Headware Games has announced that their anticipated PS2-style horror game Hollowbody will release on PC September 12.

Hollowbody has you play as a woman who crashlands into an exclu?sion zone set around and abandoned British city. She’s looking for someone there, but finding them suddenly isn’t her biggest problem. There are both monsters and puzzles about, and safety is beyond ?the wall.

The aesthetic and framework are based on �0s horror games. The best horror games. While much of the indie horror scene has focused on PS1-style, �0s horror was a bit goofy. When we got to the �0s, we seemed to hit a sweet spot of hardware horsepower and team sizes. We got games like Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame, and Rule of Rose. The gameplay could sometimes be stiff, and the combat (especially in those games I just named) was often garbage, but they were invariably in??teresting.

What I’m say?ing is that there’s a diminished focus on combat and more on atmosphere and puzz??le-solving. There’s also a mix of dynamic and fixed camera angles. It definitely looks the part.

I’ve had my eye on Hollowbody for a while. I had the demo installed since a Steam Next Fest and only uninstalled it in an ongoing struggle to manage the shrinking free territory on my ha??rd drive. So, I didn’t actually play the demo since I thought I’d wait until the?? full release. That would have made this article easier to write since I’d have more intimate familiarity with the game. I try my best.

Hollowbody releases for PC on September 12, 2024.

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If you enjoyed the hellish aesthetics of Agony and the psychosexual tones of Succubus, you may be looking forward to Madmind Studios' upcoming game, Paranoid. If so, you'll want to check out the twelve minutes of gameplay the developer uploaded to their YouTube channel.

The footage puts us in the shows of Patrick Calman as he makes his way through a sewer. A??ll the while, he contends with voices tau?nting him and hostile sewer-dwellers getting in his way.

//youtu.be/copCSWCHDLg

We get to see a little bit of the story, in which the 31-year-old Calman is experiencing trauma from the loss of his parents and the kidnapping of his sister. The footage is still a wor??k-in-progress, but you can get a feel for how the game looks and plays.

A different kind of hell

At the moment, there's no release date for Paranoid. The Steam p??age shows an October 2023 launch window, which would make sense given that this is a horror title. A Halloween release wouldn't exactly be unusual for the genre.

How will it compare to the likes of 2018's Agony? Hopefully much better, as that game didn't receive an amazing reception, with some even calling it the worst game of that year. Our reviewer didn't even finish the game.

Conversely, 2021's Succubus earned better scores, with it showing as "Mostly Positive" on Steam, so there's hope for Paranoid. As mentioned, the above gameplay footage is stil??l a work in progress, so any jank should be ironed out by the time it releases. Should be.

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Horror game publisher Feardemic has revealed that the 2D psychological horror adventure game Afterdream will also be coming to consoles. Afterdream will be available on Ninten?do Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S sometime this year.

The spooky title is in development by sole developer Jesse Makkonen. Makkonen is well known for his other 2D scary titles Heal, Distraint, and Distraint 2. Afterdream is also coming to PC via Steam, through publisher Gamera Games.

To celebrate the news, Feardemic also released a creepy console reveal trailer.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=opqd5ri1_cM

Explore lucid dreams with a spooky camera

Visually, Afterdream looks great, with eerily creepy 2D stylized pixel art. Playe?rs use a special camera to navigate a ghastly mansion that blurs the line between reality ??and lucid dreaming. The camera will allow you to interact with hidden objects only visible through the lens of the camera.

I love the atmosphere of Afterdream.  It's hard to pull off a scary game using pixel art, but Makkonen definitely knows what he's doing. Also, with it being somewhat of a side-scroller, Afterdream seems honestly perfect for consoles. I'm curious to see where the story can go with ?this one, because I know his former games left quite an impact.

Afterdream will release sometime in 2023 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Seri?es X|S.

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Hell on Earth. Moreso.

Fledgling German studio Hekate has released new gameplay footage of its grotesque psychological horror Ad Infinitum, which remain??s in development for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X. Hekate believes that the creepy-looking release will be ready for launch in September of this year.

As we have previously reported, Ad Infinitum is the story of a lone German soldier, lost in the miserable trenches of World War One. Told from a first-person perspective, players will explore a clash of realities, as the true horrors of "The Great War" merge with ??frightening monstrosities and fantasies that have seemingly become a part of No Man's Land. Ad Infinitum will combine stealth, exploration, and puzzle elements as the protagonist picks their way through a living nightmare.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uEcgVDH7X4&??;ab_channel=NaconNorth??America

As the first release from Hekate, the studio wishes to make a major impression with its debut. As such, the release date has been pushed back from the second quarter of 2023 to Se?ptember, which will afford the develop?ment team more time to further polish the release ahead of its launch. The team originally conceived the idea over a decade ago, and have worked on it painstakingly for the last three years. As such, it behooves them to make sure that this long-time-coming passion project is the very best that they can make it come launch day.

Ad Infinitum is scheduled to launch in September 2023 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

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Who Goes There?

Publisher Raw Fury (of Sable fame) has released an intriguing but incredibly eerie trailer for upcoming psychological horror title My Work is Not Yet Done. The lo-fi survival adventure is currently in development for PC at indie?? outfit Sutemi Productions. A release date was not reveale?d.

In My Work is Not Yet Done, players will take control of Avery, the last surviving member of an investigative who trekked deep into strange and uncharted country to source a mysterious radio transmission. A brain-heavy piece, the new title will combine investigative and analytical mystery alongside the simulation of surviving as a single person in a changing, isolated, and? deeply unnerving environment.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC0fSDi5b4g

As Avery, players will be tasked with continuing the work of her departed investigative team, staying one step ahead of death and insanity while uncovering the clues that will lead to an almost indecipherable phenomenon. From the official blurb, My Work is Not Yet Done appears doom-laden, suggesting that the team's �Avery's �task may be unfinishable, as each and every day brings with it further mystery, more questions than answers, and the smother??ing cloud of both isolation and mortal fear. Heavy stuff.

Regardless,?? with its creepy, staccato imagery, immersive atmosphere, and non-linear approach to adventure, Sutemi's new release might prove to be a real sleeper hit for those who like their horror a little on the cerebral side. Definitely worth battering down the brain hatches for, at any rate.

My Work is Not Yet Done is currently in development for PC.

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More like "Alan Wii-ke"

Alan Wake (now on the Switch) is psychological horror game about coming to terms with who you are. Many have compared it to Silent Hill 2 for that reaso?n and many others, but for me, the ways that it's about internal conflict have always felt? more unintentional than that.

Throughout the game, the titular Mr. A. Wake is thrown into nightmare situations that are too bad to believe. Likewise, the game's Switch port is technically much, much worse than anyone would have expected.  When it comes to stuff like polygon count, pop-up, frame rate, and just a general sense of jank, this is one of the least polished-looking modern games from a AAA studio I've ever seen. It runs worse than t??he original 360 versi?on did in 2010. Heck, it even looks a little cruddier than Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Resident Evil 4 did on the Wii back then.

And I sort of love it for that?

[embed]//twitter.com/GameXplain/status/15831754?76226334720[/embed]

Maybe that's because the internal conflict that's always been key to Alan Wake for me isn't about it's tortured lead character. It's about how the game truly doesn't seem to know if it even wants to be a videogame or not. In my mind it's always been sort of a sister game to Deadly Premonition, another cult classic survival horror game about fighting the same shadowy zombie-type things over and over again in a little American town. The big different between the two is Deadly Premonition always ?had a reputation for being so bad-it??s-good.

Alan Wake, on the other hand, looked technically amazing when it first came out, and so it got rave reviews. That polished look never matched how clunky and laugh-out-loud hammy its story was. Much like with the recent derided re-release of GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition, this worse-looking version of Alan Wake is a much better? fit for how I've al??ways felt about it.

Why am I being so hard on Alan Wake you ask? Dear reader, you have to understand:? The first words you hear after booting it up the are literally "Stephen King", and it doesn't let up from there. There are a few aspects of the game that seem more inspired by The Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks, but by and large, this is a game that desperately wishes it was either a movie, a book, or both by the world's most popular horror author. It features more references to King's work than I would ever want to count.

The premise itself is essentially a weird cover song of Misery, The Dark Half, with bits of other King novels like Christine peppered throughout. And that's OK! The problem is the complete lack of subtlety. The copying of King is s??o loud and strong that it makes the game more like ??a parody of the author more than anything else.

Spoilers: in the first couple of hours, the game features a cut scene that copies an iconic shot from Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining. Then, as if that weren't enough to take you out of the game and make you think about a much better thing you could be watching than the game you are currently watching, the narrator then blurts out something like "this guy is like Jack Nicholson from The Shining!" This probabl??y wasn't supposed to be funny, but I still laughed out loud, and? a big part of me hopes that was the intention.

Games that try this hard to be like movies are now like the 3rd or 4th most dominant genre in the industry, way behind stuff like Minecraft, Genshin Impact, and even Mario Kart. That wasn't true when Alan Wake was first released though. Back in the ??2010's, games that tried hard to be movies won all the awards and made a bulk of the money. It was a scary time for people like me who saw the move to make games more like films as a self-loathing near-suicidal downgrade.

And even if I did like movies more than games, and therefore wanted to see games turn into movies, games are just always worse than movies at being movies! Alan Wake is definitely no exception. It feels much more lik??e a Junior High Sch?ool theater adaptation of a Stephen King movie than a big budget film. It's cute and earnest, but if there was any reason to think it might someday replace the real deal, you'd probably want to see it put out to pasture.

So not only does this technically worse port of the game serve to humble Alan Wake a bit, it also give the whole thing a little of that dingy, broken and unsafe feeling you might get from one of Puppet Combo's Indie Horror titles. Underneath all the heavy-handed narration and obvious aspirations to be "more than a game", Alan Wake is actually a prett??y fun game, and having worse graphics doesn't change that.

The main mechanic that makes it?? stand out is the need shine a light on most enemies before you can damage them. It's dark as hell most of the time so you need the flashlight for more than just self defense. When the game finally quits shoving heavy-handed narration, in-game collectable book pages that actually spoil the story for you(!), and uncanny valley packed cinemas, it's a?ctually a really effective survival horror game, and the low-fi aesthetic doesn't hurt that one bit.

There're also a lot of little touches here that remind you that, in 2010, Alan Wake was actually a huge big budget game. The soundtrack is, in short, bananas;  featuring Roy Orbirson, Poe, and Nick Cave. It's extremely off-putting to see the game go from looking like a PS2 title to sounding like one of the greatest melancholy pop-songs of all time. The sound design and in-game TV show called Night Springs both also carried over perfectly from the 360 original, and both do so much to suddenly make the game's world feel real. The contrast bet??ween those roots in reality and the purely surreal, game world you're trapped in it when you play makes both feel stronger by juxtaposition.

When it was first released, Alan Wake looked like something from the future, like they had someone make a game from 2022 in 2010. Now on Switch, it looks like a low budget game from 2010, unearthed for the first time 2022. It's seems to be actively repulsive and hostile to people who loved it the first time around, but if you're someone like me who actually likes crappy looking games, you may e?njoy this Switch port. So if you want to take the chance, saddle up for a down-port that you can sincerely love, and love to laugh at, nearly at the same time.

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A taste of Italian terror

Digital retailer Epic Games Store has revealed the two new titles that it will be offering up to all users free-of-charge next week �Come October 27, we will be getting a little creep, and a little carnage, with the arrival of horror adventure Saturnalia and tabletop strategy sim Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1qGfWjlv8s

Making its grand debut on October 27, Saturnalia is a mood-piece horror title developed by Italian st?udio Santa Ragione and encapsulating the country's love of oppressive, colorful, and unnerving tales of the macabre. This roguelike adventure will see the player control an ensemble cast of characters, who find themselves trapped within a labyrinthine village under the power of some ancient, otherworldly evil.

With a heavy, Giallo-inspired aesthetic, Saturnalia will blend challenging roguelike gameplay with a body of rich Sardinian folklore to create a non-linear adventure featuring procedurally-generated dungeons, an array of puzzles, and an involving yet somewhat abstract narrative �all awash in a unique styl?e that evokes tribute to Italian horror greats such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava.

This Epic Games Store release represents the pr?emiere of Santa Ragione's mysterious odyssey, with PlayS??tation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch ports also arriving the same day.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfqF81VPoM0

One of a gazillion titles released under Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K banner, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus sees another chapter in the endless interplanetary conflicts of The Imperium. Launching in 2018 and developed by Bulwark Studios, Mechanicus is a strategy-action games? that places a heavy emphasis on the cybernetic enhancements and body modifications of this particular chapte??r of space marines, making man deadlier than ever before with a wide range of symbiotic upgrades.

Featuring fully customizable units, resource management mechanics, a huge arsenal of devastating weaponry, multiple choice narrative options, and over 50 stages of brutal battles with the encroaching Xenos, Mechanicus, much like its g?aming brethren, packs in hours upon hours of strategic tabletop action, and is sure to keep Genestealer painters everywhere engaged into the wee small hours of the evening. For The Imperium!

Saturnalia and Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus can be downloaded from the Epic Games Store from October 27. Until then, users can still bag themselves current freebies Fallout 3 and Evoland.

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A local village for local people

Anybody fancying a little bit of a slow burn scare this weekend would do to take a look at Cloak & Dagger Games' latest release, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, now available on PC via Steam and GOG.com.

Seeped in folk horror vibes and sporting an aesthetic reminiscent of the golden age of the Commodore Amiga, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is the tale of author and antiquarian Thomasina Bateman, who is traveling the length and breadth o?f the countryside to explore th??e many barrows of Victorian England.

//youtu.be/x-1C_9RQJb8

While her travels so far have brought about many interesting sights and characters, Bateman's arrival in the little-known village of Bewlay sees her research expedition take a particular??ly dark turn �with our intrepid hero becoming mired in a world of unanswered questions, ancient cultures, and living nightmares, as she delves deeper into the village and its highly unnerving community.

Choosing atmosphere, mood, and impending dread over the genre's well-worn trope of tired jump scares, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow blends mystery, exploration, and a sense of ancient malevolence to weave its tale, beckoning the player in with its intriguing locale, creepy cast of characters, and plucky, daring protagonist. It looks to be a real sleeper hit of ?the year, and well worth checking out for those who like their ghostly goings-on a little on the psychological side.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is available now on PC via Steam and GOG.com.

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The Game Grumps announce their highly anticipated sophomore title

Dream Daddy is a game that completely rocked the indie game community. Developed and published by the Game Grumps of YouTube fame, the dad-centric visual novel/dating simulator gained a cult following basically overnight, and rightfully so. It's an incredibly polished and adorable game with fun characters and some awesome representation. All eyes are on Game Grumps to see what they'll do after the success of their debut, and now they've finally announced their next project: a narrative-driven, psychological horror game called Homebody.

Homebody is developed by the team at Game Grumps, and will be published by Rogue Games. The game was inspired by classic slasher films from the 1980s, and will center on a woman named Emily as she tries to avoid a killer by fi?nding her way out ?of the house, all the while uncovering secrets from her past.

The gameplay will include puzzles, dialogue choices, and of course, evading the killer that co??uld be around any corner. While at first escape is impossible, players will soon start putting the pieces of the mystery together with each attempt. Throw in some unpredictable enemy AI as well, and no two encounter?s will be the same.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YYl9UJi06U

What's most intriguing to me about Homebody so far is its art style �coming off of Dream Daddy, this is not what I expected the Game Grumps' next project to look like at all, and I think that's awesome. They saw their opportunity to try something different and really went for it, and it's exciting to see them branching out and trying new things. The jump from 2D to 3D is what surprised me the most, because it's not easy to pivot like that, especially for a relatively new studio. Homebody's style definitely looks cool, creepy, and has a strong artistic vision, and I'll be looking forward to seeing how they use a more retro 3D style to tie into the rest o??f the game's tone and themes.

We don't have a release date quite yet, but we do know that Homebody is coming? to Steam, the Epic Games Store, and consoles sometime ?later this year.

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