The authors of Layers of Fear are working on at least 2 more games -apkrig
Around the developers from the Polish studio Bloober Team, it has been unusually lively in recent days. The reason is the conclusion of cooperation with the Japanese company Konami, which has opened wide gates to speculation about the possible return of the Silent Hill series. In addition, the authors Layers of Fear and The Medium are working on own games, which are now relatively openly discussed in European Union documents on subsidies. It was these that Bloober acquired for the projects professionally marked Black and Dum Spiro, which are generously described in the annotation, which is used for assessment for the grant. In this case, both games succeeded, but we never have to find out about their future.
The player was to take on the role of a boy who is trying to survive in the Jewish ghetto against all circumstances and still hide his sister.
First of all, it should be noted that if the Bloober Team is to work on Silent Hill – or any other game in collaboration with Konami – the development costs will go to Japan and therefore it will not be necessary to apply for any subsidy. That’s why we talk at least about two projects, which, moreover, are being created in a very turbulent sector, and in the case of the first game it achieved on the subsidy, we can safely speak of a failed initiative that does not materialize. The subsidy was awarded for a title with the working title Dum Spiro, but already in 2015, with the proviso that it should have been completed three years later. The amount of the subsidy was 150,000 euros, but since we did not play any World War II game set in the Polish ghetto in Łódź from Bloober, it is possible that the developers eventually abandoned this idea.
If not, a very interesting title awaits us in the future, taking place in three story acts between 1941-1944 in the aforementioned Jewish ghetto. The player was to take on the role of a boy who is trying to survive against all the circumstances and still hide his sister. Although the game was supposed to look like a first person adventure, its key aspect was to be an imaginary demolition fifth walls and let players not only create a story through their own interaction, but also monitor the consequences of their actions and make decisions about them. Relationships with other characters and the need to often make decisions about seeming little things should also play an important role. However, this was supposed to bring the coveted branching of stories, probably several ends, and the feeling of a real historical drama, of which one is often just a bystander, who often does not even have his own destiny in his hands.
The player should always feel at a disadvantage in the game, stand against a seemingly insurmountable opponent and only exceptionally engage in face-to-face combat.
The second project that is more likely in terms of possible launch is Black. The game received a subsidy of the same amount of 150,000 euros and will not expire until the end of February next year. Even in this case, the developers expect a first person camera, the need to explore their surroundings and try to survive in it. Instead of World War II, however, we should move to the Middle Ages, which is under attack by alien invaders. The player should always feel at a disadvantage in the game, stand against a seemingly insurmountable opponent and only exceptionally engage in face-to-face combat. The main weapons are to be afraid of silent progress and probably also chance, which will decide about being and not being. Even in this title, however, the player should have the power to make important moral choices that will affect the further course and thus get to more possible endings. Through the description for the EU, the developers promise that setting the game in the Middle Ages will give it credibility and open the door to possible spin-offs and sequels, as in the case of the Assassin’s Creed series.
However, these two projects are not the only ones that have come to light in this context. Another recipient that received the project was the H20 project, which resulted in the sequel Layers of Fear and the game The Medium. In the latter case, it is necessary to point out that the subsidies of 150,000 euros were to be used by 2016 – Bloober applied for them in 2013 – and yet the game was released this year. There is therefore hope that even without financial assistance from the European Union, projects can emerge, so we could potentially look forward to the described Dum Spiro, which has sounded – at least from my personal point of view – all of Bloober’s horror movies and titles lately.
