Bloober Team "closing the era" of psychological horror games
To make "mass-market horror" instead.
Bloober Team is moving on from the psychological horror games it is known for, with the recent Layers of Fear remaster being its last game of the genre.
That said, it's still sticking with horror. Instead, Bloober is now making "mass-market horror".
What does that mean? Bloober says it will result in a renewed focus on gameplay over atmosphere, owing to its games being described as "walking simulators".
Studio co-founder Piotr Babieno didn't deny that criticism in a recent interview with Engadget.
"We focused on the story, we focused on the mood, we focused on the quality of graphics and music, but we didn't put a lot of attention on the gameplay mechanics," he said. "It wasn't our target. But we decided that there was a ceiling that we couldn't break if we did not deliver something fresh, something new."
As such: "This year is like closing the era of making psychological horror games. Right now we are going into Bloober Team 3.0, making mass-market horror."
Bloober's previous games include Observer, Blair Witch and The Medium, which all thrived on atmosphere over gameplay.
Of course, the underlying sentiment of "mass-market horror" is commercial success, perhaps a key reason for the developer's next game being the remake of Konami's Silent Hill 2 - a game that is, ironically, a psychological horror but part of an existing long-running series.
"We decided that our next titles should be much more mass-market oriented," said Babieno. "We'd like to talk with more people. We'd like to deliver our ideas, with our DNA, not by environment or storytelling, but by action. So all of our future titles will have a lot of gameplay mechanics. They will be much bigger."
Babieno also commented on the state of horror games in 2023 and how they can be a catharsis for the everyday terrors of our world, including the likes of climate change, the global economic crisis, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We are in a very specific moment in history because we have a lot of crises," he said. "As human beings, we would like to be prepared for something that is unexpected. Those fears are around us...we would like to deliver games that allow us to deal with our fears."
The developer is also set to remain independent, as "only then will we be able to make something new, something fresh and creative," said Babieno. "I don't want to create games by watching an Excel spreadsheet. I would like to deliver some new milestones of horror, our niche."
The developer's Silent Hill 2 remake still does not have a firm release date.