A Kickstarter for a Psychological Horror game called Visage caught my eye today. It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of horror games, however, I recently fell out of love with them. These days horror games have become rather action packed and while that’s not a bad thing, but I do miss some of the psychological thrills I used to get playing Silent Hill. Naturally, Visage grabbed my attention. Even before I saw it mentioned, I thought “This game sounds like P.T” and P.T has been a dream I have been chasing since Konami canceled it. Not much about the story is given away on the Kickstarter page, but we know developers want $35,000 to create a VR supported old-school Psychological Horror game.
By old-school I mean your character will be helpless. Developers stressed that this wouldn’t be a jumpscare-fest, there’d be no tutorials and no weapons. Just helplessness as you interact and explore your environment and that sounds wonderful. Psychological and Survival Horror are two genres that are unprofitable and niche and don’t get enough love. I would love to see a return to atmospheric horror rather than the more action-centric games today.
Despite the fact I think the project is fairly ambitious, I’m still going to back it. I really want to see how this develops because the game honestly looks like a call back to some of my favorite aspects of the genre. The developers mentioned that stress and sanity would play a role in the game and that players would have to avoid raising either too high. This reminds me of one of my early favorites Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem where the players sanity was an integral part of the gameplay. Exposure to messed up craziness was more likely to drive your character insane.
If Sad Square Studios can deliver a decent horror game that pays homage to old-school survival horror I will be satified. What do you look for in a horror game? Comment down below.
Track the progress of the Visage Campaign in our Campaign Calendar.
This sounds interesting! I’m not sure if I agree with your assertion that modern horror games are more action packed and less atmospheric, however.
Indeed, the ‘New Horror’ movement is what popularised elements like helplessness, lack of combat, focus on atmosphere & psychological tension in the first place. Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast, SOMA & Layers of Fear are all good examples of popular contemporary titles in the genre, and Visage sounds like it’s set to continue the trend rather than subvert it. You mentioned P.T., don’t forget about the upcoming Allison Road, either, which also focuses more on atmosphere and psychological tension than on action.
I would actually argue that the ‘action’ phase in horror began around Resident Evil 4 and ended with Dead Space 3, with Penumbra & Amnesia introducing New Horror in its present form, paving the way for games like this which are a natural fit for VR.
[…] a copy of the game. Their goal is £20K so they need all the help they can get. That said there are other Kickstarters that I am far more excited about. But let me know what you think down […]
[…] In the comment section, masochist backers were quick to declare how excited they were to spend more time exploring the dark history of Visage. These misguided souls seem to delight in the possibility of a purely psychological and atmospheric horror title. […]