The Simulation is an upcoming horror game by Playmestudio, an indie developer based in Chile known for its prior release, The Signifier. The latter delves deep into the twists and turns of the human mind, as players seek to unravel the truth of events surrounding a mysterious death. While The Signifier was not billed as a horror game, many fans thought it should be, and that's translating into The Simulation. The upcoming title sets the stage for its horror scenario by putting players in the shoes of a retired game designer involved in a police investigation. Of course, given the game was only recently announced at Summer Game Fest, a lot about The Simulation's story and mechanics remains shrouded in mystery.
At Gamescom LATAM, Game ZXC recently had the opportunity to speak with The Simulation's creative director David Fenner about its take on horror. Specifically, Fenner talked about The Simulation's horror compared to The Signifier and the studio's overall experimental development style.
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The Simulation's Horror Compared to The Signifier
Fenner first spoke about how The Signer wasn't really marketed or intended as a "full horror game" and was more of a psychological thriller. By comparison, Fenner said The Simulation "goes fully into horror." However, while he said it does include jumpscares and other things to "get your adrenaline pumping," he added The Simulation is a more psychological or philosophical experience to make players think, an approach to horror that both he and the studio prefer. As Fenner said,
Good horror explores deeper subjects about relationships, humans, psychology, philosophy, and that's what we're aiming to explore. The human thing on a deep level and how players are really thinking...It's not very specific, like survival horror. It's a very experimental approach that we'll share more about soon, but on a narrative level, it is very philosophical, it is very deep, and it can get really chilling as well.
PlaymeStudio's Experimental Approach
Fenner acknowledged that while The Signifier was successful in its experimental development, it was an ambitious game and the studio learned a lot from making it. Fenner also talked about how TheSimulation also adopts an experimental approach and includes things like purposeful puzzles in its design philosophy. However, he also spoke about how The Simulation is a different type of game that opens the door to new experiences for players:
The Simulation is also a game that does something new, and it goes further in that direction. The Signifier is very simple mechanic-wise, but it's original, in a way, conceptually-wise...This one goes fully into horror and is, of course, a different type of game, right? There's something about the style and what we're proposing as a studio that carries on that. It's about taking risks, and trying to use mechanics as something that can carry an emotion, going very deep into the art part of it to create an emotional response.
It's an approach that's also part of the studio's aims to leave an emotional impression on players, to create games as a work of art, and to take players to new and unexplored places through games. Indeed, Playmestudio's website asks readers, "How far can a game go? A story still unfolding? As far as we can." It remains to be seen how far The Simulation will take its horror, but it's certainly an exciting and intriguing prospect.
The Simulation is currently in development.