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AshenOne

Member
Feb 21, 2018
6,241
Pakistan
Apparently these games are part of some 'Creative Europe' Media Programme in the European Commission..

Okay so first up is H2O aka Layers of Fear 3 quite possibly and its summary says:
The market success of Layers of Fear, as well as the continued interest players expressed in a sequel, convinced Bloober Team to commence work on another game in the series. H2O (working title) will be a hidden horror game set to deliver high quality, refined gameplay. Hidden horror combines the two most important aspects of a game from the player's perspective: a high level of emotions during play and a unique engrossing narrative.The design team's core objective is to create a game world that will build upon selected aspects and ideas of the original Layers of Fear. The following aspects were instrumental in the last game's success and it will be continued in a sequel:• an intimate story revolving around a singular, specific character that the player can identify with• artistic theme• discovering the layers of the story through subsequent unveilings of the masterpiece • the madness theme• air of mystery• a closed-off space.The player will need to survive and discover the story of the main character. Depending on the details the player was able to glimpse during their playthrough, they will decide on the outcome of the story.Bloober Team defines potential player needs, requirements and preferences based on market research, talks with potential publishers and own experience gained during numerous industry meetings in Poland and abroad. An analysis shows that the planned production of H20 will meet the following player needs:• deep, enriching stories in horror games• increasing the immersion effect in horror games thanks to innovative technology• offering an appropriate level of replay value in horror games thanks to innovative technology.Features that make H2O stand out on the market:• a high level of immersion• ambitious gameplay• call-backs to Layers of fear assets• exceptional sound design• the ending of the game reflects the playthrough of the player.

Creative Europe Project Results

Here you can find project information and results of projects supported by the European Commission under the current Creative Europe programme and under the previous Culture 2007-2013 programme.

Next up is BLACK..
Presented from a first person perspective, the gameplay is a mixture of exploration, survival and combat. The players take in the world by exploring the environment, interacting with characters and taking part in story-driven setpieces. As the story progresses, they shape the narrative by making a series of moral choices that will lead to one of at least two endings. At times, the player engages in visceral hand-to-hand, or melee, combat. Although sparse and sometimes optional, the combat always poses a challenge and builds tension, suitable for a survival horror game. The hero is constantly outnumbered, or overpowered, and can easily perish if he is not careful.When combat is not an option, the players will be tasked with simply staying alive in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. They can accomplish that by means of stealthily avoiding, improvising or outmaneuvering the opposition. These segments, including encounters with the alien enemies, will serve to truly ratchet up the tension and provide the game with a much-needed sense of terror. Will you evade your enemies, distract them or face them head on?Key features:• unique setting, the unconventional blend of the Middle Ages and alien species • mature story of the dark aspects of faith and humanity with the alien lifeform as catalyst for character development• ambiguous moral choices (should we punish those who have wronged us, or stand with them against a greater evil? Should we save a child at the cost of our own life?)• mix of stealth and intense, visceral combat (hand-to-hand/melee)• historical setting makes the story more realistic and relatable, allows for potential spin-offs set in other historical periods (a la Assassin's Creed).


And finally there is Dum Spiro..
Dum Spiro is a horror game, which title comes from a Latin sentence "dum spiro, spero" - it means "while I breathe, I hope" and expresses main theme of the game: that even in the face of certain death people are still capable of deciding about their lives, defining its meaning through their actions towards the end and even triumph the evil in a symbolic way. Story takes places during years 1941-44 in Litzmannstadt Ghetto – a World War II ghetto established for Polish Jews, the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe. Player takes role of the imprisoned boy who struggles against all odds in order to hide and save his little sister.Although at first glance the game looks as presented from first-person perspective (the view from the eyes of the main character), the aim and the main distinguishing feature of the game is the destruction of the so-called "fifth wall" separating the player from the presented history (to render him the recipient instead of a full-fledged participant).Unique aspects of the game focus on increasing immersion through the creation of a sense of player's responsibility for characters' activities, by giving him the freedom to make all the choices in the game and assessing their impact at the same time. These are:- Branching plot of the game - the game is divided into 3 acts, at the end of which the player makes a choice in determining which of the episodes he will play next. The main advantage of this is to call in the real sense of the player to decide about plot's shape, and hence the responsibility for his decisions.- Dilemmas in subsequent acts chosen based on previous choices - thanks to that the tension created by the dilemmas in later acts escalates according to the best principles of drama history.- An extensive system of interpersonal relationships - based on smaller and more frequent decisions that do not alter the main events, but affect the state (emotional, mental, physical) of people who are close for the hero.


I found these thanks to a post on r/GamingLeaksAndRumors which has originally linked to the main source of the one bringing this information which is.. this twitter handle
 

Carnby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,256
Wow... Dum Spiro sounds dark. I can't think of a game that's done something like that before. Anyone?
 

Uzupedro

Banned
May 16, 2020
12,234
Rio de Janeiro
I don't care about Layers of Fears, Aliens in Middle Age sounds cool and Dum Spiro seems to be SH and could be VERY bad if not handled well, like, REALLY bad.
 
Oct 25, 2017
19,306
I've never played a Bloober game before, but why do people loathe them so much? I've never seen such a repulsed reaction in the SH rumor thread. Like to the point people were saying any developer but Bloober. Really? Any??

How bad are they?
 

BrickArts295

GOTY Tracking Thread Master
Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,912
I've never played a Bloover game before, but why do people loathe them so much? I've never seen such a repulsed reaction in the SH rumor thread. Like to the point people were saying any developer but Blooper. Really? Any??

How bad are they?
Why not play one of their games and form your own opinion?
anyways here's a pre-Medium video about their style of game developing:
 

lucebuce

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,901
Pakistan
517Q475MGTL._AC_.jpg
 

SimplyComplex

Member
May 23, 2018
4,060
I'm all for more horror games in the AA/AAA lite space. And these games all seem to have an interesting premise
 

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
24,049
that Dum Spiro game is literally Bloober Team walking in eggshells. I sure hope they are confident with whatever they are going for cuz a poor execution of said themes is not a good look for that team especially considering they track record of handling risky and real topics in their games.
 

Uzuki

Member
Oct 27, 2017
496
United States
I've never played a Bloober game before, but why do people loathe them so much? I've never seen such a repulsed reaction in the SH rumor thread. Like to the point people were saying any developer but Bloober. Really? Any??

How bad are they?

A combination of their horror games from a theamatic gameplay perspective are pretty bog standard and sometimes outright bad and that their writing isnt very good especially with their latest game:

Saying that children that were abused by molesters are broken and their problems can hinder, harm and be a burden on those around them and they would be better off killing themselves to stop that and their pain.

Also they patent their Two Worlds mechanic so now no one that has the same idea can do that while it's in effect and they're very proud about that and have even boasted that anyone who wants to do something like that has to go through them. Any company or developer that gatekeep game mechanics for profit are some of the worst in the industry and can go eat grass.
 

Onlywantsapples

alt account
Banned
May 13, 2021
1,521
out of curiosity but do we know what the status of these 3 games are, in relation to the 3 game deal Microsoft has in place with Bloober? in terms of games launching into gamepass.
 

ArchedThunder

Uncle Beerus
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,212
A combination of their horror games from a theamatic gameplay perspective are pretty bog standard and sometimes outright bad and that their writing isnt very good especially with their latest game:

Saying that children that were abused by molesters are broken and their problems can hinder, harm and be a burden on those around them and they would be better off killing themselves to stop that and their pain.

Also they patent their Two Worlds mechanic so now no one that has the same idea can do that while it's in effect and they're very proud about that and have even boasted that anyone who wants to do something like that has to go through them. Any company or developer that gatekeep game mechanics for profit are some of the worst in the industry and can go eat grass.
I don't even think The Medium was very good, but that is absolutely not what the game was about.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,997
Yeah: the horror game set in medieval europe featuring aliens, the one set in WWII poland and the person reading this post all seem to be Silent Hill projects.

I'm joking of course lol
It was only then that the façade faltered, if only for a moment, and the reader realized THEY WERE STILL DYING IN THAT FIELD IN VIETNAaAaAaaam...
 

Aurc

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,890
Whoa. I get not liking the purple dragon, but there's no need for insults.
 

That1GoodHunter

My ass legally belongs to Ted Price
Member
Oct 17, 2019
10,904
Dum Spiro's premise + Bloober's Writing staff, sounds like a perfect recipe for a PR nightmare so bad, that the team will never be able to live it down.

What the fuck are they thinking with that one? It's like they've seen themselves be ripped to shreads by critics every single time they've attempted to write sensitive subject matter into their games, but they've decided that they are already strapped into this ride, and can't get off.

BLACK sounds bonkers, I'll have to check it out on premise alone. LOF2 was horrid, i could care less about a sequel.
 

toadkarter

Member
Oct 2, 2020
2,032
I've been playing through their back catalogue recently since those rumours about SH came out. Layers of Fear is an OK horror walking simulator with predictable scares, Observer I genuinely loved as a piece of cyberpunk fiction.

From what I understand the rest of their catalogue isn't great mostly due to janky obtuse gameplay and mediocre writing (which were present but tolerable in the games I've played from them)
 

Javier23

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,904
You have to admire this kind of success, but I still am very confused as to how it came to be, considering they're a small outfit and none of their games are quite cutting it. How and why is everyone dumping their IPs on them?
 

Uzuki

Member
Oct 27, 2017
496
United States
I don't even think The Medium was very good, but that is absolutely not what the game was about.

I don't think the other meaning of "People that perpetuate cycles of violence can also be victims and their actions can affect those that they aren't directly abusing" isn't that great either when it follows it up with "Some pain isn't worth living through or trying to fix, especially when it's manifesting as a serial killing monster of pure evil that might also be molesting children(?) so it might be best to just die rather then try to fight it". Having it cut to black to let the player ambiguously decide if McHero Lady shot her sister, herself or the monster doesn't sale the message of its original meaning either. The whole thing was a mess.
 

That1GoodHunter

My ass legally belongs to Ted Price
Member
Oct 17, 2019
10,904
I've been playing through their back catalogue recently since those rumours about SH came out. Layers of Fear is an OK horror walking simulator with predictable scares, Observer I genuinely loved as a piece of cyberpunk fiction.

From what I understand the rest of their catalogue isn't great mostly due to janky obtuse gameplay and mediocre writing (which were present but tolerable in the games I've played from them)
Their Puzzle design also ranges from meh (The Medium), to straight up horrible (Blair Witch)

The games themselves also don't run all that well... My The Medium playthrough was littered with many strange visual bugs.
 

Kromeo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,956
I've never played a Bloober game before, but why do people loathe them so much? I've never seen such a repulsed reaction in the SH rumor thread. Like to the point people were saying any developer but Bloober. Really? Any??

How bad are they?

It's just this forum at it's most ridiculous, let's wait and see the games first
 

ianpm31

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,556
I really hope Keiichiro Toyama's new studio is the Japanese team working on SH even though I think they stated it's a new IP.
 

Raigor

Member
May 14, 2020
15,191
We should only claim success after they come out and are actually good. I get strong Telltale flashbacks when I see small studios expanding this fast.

Telltale had close to 250+ devs and they were playing with major IPs and licensing wasn't cheap.

Bloober Team has 100 devs and their most expensive project was The Medium which costed €7 million to make.

They are not going to dump millions on these titles when they are so small.
 

ConHaki66

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,971
Seems like they always have too many things going on and never really nail anyone of them
 

hydruxo

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,532
It's just this forum at it's most ridiculous, let's wait and see the games first

Or you know, Bloober's way of handling mental health and abuse is absolutely disgusting and people don't want to support them. Doesn't help that their games are thoroughly mediocre either.

Twitter thread about The Medium:

 

That1GoodHunter

My ass legally belongs to Ted Price
Member
Oct 17, 2019
10,904
I honestly think that Layers Of Fear 1 and 2 + Observer got them the attention they needed with the Medium sales being very decent for them as well..
Layers of Fear 2 is sitting at a whopping 70 meta/openscore, and only sold 50k units in it's first week, having released on both PC and consoles. Bloober never updated sales numbers after that.... I would not count that game as one of their success stories.
 

Kromeo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,956
Or you know, Bloober's way of handling mental health and abuse is absolutely disgusting and people don't want to support them. Doesn't help that their games are thoroughly mediocre either.

Twitter thread about The Medium:



Those are genuine reasons to be disappointed, that's not what the majority of that thread was about though. I don't particularly expect this game to be great either
 

Deleted member 17184

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,240
I am just guessing/assuming that one of the 3 games is SH, so this is the only one that could fit somewhat.
Unlikely, like I said in the SH Community thread.
If Silent Hill is one of the EU projects, that is extremely weird. It's a Japanese IP, and I'm not sure I've ever heard of a publisher not funding development for its own IP. Can the EC approve funding for an IP from somewhere else? Did they have funding for Blair Witch?
 

That1GoodHunter

My ass legally belongs to Ted Price
Member
Oct 17, 2019
10,904
"The way you wrote conversations about PTSD into Blair Witch fell flat, and the use of innocent people of minority groups suffering during war times, felt like it was placed there for shock value"

Bloober: "K"

"The way yall handled the subject of childhood abuse and trauma in The Medium was fucking disgusting"

Bloober: "K"

"What are yall making next?"

Bloober: "A game about children surviving through the Holocaust"

🥴👍
 

DeoGame

Member
Dec 11, 2018
5,090
Black and a new Layers of Fear seem great. Dum Spiro is a risky one. Some of the social commentary in The Medium about post-communism Poland was actually incredibly sharp, but to put it mildly, the handling of abuse in the game has been very divisive and open to several different interpretations, many of which are not exactly flattering for Bloober. Their handling of Dum Spiro could actually be very powerful and stirring like, say, Schindler's List, or it could end up "The Day the Clown Cried" of video games and be unintentionally offensive. It's a big risk, and while I understand why Bloober would want to take it on, it will need a lot of thoughtfulness in writing and design.
 
Apr 4, 2018
4,557
Vancouver, BC
Or you know, Bloober's way of handling mental health and abuse is absolutely disgusting and people don't want to support them. Doesn't help that their games are thoroughly mediocre either.

Twitter thread about The Medium:



That is an interesting and pretty insightful take.

I originally enjoyed the game, but didn't read it as thought they were sympathizing with the "monster", I read it as though he was completely condemned. But there are some really good points in the thread, from him and others. For example, how the ending can be read in a very dire way, as a lack of sympathy for victims. I'm curious if Bloober Team has ever responded to these type of posts, and ever expressed understanding and an eagerness to avoid that type of message in future games.
 

Zips

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,917
Ah yes, the Holocaust.

A major piece of history that I'm sure Bloober Team will handle with all the care and grace that they've shown to those suffering from mental health issues and trauma.

I'm starting to think that Layers of Fear and Observer were flukes.
 

Kromeo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,956
It's no guarantee of quality but I assume Konami would be at least partly funding any silent hill game? Not that they were exactly generous with their funding of games after 4