The suitably named Mad Mind Studios has released further gameplay of their game Agony, a dark and nightmarish descent into the nine circles of Hell. This latest glimpse into the dark realm shows the player traversing a fern-laden forest overrun by all manner or wicked fiends, including phallic snakes and spidery things made of human limbs, as well as the more well-known flytrap-headed succubi from previous trailers. If the trailer proves nothing else, it shows that whatever demented team of artists the developers are employing have yet to run out of inspiration. The new gameplay also features the first gameplay to demonstrate NPC interaction with other damned souls, with the player stopping to hear the lamenting of a man kneeling by a river of what appears to be boiling blood. It also gives a hint as to the actual plot of the game, with the raspy and crude narration of a female demon egging the player on at certain junctures. Her name is not given, but it is implied she has some attachment to the player character, calling them 'pet' (though with demons, you can never really tell). Regardless of this new unveiling, plenty of questions remain unanswered. Who is the 'Red Goddess' mentioned in the opening sequence? And who is this mysterious female taskmaster? At this point it might also be prudent to ask 'Are we actually playing a human?', given how like previous teasers, this fresh snippet demonstrates how dying merely reduces the player to a bodiless state, requiring they find some poor sap to possess. Are we a demon? Has our character made a deal with the dark forces for these powers? And what is our objective (other than presumably escape)? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, the folks over at Sad Square Studios also took the time recently to affirm that they are not dead, and still hard at work on their debut work, Visage. The game's development has been slow going, but after it's smashing success on Kickstarter, it has been rolling along at a relatively normal pace for such independent projects. Certainly, it seems much more active and successful than its sister project Allison Road. Both games have been frequently compared given their shared inspiration by Silent Hills P.T., and it's not hard to see why. Both borrow heavily from the game with their super-realistic graphics and their focus on dead-silence terror that helped made teaser for the aborted Silent Hills project such a popular success. Of course, part of the real terror behind P.T. was always its subtle approach to terror and its clever, freestyle narrative, told via the environment and events happening around the player. With this latest release, it now seems clear that Visage seeks to combine that atmosphere with the more classic Silent Hill themes of crossing back and forth between worlds supernatural and mundane. While previous trailers have been extremely tense and vague, this latest trailer shows off far more. It starts with some basic in-game scenery, much of which has already been shown, demonstrating the quality of the environmental design and graphics. This is quickly supplanted by rapid-fire visions of supernatural events, and of environments beyond the granular reality of the house that has up until now served as the main stage for all the scary events in the teasers. The video shows an Escher-inspired nightmare-world, full of stairs and doors, before switching to increasingly ominous clips; the player using a crowbar to uproot a floorboard back in the house; a heavy airtight door being swung open in a strangely industrial-looking location; a heavy dust-cover being removed from what looks like a full-length mirror. All these correlate with the game's theme of uncovering the dark secrets of the house's history.
At the same time, the trailer does a good job of remaining vague, even with the new imagery. We are given images of a strange location, possibly a laboratory, which is juxtaposed with the eerie normality of the house, and watch as the two bleed into each other. All the while, something, some blank-faced mannequin-like monster appears to be trying to stop the player's inquiries, and at the trailer's end, it drags them into the dark of an open doorway. Visage is currently set for release on December 31st. It's important to remember this is an optimistic estimate, especially since Agony was slated for June of this year, but is more likely to be delayed, given the end of the month appears to be approaching with no precise date having yet been set. Ultimately, regardless of when they come out, both games are to be applauded for keeping their audience engaged and demonstrating that their makers are hard at work, laboring to produce their promised product. I will do my best to keep you informed of further developments. Until then, stay spooky!
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