The Conjuring universe has a new chapter, and now audiences can join the fun, or the fear. Netflix released The Conjuring: Unspoken as an interactive story in partnership with Supermassive Games, the studio behind Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology.
The Conjuring: Unspoken is a new story set in the established universe
The interactive story introduces audiences to the Cooper family – father Jack, oldest daughter Charlotte, and her little sister, Bryony. The family moves to the Red Lion Inn, a rambling, borderline-decrepit structure the introduction describes as “one of the most haunted pubs in Britain”. Ever since arriving at the Red Lion, Bryony has been seeing her mother everywhere. But her mother, Olivia, recently passed away, and the tragedy prompted the Coopers to move to the old inn. They simply wanted to start over, but someone, or something, won’t let them.
Charlotte reaches out to Francesca Noakes, an investigator from the New England Society for Psychic Research, hoping Francesca can help their family. Francesca’s gifts enable her to see, or sometimes even relive, the most frightening moments of someone’s life. Although Jack is initially skeptical, it quickly becomes clear that the Coopers and Francesca are dealing with something very old, very mean, and very vicious. Who survives to tell the tale of the Red Lion Inn and its terrifying tenant depends entirely on the player.
All players need to help the Coopers is a Netflix subscription and their phone
For audiences who want to step into the Conjuring world, the first step is to decide how they want to play. The two options are playing on a computer or on TV. On a computer, like any PC game, audiences can use a keyboard and mouse to navigate the haunted inn, or scan a QR code with their phone to use it as a controller. Similarly, on TV, just scan the QR code to get started. If they haven’t played a Netflix game before, they will be prompted to download the N-Controller app.
When using their phone, players will be prompted to turn up the volume for the best experience, and for good reason. Moving the character around using the controller phone is simple. Four directional arrows appear on the screen, letting you move the character forward, backward, left, or right. Just touch and drag in any direction to guide the character.
The phone also transforms into ghost-hunting equipment. To help in her investigation, Francesca carries an EMF reader, an infrared camera, and a radio. Depending on the situation, the phone becomes any one of these. The EMF reader and the radio both make loud, unsettling noises through the speaker, and the screen becomes the infrared camera’s viewfinder. These tools are crucial to solving the mystery surrounding the Cooper family, so it’s important to know how to use them.
In Francesca’s hand, the EMF reader has a row of lights that range in color from red to blue, with red meaning paranormal activity is nearby and blue meaning it is probably too close for comfort. On the phone, a colored line appears around the edge of the screen, just like the EMF meter: red means the player is far away, and blue means they have found the activity. Use the directional arrows to move Francesca forward until the line changes from red to blue.
With the infrared camera, Francesca can discover important clues, like ghostly footprints or mysterious symbols. To find these clues in-game, move the phone around; when a clue pops up on screen, the camera zooms in and catalogs it. The radio works like the EMF meter, with colored lights guiding the player. Move the radio around until the signal turns blue, meaning you’ve tuned into the spooky signal you need to progress.
The Conjuring: Unspoken is a great crossroads between Super Massive and Conjuring fans
Like Super Massive games, whose narratives are driven by player choice, each decision is a crossroads that determines where the story goes, including whether characters get hurt or survive at all. It also shapes how they interact with and feel about each other; for example, Jack may fail to trust Francesca if players make certain choices. The element that works so well in games like Until Dawn translates just as well here. While choices often determine the ending in video games, presenting them as split-second decisions makes them more exciting.
Although Ed and Lorraine Warren are only mentioned and not seen, that’s enough to anchor the story in the overall Conjuring universe. The game opens on the infamous Annabelle doll, sitting in the room of haunted artifacts in the Warrens’ house. The new characters are the focus of The Conjuring: Unspoken, and their performances shine, particularly Emma McDonald as Francesca. The story is fairly straightforward, but its emotional depth lifts it up, from the family’s grief to the love they still have for one another.
Whether you’re a fan of Supermassive Games, the Conjuring movies, or both, the game combines the best elements of each into a fun, engaging interactive story, and its relatively quick runtime means it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
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