Following the success of its Silent Hill 2 remake, Bloober Team has been on a veritable hot streak, including the buzz surrounding its next Silent Hill project – a remake of the original game, centered around Harry Mason and his search for his daughter in the tourist-friendly town.
Though details on the Silent Hill remake are scarce right now, players who love the Bloober Team blend of atmosphere and fear can turn to these three excellent games.
1. The Layers of Fear series
Starting with Layers of Fear, released in 2016, and culminating in the 2023 reimagining – also called Layers of Fear, which connects the first two games with the story of the Writer – this series puts the player in the minds of various characters whose psyches are perhaps best left unexplored.
The original Layers of Fear follows an unnamed Painter, who roams his decrepit house alone, desperate to finish a masterpiece which he believes will mitigate all the tragedy in his life. The Painter was initially a world-renowned artist, whose wife – the lovely, talented Musician – served as his muse. When a tragic accident mars her beauty, the Painter sinks into a bitter brew of alcoholism and abuse, leading to a terrible loss. The Painter loses custody of the daughter he shared with the Musician, and then becomes obsessed with finishing a particular portrait. Depending on choices they make, the player will receive one of three endings, which can either lead to a repeated cycle, proof of the Painter’s egomania, or a form of inner peace.
The first game was followed by Layers of Fear 2, which follows an actor named James as he wakes up on a cruise ship, an unseen Director bidding him to “build character”. Like the Painter before him, the longer James explores his environment, the more it becomes abundantly clear that his mind is more twisted than the hedge maze from The Shining. The player learns about James’s traumatic childhood, which includes a violent father who blames James for his mother’s death, stowing away on a ship, and losing the one person who actually cared for him. Similar to the first game, the player’s choices affect the ending, with James either receiving acclaim, a fresh perspective, or deepening madness.
2. Blair Witch
As the name suggests, Blair Witch is set in the same universe as the 1999 film, taking place a few years before in 1994. The game follows Ellis Lynch, a veteran and former police officer who joins a search party to find a little boy named Peter Shannon. Accompanied by his trusty dog, Bullit, Ellis delves into the Black Hills Forest outside Burkittsville – which, as any The Blair Witch Project fan knows, is an astronomically bad idea.
The further Ellis goes into the woods, the more he begins to find mysterious symbols made out of twigs, hanging from the trees, unnerving constructs that greatly upset Bullit, who barks every time he sees one. Bullit is an important aspect of the game, helping Ellis ground himself against waves of PTSD, which unfortunately become more frequent as the game progresses. Along with the bizarre art installations, Ellis also picks up a video camera that can rewind or fast-forward time itself.
Again, the player’s choices matter, having an impact on how Ellis’s – and Peter’s – stories end. For one thing, players must remember to treat Bullitt well by petting him and giving him treats, or animal lovers will be very upset by the ending. As for Ellis himself, whether other characters live or die also impacts his own fate, with a possible time loop or a form of self-sacrifice: two possible endings.
3. Cronos: The New Dawn
One of Bloober Team’s most recent offerings, Cronos: The New Dawn takes place in both a post-apocalyptic wasteland and 1980s Poland. The difference depends on whether the main character has successfully used a Dive, which allows them to travel back in time. Known at first as the Traveler, or Traveler ND-3576, the protagonist is tasked by an organization called the Collective to save humanity from a calamitous event known as the Change, which has wiped out humanity.
Throughout the game, the Traveler collects Essences, which are the memories of those who did not survive the Change. She encounters a scientist named Weronika in the Poland of the past, who tells her that another Traveler, known as the “Pathfinder,” was meant to extract her own Essence but instead sabotaged the project. The longer the Traveler holds onto the Essences she extracts, the more her psyche fractures until she discovers the truth about herself.
Like its Bloober Team predecessors, Cronos: The New Dawn features multiple endings that the player reaches depending on the choices they make throughout the game. These denouements center around freedom, hope, or – featured in the New Game+ material – an ending that finally breaks a perpetual time loop.
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