We're going back more than a decade today to look at a Slenderman-like horror game.
Made by cubehero, Dream of the Blood Moon (DotBM) is surprisingly ambitious and interesting. Why surprisingly? It was created in 2012 and was the first 3D game created by the fledgling Indie Dev, who made the entire thing in the old Unreal Development Kit v.2.5. They'd never tried it before so the results are pretty spectacular.
In the Slenderman vein of wandering around and finding things to make something happen, DotBM has three things that Slenderman has struggled with or simply lacks:
- A coherent story.
- Excellent atmosphere.
- Tale longevity.
Firstly, the story. Someone has watched the original Grudge, haven't they? As well as played Fatal Frame/Project Zero. The misery of a soul that binds it to the living has long been a staple of folklore, stories and campfire spook-a-thons. It's dark, it's sad and it's horrific. This is not for the jumpscaring screamer - the content *needs* a warning for good reason.
As for atmosphere, DotBM is steeped in it. Well-paced, even though it is short, the game pulls from Japanese folklore and nightmares to create a sense of creeping dread. cubehero needs praise for not heading down the needless jumpscare route - it would ruin the game and break the sense of impending terror.
Terror is more the point of this game than horror. Terror is the slow-build and fear ramping up until you almost can't cope with it. Horror is the act, the violence, the gore, the shock of the action. The tale presents you with horror off the bat, the terror makes you stay to find out what will happen next.
So that leaves me with one big question - why did Slenderman take off but this didn't? It was the early 2010's and, whilst there'd been some interest in Japanese horror it really went as far as survival horror. That was it. In a world fascinated with the Blair Witch and Scream, there simply wasn't any focus on these types of games when the trappings did not fit with the Western aesthetic. Fatal Frame did okay out of novelty at first but was still survival horror at it's heart. An independent effort like Dream of the Blood Moon, without the backing of viral campaigns or a large studio, was a darker and heavier story that audiences just weren't interested in at the time of release.
Now though? This would do well to be remade.
Dream of the Blood Moon is available to download here: Dream of the Blood Moon by cubehero (itch.io)
Watch Jo play it on stream here: www.twitch.tv/lu2dgames
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