Blumhouse Productions exploded onto the scene in 2009 as an enormous deal within the horror movie world. The studio had been round since 2002, however Paranormal Exercise put it on the map. The usage of house cameras to create one thing that felt a lot older than it truly was recaptured curiosity within the ‘discovered footage’ style a decade after The Blair Witch Undertaking.
These days, Blumhouse Productions is a juggernaut within the film business, with names resembling Insidious, Get Out, The Purge, and 5 Nights at Freddy’s below its belt. So when the film studio introduced a online game division in late 2023, we have been fairly excited. We didn’t get a peep from Blumhouse Video games till Summer season Recreation Fest 2024, however the wait was undoubtedly value it. And the spotlight for us? Worry the Highlight, which is coming to Change later this yr.
Developed by Cozy Recreation Friends, a husband and spouse workforce with recreation credit on The Final of Us, Uncharted, Journey (Bryan), and artwork credit at Nickelodeon and on Animaniacs (Crista). That’s a heck of a resume, but their first online game, Worry the Highlight, is like nothing else they’ve ever labored on.
Blumhouse was eager to promote Worry the Highlight as nailing its “mission assertion” for being an ideal story, with nice characters, creepy vibes, and that low-budget really feel. We acquired that as quickly as we sat right down to play the quick 20-minute demo (which was a PC-build) at Summer season Recreation Fest 2024’s Play Days occasion. The sepia-toned visuals, video filter, and droplets of rain as they hammer in opposition to the home windows set the tone for the proper ‘90s-inspired horror recreation. Lead characters Vivian and Amy have flat faces, and the entire recreation is low-poly and appears like one thing that might have launched on PS1.
Worry the Highlight is pulling from that ‘90s period of horror video games, significantly from Silent Hill; every part right down to the menu system, the font, the textual content bins, and the flavour textual content as you study objects inside Sunnyside Excessive (sure, that’s completely a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer) appears like they’re lifted proper out of Konami’s traditional horror recreation. All with a bit little bit of ‘90s sassiness.
The premise is fairly easy – Vivian and her buddy Amy sneak into their faculty to carry out a seance. As you’d count on, it doesn’t go nicely, and so they get separated. The demo covers the beginning of the sport, from the women entering into the varsity to the pair reuniting. Vivian can run, crouch, and work together with objects that sparkle, and there are a number of mild puzzles to unravel alongside the way in which. Creepy, unsettling horror is the secret right here — jumpscares are primarily off the desk. Nothing made us outright bounce, however we had a nervousness within the pit of our abdomen the entire time by.
A part of this was due to the audio. Between the wind and rain outdoors and the echoing footsteps of the women all through the varsity, the sound was the driving power behind the sport’s rigidity. The ladies nonetheless share some cheeky moments of banter, gossiping about different college students, or Vivian doubting Amy’s superstitions, however the ambiance is unparalleled.
This stood out in two moments particularly. First, the women stroll by a pair of double doorways solely to identify a flashlight. Controlling Vivian, you crouch and conceal behind a desk. The digicam zooms proper behind her shoulder, and you’ll hear her shuddering breath as they watch the flashlight spotlight the ground. The second occasion is after the women use the Ouija board, the place Amy has disappeared. You information Vivian again by the varsity library to seek out her buddy, however while you enter a big room, you hear what seems like footsteps. As you progress, it will get louder, and Vivian’s silhouette, affected by the dim lights on the wall, shifts. We panicked. We appeared across the room to verify we weren’t being adopted and began operating. We discovered the perpetrator of the noise, nevertheless; books slowly tumbling out of a collapsed bookcase. Phew.
These moments actually seize that small-town teen horror that Worry the Highlight is aiming to recreate. Again when this author was an adolescent, her pals at all times talked about scary tales, utilizing spirit boards, and watching motion pictures that we completely shouldn’t be watching. That is precisely that vibe.
Our favorite factor about Worry the Highlight was the entire further little particulars. Analyzing gadgets provides flavour textual content to the varsity, and to Vivian as a personality. A letter suggests she has a crush on her shut buddy, whereas faculty portraits remind her of moments of bullying or annoyance. The builders have actually gone all-out to copy the form of horror experiences we performed within the ‘90s, all whereas crafting an journey that all of us thought we needed to expertise as teenagers.
20 minutes didn’t inform us a lot past what we already anticipated, however it did verify that Worry the Highlight is one more horror title – alongside the current Crow Nation – that embraces that polygonal PS1-era fashion completely, plus the entire jank that comes with it. Arm actions are wonky and lip flaps are flat. And the lighting is efficient, if typically a bit too darkish – we misplaced Amy at one level through the demo due to the poor lighting and ended up strolling round the principle library room a number of instances simply attempting to identify her.
Apparently, Worry the Highlight has already been launched on PC, however it was solely on sale for a number of weeks earlier than being faraway from Steam for the devs to make enhancements. It seems that these enhancements have been a lot, rather more than that – backing from a writer like Blumhouse, that wishes to provide low-budget indies that create bizarre tales that may doubtlessly mess folks up. It additionally makes the sport obtainable to a wider viewers, and that’s higher for everybody.
We’re trying ahead to shining a highlight on Worry the Highlight when it launches later in 2024 on Change. Tell us what you consider the sport thus far within the feedback.
