-release-schedule-may/#comments Tue, 03 May 2016 20:54:20 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3388113 May is usually the last “good” month in terms of new releases, it’s purpose to toss out a few more games to keep us occupied and out of the deadly summer sun until things pick back up around Aug-Sept. Around this time last year, I was eagerly waiting for a chance to be the bad […]

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May is usually the last “good” month in terms of new releases, it’s purpose to toss out a few more games to keep us occupied and out of the deadly summer sun until things pick back up around Aug-Sept. Around this time last year, I was eagerly waiting for a chance to be the bad guy for a bit by murdering fools as Jason Voorhees in Mortal Kombat X or stepping into the bloodied boots of The Executioner in the third DLC release for The Evil Within. This month sort of has its own theme going on too, but it’s more about re-releases. Let’s have a look.

Sylvio Remastered

With Sylvio Remastered, developer Stroboskop hopes to breathe new life into their open-world horror game about a woman named who uses the voices of the dead to uncover and vanquish an evil curse and a wicked family cult that have taken up residence in an abandoned park.

The remaster replaces the old game engine for Unity 5, and in addition to that, it brings a remade GUI, improved EVP mechanic, and full controller support. It’s available free-of-charge to owners of the original Sylvio, who can get it now in the form of an update.

Release Date: May 2 (PC)

The Park

Funcom’s The Park was met with a mostly warm reception when it released on Steam back in October, and now it’s headed to consoles. The game is a spin-off of the pseudo-horror MMO The Secret World — also definitely worth checking out — that follows a mother as she spends a night in an abandoned amusement park searching for her son. It’s relatively short (3-4 hours) length keeps the game from outstaying its welcome, and the atmosphere is top notch.

Release Date: May 3 (PS4, XBO)

Neverending Nightmares

Matt Galgenbach’s nightmarish psychological horror game Neverending Nightmares is finally bringing its unique brand of terror to the PS4 and PS Vita today (May 4 for Europe). If you haven’t played this one yet, you probably should. Just know that this game is not for the squeamish or weak of stomach.

Release Date: May 3 (PS4, Vita)

Doom

The series that defined a decade is getting a reboot, and it looks glorious. I’ve spent some time with the new Doom and from what I’ve seen, it looks as if id Software might’ve actually found a way to modernize everything we love about the series — the fast-paced combat, addictive arena-based multiplayer, badass weapons, intimidating enemies and the buckets of gore that coats just about everything — without losing what made these games so influential in the first place.

And sure, the lack of co-op in the story mode is disappointing until the community gets cozy with the SnapMap modding tools that are shipping with all versions of the game and starts churning out custom co-op campaigns. Based on my experience with games like LittleBigPlanet, that’ll take about a week.

Release Date: May 13 (PC, PS4, XBO)

Dead Island Definitive Edition

The issues with Dead Island 2 have caused some serious issues for the already troubled franchise, and despite having considerably more time than its main competitor, Deep Silver is losing the war for zombie fans’ cash monies to the wildly successful Dying Light, which was developed by Dead Island creator Techland. The Dead Island: Definitive Edition isn’t going to change that, but it should sate our appetites for undead tomfoolery as we continue to wait for Sumo Digital to finish Dead Island 2.

Release Date: May 31 (PC, PS4, XBO)

Oxenfree

For the unfamiliar, Oxenfree is an always charming, often thoughtful and occasionally even deeply unsettling video game debut from Night School Studio. “Oxenfree is all humor, horror and heart,” writes my younger self in a review of the PC version, “It doesn’t need to rely on gimmicks, and with the exception of some light backtracking that could’ve easily been solved by a jog button, no attempt is made to pad its 3-5 hour running time with irrelevant errands and tedium.”

Don’t overlook this one. I promise you’ll regret it.

Release Date: May 31 (PS4)

Asemblance

Asemblance is a PS4 exclusive psychological horror game — the first in a planned series — with a surreal narrative that blends “The Twilight Zone”, “The X-Files”, and “Black Mirror”.

Release Date: TBA May (PS4)

Crowdfunding Campaigns

Voracious readers of Bloody Disgusting’s video game section will recognize Ghost Theory as the game I desperately want to play because while I’m super into the paranormal, I’m not quite interested enough to go and record otherworldly voices or seek out floating orbs to take selfies with.

This game aims to solve that problem by adapting the daily life of a clairvoyance paranormal investigator into a video game. The team at Dreadlocks is even visiting real “haunted” locales all over the world so they can recreate each to be fully explorable in-game, with or without a virtual reality headset. It’s an incredibly promising, and original, approach that sets this supernatural horror game apart from the rest.

Ghost Theory needs to raise another ~$30k to reach its $71k funding goal and there’s only nine days left to get there. If you’d like to give them a hand, you can support it over here.

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‘The Park’ Comes to PS4, Xbox One Next Month https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3388055/park-comes-ps4-xbox-one-next-month/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3388055/park-comes-ps4-xbox-one-next-month/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2016 20:54:29 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3388055 Originally slated for a release this month, Funcom has confirmed their psychological horror game The Park is headed to PS4 and Xbox One on May 3. Our very own T. Blake Braddy called it a “fine narrative experience” with “some minor issues” in his review of the PC version that released back in October, allowing […]

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Originally slated for a release this month, Funcom has confirmed their psychological horror game The Park is headed to PS4 and Xbox One on May 3. Our very own T. Blake Braddy called it a “fine narrative experience” with “some minor issues” in his review of the PC version that released back in October, allowing about six months for those issues to be addressed.

Set in an empty amusement park — the creepiest kind, no? — The Park takes place within the same universe as Funcom’s underappreciated MMO The Secret World, with a story about a mother’s desperate mission to find her lost son.

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‘The Park’ Review: One Day at HorrorLand https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3371687/the-park-review/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3371687/the-park-review/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2015 20:58:54 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3371687 Funcom’s The Park is a game that can only exist in the age of Steam. It came almost out of nowhere, got some interesting press, which made it stand out among most indie games. That’s a perspective near unique to the games industry these days. Its developer is normally in the business of free-to-play MMOs […]

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Funcom’s The Park is a game that can only exist in the age of Steam. It came almost out of nowhere, got some interesting press, which made it stand out among most indie games. That’s a perspective near unique to the games industry these days.

Its developer is normally in the business of free-to-play MMOs like Age of Conan: Unchained and Anarchy Online, and even The Park has ties to one of their massively-multiplayer games. It is inspired by the MMO The Secret World and takes place in the same amusement park as the MMO.

The Park can probably best be described as a hybrid between Dear Esther and the first hour or so of BioShock: Infinite. It’s a walking simulator-style endeavor, wherein players wander an abandoned theme park looking for their missing son.

It is probably a divisive game, as these kinds of games generally are, but the truth is that this one is plenty good for what it is. While brief, hampered by lazy storytelling methods and a lack of variety, The Park is an eerie experience for fans of the genre. It also proves, yet again, that it is necessary to judge games based on their own rubrics, rather than some entirely objective sense of what a horror game “is.”

The set-up is simple: You play as Lorraine, a single mother who watches as her son scampers into the Atlantic Island Park at closing time. Atlantic Island has seen better days, however, and the scenery is more grim than gleeful. Lorraine must locate her precocious child, Callum, among the ruins of the nearly defunct theme park before a sinister force swallows him up.

The exploration takes players through the park, whose rickety rides represent the game’s narrative progression. As the player endures the bumper cars or the roller coaster, a sliver of story is revealed. Seems as though some…unsavory events took place at Atlantic Island Park some years back. Not the greatest place to bring a toddler, but hey, who’s judging?

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Other than that, the rides don’t serve any real purpose, nor do they offer the player anything mechanically satisfying. Discovering them requires some exploration, but I balk at calling it puzzle-solving. You might end up getting lost while trying to reach certain minor targets, but there will be no lever-pulling, button-pressing, tomb-raiding objectives. Just walking. Lots and lots of walking.

Visually, the game looks fine. The character models are a bit glossy, and the world itself has an unrefined look that doesn’t always suit it, but it’s not a bad-looking game. The rides are well-designed, and the artstyle, especially when the story takes a dark turn, gives The Park quite a bit of textual depth. The game also runs pretty well. I experienced some framerate hiccups and other minor glitches, but otherwise the game performed okay, overall.

The Park sort of lives and dies on the strength of its narrative. That’s what people will be coming to it for, and so that has to be what is important. Overall, I think it totally works, and I became increasingly taken with what it was trying to accomplish, but this, too, is not without its problems. It somehow feels as though the game doesn’t go whole go on either story or gameplay, that one had to be sacrificed for the sake of the other.

The game has a twist, but the twist itself is less interesting and more obvious than the trip to get there. If you’re paying attention at all, you’ll get there before the story anyway, so sit back and relax. This isn’t a BioShock-level surprise, but you’ll nevertheless end up being horrified by what you experience.

It’s weird. As an attempt to fool the audience, the storytelling doesn’t do a great job, because the voice-overs and little bits of narrative are so heavy-handed, it’s almost impossible not to guess the conclusion before the game itself gets there. What benefited Dear Esther and Gone Home was the mystery surrounding the game’s raison d’etre. Here, it’s pretty clear from the start. It takes you down a winding staircase but ends up in the same exact spot you’d expect, if you paid any attention at all.

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The Park is a fine narrative experience, but the accumulation of some minor issues requires addressing.

Lorraine’s son, Callum, is barely in the game, other than the opening sequence. He plays a more or less expositional role, drawing Lorraine into the plot. And yet an entire button is devoted to calling him, which is supposed to lead characters in the right direction. The game is linear enough that it doesn’t really matter or help, so it feels like a half-wasted opportunity.

Furthermore, the memos and other in-game notes are almost impossible to read. The font is microscopic, so small that leaning mere inches from the monitor is the only way to really be able to read it. It got to be so annoying that I, a lover of in-game notes, eventually just started skimming them to save my eyes.

The final and perhaps most expected issue in The Park is the game’s movement. While it’s a given that Lorraine won’t be sprinting around, Quake-style, her movement speed is less than ideal, even when sprinting. (Walking is an agonizing endeavor.) It’s the one aspect of these games that always trips me up: while walking makes sense, it is beyond comprehension why walking so slowly has to be the standard.

The Park will be arriving on PS4 and XB1 in the coming months, so perhaps they’ll be adding extra content, or giving console owners something else to whet their appetites.

The Final Word: The truth is, if you enjoyed games like Gone Home or Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, you’ll probably thoroughly enjoy The Park’s roughly two hour playtime.

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What Horror Game(s) of 2015 Are You Thankful for? https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3371144/what-horror-games-of-2015-are-you-thankful-for/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3371144/what-horror-games-of-2015-are-you-thankful-for/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:31:58 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3371144 Thanksgiving is that wonderful time of the year where we all come together to honor a really bad thing the Pilgrims did hundreds of years ago. Everyone celebrates this holiday differently. Some volunteer at local shelters or food banks, others overdose on tryptophan and whatever’s on the television, and then there are the more creative […]

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Thanksgiving is that wonderful time of the year where we all come together to honor a really bad thing the Pilgrims did hundreds of years ago. Everyone celebrates this holiday differently. Some volunteer at local shelters or food banks, others overdose on tryptophan and whatever’s on the television, and then there are the more creative types who use this holiday as an opportunity to blaspheme by consuming Turduckens — a Frankenbird made from a chicken stuffed inside of a duck that’s been crammed inside of a turkey.

Birdception has always intrigued me, but I’ve never tried it myself. And since I won’t be laughing in the face of nature this year by breaking Bird Law with my relatives, that means I’ll have time to try this ‘being thankful’ thing.

Thankfully, there’s a lot to be thankful for this year.

At the risk of being cheesy, I’d like you to tell me what you’re the most thankful for. It doesn’t need to be about video games, horror or otherwise, but at the very least I’d love to know which horror games, if any, you’re planning on playing over the break.

I’ll be playing through Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, which released this week, when I’m not feeding my growing addiction to Fallout 4. I’m considering going through Until Dawn again in preparation for its upcoming Rush of Blood expansion.

If you need any help deciding on what you’re thankful for, it could be one of the many great horror games that have come out this year (Dying Light, Resident Evil HD, Resident Evil Revelations 2, SOMA, Until Dawn, The Park, Stasis), or the games we now have to look forward to after successful crowdfunding campaigns (Friday the 13th: The Game, Ashen Rift, Perception, NightCry). There’s so much more, but that should get you started!

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‘The Park’ is Headed to PS4 and Xbox One https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3370336/the-park-is-headed-to-ps4-and-xbox-one/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3370336/the-park-is-headed-to-ps4-and-xbox-one/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2015 16:39:58 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3370336 Set in the abandoned Atlantic Island amusement park, The Park is a narrative-driven psychological horror game that follows a young mother and her desperate attempt to find her missing son. The game released on Steam last month, and in an announcement made earlier today, Funcom confirmed that it’s headed to the PS4 and Xbox One […]

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Set in the abandoned Atlantic Island amusement park, The Park is a narrative-driven psychological horror game that follows a young mother and her desperate attempt to find her missing son. The game released on Steam last month, and in an announcement made earlier today, Funcom confirmed that it’s headed to the PS4 and Xbox One in early 2016 as a digital-only release.

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Stay Indoors Forever With the Help of the Steam Halloween Sale https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3368070/stay-indoors-forever-with-the-help-of-the-steam-halloween-sale/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3368070/stay-indoors-forever-with-the-help-of-the-steam-halloween-sale/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:00:09 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3368070 The scariest thing about this time of the year doesn’t have anything to do with haunted houses, a spike in the nation’s murder rate, or the increased risk that I’ll compliment someone who’s dressed like a masked murderer only to get stabbed because that wasn’t a costume at all. None of those things can compare […]

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The scariest thing about this time of the year doesn’t have anything to do with haunted houses, a spike in the nation’s murder rate, or the increased risk that I’ll compliment someone who’s dressed like a masked murderer only to get stabbed because that wasn’t a costume at all. None of those things can compare to the wave of dread that follows the arrival of the Steam Halloween Sale.

Valve, if you think this is going to distract me so I forget about the Left 4 Dead game you owe me, you’re dead wro- oh look, Dying Light is half-off right now.

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Under $30
Alien: Isolation for $24.99 (REVIEW)
Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition for $19.99 (REVIEW)
Dying Light for $29.99 (REVIEW)
The Evil Within for $19.79 (REVIEW)
H1Z1 for $16.99 (REVIEW)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 for $19.99 (REVIEW)
SOMA for $25.49 (REVIEW)
Zombie Army Trilogy for $15.29 (REVIEW)

Under $15
Stasis, The Forest, Resident Evil HD, 7 Days to Die, Dead State Reanimated

Under $10
Alan Wake, Among the Sleep, Depth, The Park, Kholat, Layers of Fear, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Monstrum, Damned

Under $5
BioShock 1-2, Dead Space 1-2, Outlast, Outlast Whistleblower, Five Nights at Freddy’s 1-4, DreadOut, Slender: The Arrival, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, F.E.A.R. 1-3, Contagion

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A Launch Trailer for Funcom’s Psychological Horror Game ‘The Park’ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3367777/this-trailer-for-the-park-needs-more-funnel-cake/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3367777/this-trailer-for-the-park-needs-more-funnel-cake/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2015 20:04:21 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3367777 Hey stranger, I thought you might like to know that Funcom’s psychological horror game The Park is available now on Steam. You need to be at least this tall before you can ride this emotional rollercoaster of a game, and if it gets to be too much for you, I’ll let you hide your shame […]

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Hey stranger, I thought you might like to know that Funcom’s psychological horror game The Park is available now on Steam. You need to be at least this tall before you can ride this emotional rollercoaster of a game, and if it gets to be too much for you, I’ll let you hide your shame in my funnel cake. The powdered sugar doesn’t just absorb your tears, it transforms them into an icing, of sorts. And I will be eating that cake when you’re finished with it. Don’t be weird about it.

The Park can be found on Steam and Green Man Gaming for $10, and on Gamers Gate for $13.

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Funcom’s ‘The Park’ Opens in Time for Halloween https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365823/funcoms-the-park-opens-in-time-for-halloween/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365823/funcoms-the-park-opens-in-time-for-halloween/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2015 17:37:07 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3365823 Funcom’s psychological horror game The Park will arrive on October 27, just in time for Halloween. Set in an incredibly creepy amusement park, this narrative-driven single-player game follows a young mother who’s desperately trying to find her lost son. It will be available on a number of online retailers for $9.99, including Steam, Gamers Gate […]

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Funcom’s psychological horror game The Park will arrive on October 27, just in time for Halloween. Set in an incredibly creepy amusement park, this narrative-driven single-player game follows a young mother who’s desperately trying to find her lost son. It will be available on a number of online retailers for $9.99, including Steam, Gamers Gate and Green Man Gaming.

Because The Park is set in the same world as Funcom’s dark fantasy MMO The Secret World, pre-ordering it will unlock a handful of in-game goodies including a Chipmunk Killer costume. If you haven’t played the MMO, it’s definitely worth checking out.

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Steam’s Stealth Sale Sneakily Serves Some Spooky Savings https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365509/steams-stealth-sale-sneakily-serves-some-spooky-savings/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365509/steams-stealth-sale-sneakily-serves-some-spooky-savings/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2015 19:20:12 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3365509 Hello, my name is Adam, and I have an unhealthy relationship with alliteration. It wouldn’t take but a glance at the dozens of neglected indies that populate my game library to tell that I also have a bit of a problem with Steam sales. Apparently, I’m just not strong-willed enough to say “no” with any […]

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Hello, my name is Adam, and I have an unhealthy relationship with alliteration. It wouldn’t take but a glance at the dozens of neglected indies that populate my game library to tell that I also have a bit of a problem with Steam sales. Apparently, I’m just not strong-willed enough to say “no” with any amount of confidence when I’m met with a game that costs less than a can of soda.

If you don’t have this problem, you should definitely take a gander at the titles that have been discounted in Steam’s Stealth Sale before it vanishes in a plume of smoke on October 16th.

To make things easier, I’ve gathered some of the spookier titles for you below.

Lucius — $1.99 (reg. $9.99)
Eldritch — $1.49 (reg. $14.99)
Betrayer — $2.49 (reg. $9.99)
Solarix — $9.99 (reg. $19.99)
Thief: Deadly Shadows — $2.24 (reg. $8.99)
Outlast — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
Outlast: Whistleblower — $2.24 (reg. $8.99)

Also worth mentioning is the 23% discount Steam is offering to those who pre-purchase Funcom’s upcoming narrative-driven game The Park. You can grab it right now for $10 (reg. $12.99), and you can peruse our coverage to learn more about it.

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Funcom Takes Us On a Guided Tour of ‘The Park’ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365111/funcom-takes-us-on-a-guided-tour-of-the-park/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3365111/funcom-takes-us-on-a-guided-tour-of-the-park/#respond Sat, 10 Oct 2015 12:00:37 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3365111 A growing number of developers have begun experimenting with relatively brief, contained story-driven horror games that eschew gore and jump scares for tension and psychological terror. This trend has already given us memorable games like Homesick and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, with more on the way, including Allison Road and Funcom’s The Park. The […]

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A growing number of developers have begun experimenting with relatively brief, contained story-driven horror games that eschew gore and jump scares for tension and psychological terror. This trend has already given us memorable games like Homesick and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, with more on the way, including Allison Road and Funcom’s The Park.

The Park will take between 1-2 hours to complete, making it one of the shorter games on that list. It follows a mother, Lorraine, who’s trying to find her son in what might very well be the most evil amusement park in the world.

Apparently, this theme park has been straight up murdering folks under the guise of faulty equipment, but we know there’s probably a demon behind it. Or worse, clowns.

The Park arrives later this month for PC. You can learn more about it over here.

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‘The Park’ Ruins Amusement Parks This October https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3359114/park-ruins-amusement-parks-october/ https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3359114/park-ruins-amusement-parks-october/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2015 19:14:24 +0000 http://bloody-disgusting.com/?p=3359114 We only have a few months to cherish all those childhood memories of spending entire days in amusement parks before Funcom’s newly announced survival horror game The Park arrives with the goal of ruining them for everyone. The last thing I want to see in my cotton candy is my own blood, because that would […]

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We only have a few months to cherish all those childhood memories of spending entire days in amusement parks before Funcom’s newly announced survival horror game The Park arrives with the goal of ruining them for everyone. The last thing I want to see in my cotton candy is my own blood, because that would suck on at least two levels. For starters, that’d mean I’m bleeding, and that’s not something I’m particularly fond of doing. Making it worse is I’d be sitting there, bleeding, in a puddle of blood sugar that was once a delicious treat, possibly while surrounded by hell clowns.

The Park is a first-person horror adventure that follows a mother who’s lost her son in a park at night. The game is scheduled to release exclusively for PC this October.

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