Video Games
Second Update to ‘Horror Tycoon’ Adds New Location, More Design Elements and Fixes
Released into Early Access last October, developer Smidge Games’ haunted house management game Horror Tycoon has received a new update that introduces an array of enhancements, bug fixes, and new content for those burgeoning haunted house managers.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the dedicated community that has supported Horror Tycoon since its launch,” says Smidge Games’ Casey Clark. “Major Update Two is a testament to our commitment to delivering a top-notch experience for our players.”
New for this update is an additional area in The Lake. Players can explore this new locale and uncover its secrets, adding a new layer of depth to their haunted house. The update also brings with it new decorations, construction items, scare traps and more to help in the design of your haunted house attraction.
The developers have also squashed several bugs with the new update, as well as introduce several quality of life enhancements, making it easier for players to customize their haunted house, manage resources, and interact with the game world.
Taking on a more sinister approach to the Rollarcoaster Tycoon concept, in Horror Tycoon, you are in charge of building and managing your own haunted house in order to scare your guests for fame and fortune. The key to the game is that you have to be able to scare your guests enough for them to run out of the house before they reach the exit.
To ensure your guests are sufficiently frightened, you’ll need to build walls, doorways, trap doors, fake walls, and more to guide your guests through your haunted maze. As your fear reputation increases, so do the demands of your visitors. Eventually, you’ll have to employ traps that are truly horrific, giving you the ability to make guests disappear from the living and join the dead. Don’t get caught, or else your career will be over.
Horror Tycoon is out now on Steam.
The rumoured cuts at Xbox have come to fruition, with plans to lay off 3,200 employees. In addition, five studios are also set to be let go, with Double Fine and South of Midnight developer Compulsion breaking off to go independent, while Ninja Theory (Senua) and Undead Labs (State of Decay 3) have been sold.
The fifth studio, Marvel’s Blade and Dishonored studio Arkane Lyon, is set to be divested from Xbox Game Studios, though details are still being kept under wraps.
Per Xbox Wire, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed the layoff and divestment plans at Xbox, but announced no plans for closures or game cancellations.
According to Sharma, Xbox is operating at “margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.” Sharma acknowledged Xbox’s previous pivots to Game Pass, multi-platform, and a “broader portfolio of content” have resulted in “meaningful value”, but it hasn’t been enough.
“Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined,” she said. “We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio.”
As a result, Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions “will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games.” Meanwhile, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs “have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3.” As for Arkane Lyon, the studio’s management “is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.”
The 3,200 cuts will be made throughout Xbox’s financial year across departments, with some areas being more affected than others. This is expected to affect around 20% of the developer’s workforce.
In addition, Bethesda will also undergo “a significant overhaul”, and will pivot to focus on its core franchises: Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.
“These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one,” says Sharma. “The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we’ve seen before. This year, we’ll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates.”