You might know Bloober Team for its Silent Hill 2 remake, which everyone was really scared would suck until it turned out to be pretty okay, but the studio’s penchant for polarizing horror goes back a long way. These days, it’s cooking up games under a horror-centric co-development label called Broken Mirror Games—the latest of which is a crafty, shooty, isometric survive-em-up called I Hate This Place.
Revealed today during the Future Games Show, I Hate This Place adapts an Eisner-nominated comic of the same name, and it sure looks the part. Models and environments are scrawled over with linework, onomatopoeic text punctuates the action with guns literally going "RA-TA-TA," and it looks about as colorful and pulpy as something like Silent Hill is not.
As protagonist Elena, players will craft survival tools and get into shootouts with all sorts of cryptid beasties, according to a press release which calls it "a world where everything wants you dead." It sounds like you’ll need to watch the clock as well, with safehouses being the only refuge from whatever the hell comes out at the end of the game’s day and night cycle. The release highlights this with a warning: "Whatever you do though, avoid the Horned Man at all costs." I Hate This Place indeed.
I’m fixated on a particular quip from the announcement, which notes "players must think fast, manipulating their surroundings to even the odds … [combat] rewards ingenuity over brute force." It’s not clear what that means exactly, but any survival game that demands creative thinking and slapdash solutions is gonna end up scarier than one where I can gun down every sasquatch in sight with a minigun. Hopefully I Hate This Place’s cursed ranch is a playground for some robust systems in that regard.
The trailer is light on details beyond that, but it’s a pretty bold stylistic shift from the work of Bloober Team. As its CEO, Piotr Babieno, put it in the press release: "We are always looking to push the boundaries of horror in all its forms, and with this new title under Broken Mirror Games, I Hate This Place is a testament to that vision."
It’s also worth noting this is a partnership with Skybound, which has been steadily ramping up its forays into videogames for a while now. Kyle Starks, who wrote the comic this game is based on, said in the release: "Needless to say I'm thrilled to see someone bring it to life in videogame form! I can't wait to get my hands on this game and be trapped on the terrible ranch the book inhabits!" It’s nice to see an adaptation come from outside the usual Walking Dead and Invincible camps.
I Hate This Place is slated for release later this year, and is available to wishlist on Steam.
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