Look, I know that not everyone howls with laughter when they see a particularly gory or surprising kill in a horror movie. But I usually can't help myself. It's an involuntary, spontaneous reaction of delight. I'm not ashamed of my tendency to clap and convulse in the movie theater when things go off the rails for hapless characters in ghoulish and terrible ways.
The announcement trailer for Hidden Deep - a new strategy/horror game from developer Cogwheel Software - has a few moments that provoked such loud surprised laughter from me that my I startled my four-year-old, who was playing happily on the floor near my desk. I immediately scrambled to cover my screen with my hands in a panic, but I'm afraid he might have seen the bit where the guy tries to make a leap of faith and ends up eating a mouthful of cliff - followed by a slightly hysterical snort of amusement from yours truly. There may have been a horrified, questioning, accusing look from a previously trusting child. I'm not sure.
All the good stuff is in here - creatures from The Thing, gadgets and heavy machinery from Aliens, the claustrophobia of The Descent. And although I don't often engage with side-scrolling games, the beautiful and precise animation on display here really captured my imagination. The overwrought text narration, the laser-mapping ball thingies from Prometheus, the big heavy digging machines - it's all candy for me. I really, really love this trailer. Take a look:
Check out a list of features from a recent press release:
Hidden Deep is scheduled to be released on Steam sometime this year. A demo will be available during the Steam Games Festival from February 3rd - 9th.
