Developer, VIS-Games is returning to its atmospheric horror background with, Pineview Drive – Rising Storm. The original Pineview Drive and mini-prequel, Passing Pineview Forest were criticized for lackluster story elements. This time VIS plans to delve deeper into Pineview’s lore with Rising Storm.
To help pull this off, the team now includes an author, Michael Cherdchupan. While the first two games dropped players into the dark foreboding world of Pineview Drive with little explanation or fanfare, the sequel hopes to fill some of those narrative gaps.
The story now follows Lisa, a young orphaned women in her early 20’s. Though she managed to survive the crash that killed her parents when she was a child, Lisa has no memory of the event. Instead she has bizarre dreams of a derelict house by the sea and the feeling that something sinister lies dormant beneath it.
Return to Pineview Drive
Eventually Lisa seeks help from a psychiatrist which lead her (and the player) back to the old mansion in Pineview Drive. Played in a first-person perspective, they story unfolds during Lisa’s investigation. Players will have to search for hints and solve puzzles while avoiding the evil lurking nearby.
Pictured: Evil
In addition to the standard atmospheric horror, the game will actually detect if you get scared in reaction to the environment. The Kickstarter campaign is vague about what the game could theoretically do with this information (apart from depleting health), but it could definitely prove interesting if utilized correctly. Imagine if the game notices you react strongly to certain ambient sounds and increases their frequency to further unsettle you.
Pineview Drive – Rising Storm will make use of dynamic weather and day/night systems as Lisa’s story unfolds over 30 days and nights at the mansion. Each night grows darker as time runs out for Lisa to discover her connection to the old house. VIS has a similar time-frame to secure the $50,550 they are seeking to finish developing the game. Hopefully, all the Halloween vibes in the air will send horror fans their way for this spooky sequel.
It’s good to see more developers recognizing the importance of story in their games.