Psychological horror about the fears of being an expectant parent from the team that delivered Neverending Nightmares. (Win/Mac/Linux)
Devastated Dreams is a psychological horror game combining the two things that have scared me the most - being an expectant parent and feeling totally vulnerable in a rural area of the Philippines without any electricity or running water. It is a narrative focused game telling the story of Angel, a young woman who may or may not be expecting a child as she has to journey through twisted nightmares plagued by horrible monsters from Filipino folklore.
Similar to Neverending Nightmares, the story is told through seemingly unconnected dreams and nightmares. However, we will tell a compelling story in this game rather than just focusing on emotions and symbolism. Because of the importance of the game's narrative, we are focusing on telling one story well rather than having branches and multiple endings.
The protagonist of the game is Angel, a young Filipino woman who is living in the rural area of Aklan in Western Visayas in the Philippines. Visayas is a region rumored to have the most aswang - Filipino legendary monsters that are like vampires and werewolves only more twisted.
Western Visayas was also devastatingly affected by super typhoon Yolanda (known internationally as Haiyan) in November of 2013. The game will also feature other real locations from the Philippines including the Kabayan caves, which house fire mummies - incredibly well preserved bodies using a unique preservation process. Since the game takes place in nightmares, we can explore different regions of the Philippines that express the fears of the protagonist.
The narrative is character focused. As you play through the game, you'll find out more about Angel, her situation and her fears through what happens in the nightmares as well as by examining items and letters that she encounters through her journeys through terrifying places in the Philippines.
Is Angel really pregnant? What happened to her child? Where is her family? Why do aswang haunt her in her sleep? You'll have to play the game to find out!
Similar to the P.T. demo, much of the gameplay will be focused on exploring a nightmarish world with a completely oppressive atmosphere. When traversing the world, there will be clues to the story as well as other items that give insight into what it is like living in rural areas of the Philippines. The game's main purpose is to terrify, but we want to expose gamers to the Philippines and its interesting culture.
Like our last game, Devastated Dreams takes place inside nightmares, so if the player meets a terrible end, she'll wake up elsewhere and continue exploring the nightmares. The nightmares will have different settings as well as different situations for the protagonist. In some nightmares, Angel is pregnant but in others, she's not.
Devastated Dreams features several items that the player can use including a flashlight. When you have the flashlight, you can direct the beam with the second analog stick or the mouse. Besides amplifying the horror since you don't know what danger lurks in the darkness, the mechanic can be used for solving puzzles. Clues can be hidden in darkness and some demonic enemies may be afraid of the light, so the flashlight is very useful.
We aren't creating an action hero, so Angel can't sprint forever. When she runs out of stamina, she just walks slowly until she catches her breath. When you run, you lose the ability to aim your flashlight, so running should only be used when necessary. We want to limit the amount of time you spend running through the game by design because it's unrealistic for anyone except marathon athletes.
While we won't have a combat system, we will have Quick Time Events where you have to mash the interact button in order to get yourself out of a terrible situation. While QTEs are sometimes misused, tapping a button rapidly in order to fight off an imminent threat can get your adrenaline flowing. They were particularly effective in Telltale's The Walking Dead series. Because of our commitment to immersion, we won't be presenting the actual button prompts. We indicate when it is time to fight from the player's animation. If Angel is struggling, then you should mash. Some gamers with physical disabilities have trouble with fast button presses, so we will have an accessibility option to switch the QTEs to just one button press.
'via Blog this'
Former FANGORIA Forum Moderator and co-host of The Nerd Exchange Podcast Kyle Everett FUBAR Sember brings you breaking news on horror, movies, books, comics, television, RPG's, Video Games, NOTLD, Call Of Cthulhu, Trail Of Cthulhu, Arkham Horror, Day Z, The Walking Dead, World War Z, AFMBE, Left 4 Dead, Elder Sign, Mansions Of Madness, horror and zombie games, Dungeons & Dragons, and all things Lovecraftian!-
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