Video Games
‘Conscript’ Brings Survival Horror to The Real Horrors of WWI
Taking one of the worst conflicts in human history in World War I, and combining it with supernatural horror sounds like it might be overkill, but that’s certainly not the case for Conscript. The indie-developed project (which you can try out now thanks to the Steam Game Festival) touts itself as “a new take on classic survival horror”, which is certain to grab more than a few peoples’ attention.
Developed by indie company Catchweight Studio, Conscript tells the tale of a lone French soldier named André, who is looking for his brother Pierre – missing-in-action during the battle of Verdun. In the midst of the trenches of the Great War. You must navigate the mazelike trenches, scavenge for supplies and solve complex puzzles – all the while fighting for your survival.
And yes, the muck and the mire and the bleak landscape definitely are ripe for horror. At the moment, Catchweight Studio head JD is holding a Kickstarter to help get Conscript made, so if you enjoy the demo, and want to see the project to its fruition (Catchweight wants to get the game completed and on Steam by May 2021), then head on over and chip in a few bucks.
Up next from Hideo Kojima is OD, an enigmatic new horror gaming experience in collaboration with Jordan Peele. While Kojima remains tight-lipped on details, he has recently teased the game’s innovative new fear-based mechanics.
Speaking with EW on the state of Xbox at its 25th anniversary, Kojima, in typical fashion, cryptically skirted details but teased an entirely new gaming system built for the upcoming game. One that’s unlike anything else, and designed with the scary experience in mind.
“I wanted to do something new. I wanted to do something different. I had this OD concept since I was working on DS1 [Death Stranding], and I was working on it just by myself. I can’t reveal much detail, but it’s something that no one has ever seen before. A new game system,” Kojima tells EW.
Whatever it is, it’s revolutionary enough to have scared off all companies, big and up-and-coming, from tackling OD. Until, that is, former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and successor Asha Sharma saw the project and decided to publish it. Sharma called OD a “deeply moving game. I’ve got great artists and creatives that can pick a great game better than I can, and so I want to give it space, but most importantly, I think it just represents another kind of game.”
OD is meant to test players’ mettle when it comes to fear, but the new system will also make the game more accessible for the more scare-averse players.
Kojima teased, “I wanted to go beyond the limit of the ‘scariness’ that other games had reached. It’s a single-player game, and I wanted to make it as scary as possible. But for those that might stop playing when it gets too scary, I have thought of a system that will allow them to keep going. I can’t say much more, because it’ll give too much of a hint on the system, and I could get in trouble for saying too much!”
The tease also comes with a new look at OD, below, one that instantly brings Hideo Kojima’s ultra-terrifying P.T. to mind.
Plot details are under wraps for OD, but the upcoming release stars Sophia Lillis (IT, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo), and the late Udo Kier (Swan Song, Flesh for Frankenstein).
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