Visage Trailer Hits YouTube, Inspired by P.T.
By Cody Gravelle 26 January 2016
The extended trailer for SadSquare Studio’s Visage releases today on YouTube, a game inspired by the ill-fated P.T. that captures a similar tense, eerie vibe.
The trailer, which clocks in at just over 12 minutes long, is equal parts gameplay demonstration and creepy prelude to Visage‘s story. SadSquare describes Visage as being inspired by P.T., Silent Hill, and other psychological horror classics, but the studio maintains that Visage is its own game with its own unique story to tell. While the trailer doesn’t reveal much about what that story is, it certainly looks like it will span different settings, each crafted to create the kind of atmospheric dread that made Visage‘s inspirations famous.
The trailer, as shown above, shows that just because a game is meant to be terrifying, it doesn’t have to look ugly doing so. Visage is notably gorgeous, and even the dark corners that are only illuminated briefly during the exploration of the trailer have shapes and details working within them that makes the house and, later, the ghostly steps that lead towards an ethereal tree, feel alive. While Allison Road, the other notable Silent Hills-inspired game, deftly carries on the spirit of its inspiration, Visage appears to expand beyond the constraints of P.T., creating a much larger world to explore.
SadSquare has described the game’s narrative as the story of one man who finds himself trapped within a house, with Visage following that man’s attempts to escape. Of course, it’s never that easy in the best horror games, and the house will throw all manner of horrors at the player as their sanity slowly erodes the more they explore their prison. Visage also won’t feature any weapons or tutorials – it’s the gamer versus the world, and while the core story will always remain the same, Visage will also feature randomized elements during each playthrough in an effort to both increase its replayability and make sure players simply don’t know what’s coming next.
Visage is currently in its Kickstarter phase, and is looking to earn about $35,000 in order to fund a PC release, although surpassing that goal could result in PS4, Xbox One, or even VR releases as well. Those gamers who have simply re-downloaded Silent Hills’ P.T. and have been waiting for their next fix of immersive psychological horror should, if nothing else, check out Visage and see if it interests them. After Allison Road‘s studio recently cancelled their Kickstarter after finding a company willing to publish the game, there’s certainly room to crowdfund another spiritual successor to one of the most disappointing game cancellations in recent memory.
With that being said, have we seen enough to run screaming out into the streets heralding the coming of the next amazing horror game? Probably not. However, Visage‘s mix of creepy and fascinating visuals hold a lot of early promise, and should SadSquare’s crowdfunding campaign go as well as the developer hopes it will, it’s possible there will be another game to add to the list of hotly anticipated horror games in the future.
What did you think of the trailer? Did the Allison Road Kickstarter cancellation turn you off funding games in a similar vein, or have you been waiting for the chance to support another cool horror title? Let us know in the comments.
Visage is currently running a Kickstarter campaign, and will release on PC in the future should its campaign goal be met.
