While I can understand the need for a market to grow and change, I have to say, I find it disappointing that slower paced, atmospheric survival horror has fallen to the wayside. These days, people want the quick scares of Five Nights at Freddy’s, or the fast paced action of titles like Bloodborne or the recent Resident Evil games. The days of the pure psychological horror game is waning.
Enter Antagonist, a Norwegian-based game developer, and their horror game, Through the Woods. What I find interesting about these guys, is that while they honor and strive to emulate such titles as Silent Hill 2, and Fatal Frame 2, they by no means spit on the faces of the new guard. Along with the classics, they cite Alan Wake, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and The Last of Us as more recent points of inspiration. This is important to note, because where other crowdfunded games may have suffered a weakness in lack of innovation, Through the Woods is striving to take the best of both worlds through immersive environments and high quality sound design.
Their campaign video is compelling, showing promising in-game footage as well as the all-too-familiar terrified guinea pigs. Beyond all that though, I think I most liked their approach to story. The basic premise of Through the Woods is this: mom has to find son out in the dark woods while there is some…thing out there with her. Since there is no HUD, Antagonist makes the clever use of voice over (in the past tense) to provide details about what’s happening.
I think this title shows a lot of promise, but I also think it has a large hurdle to conquer with its $40k funding goal. For what it’s worth, Through the Woods has been greenlit on Steam. Hopefully, it won’t meet the fate of games like it, and achieves the funds it needs.
Track the progress of the Through the Woods Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
