There’s a good chance you’ve seen the Blumhouse Productions logo flash before any number of famous horror flicks from the last 20 years, but the company is now extending its hit-making horror formula to the games space.
Blumhouse Productions has been behind some of the biggest horror hits from the last two decades, including the killer robo-ballerina romp M3GAN, all the found-footage murders seen in Paranormal Activity, the rebooted Halloweens, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split doulogy, the Oscar-winning Get Out, and last year’s Fight Nights At Freddy’s adaptation, alongside much, much more.Â
The production company has a knack for pumping out great, scary films at a low budget, which has proven to be a winning formula at the box office. And we finally got our first look at its new game initiative at last night’s Summer Game Fest Opening Night Live show.
Blumhouse Games is the new game publisher from film producer Jason Blum and Blumhouse Productions – think of it like a parasite flailing off the side of its host – and the publisher was apparently so chuffed about its debut that it revealed a whopping six new games in one wee trailer. Take a peek below.
The six games include Project C, the previously teased horror-thriller from director Sam Barlow and Half Mermaid, the team behind incredible FMV puzzlers Her Story and Immortality. Half Mermaid is now teaming up with Brandon Cronenberg (yep, the son of body horror icon David Cronenberg), so expect some grossness.
Sleep Awake is the cosmic horror game with some serious talent behind it. It comes from Eyes Out, a new studio that houses Spec Ops: The Line director Cory Davis and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, which is enough information to get me excited after a relatively mysterious teaser.Â
Grave Seasons immediately jumped out at me as the ‘Stardew Valley but a murder mystery’ game thanks to its pixel art, farming management, and socializing – only this time, there’s murder and violence, which is a cool twist for the usually wholesome subgenre.Â
Then we have the first-person survival action game where your own blood is the ammo in Crisol: Theater of Idols, and the fourth-wall-breaking The Simulation, which casts us as a game developer who needs to unpack obscure horror games left behind at a crime scene. But Blumhouse Games’ debut comes in the form of Fear The Spotlight, an unpredictable cozy-horror mash-up that’s coming later this year. That’s an incredible lineup that should speak to genre fans, no matter what you’re in the mood for.Â
While we wait, check out the best horror games to play right now.
