Lakeview Cabin Collection Goes Alien-y In Episode 6

From Friday the 13th to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Roope Tamminen's Lakeview Cabin Collection [official site] offers little sandbox deathworlds inspired by horror films of the '70s and '80s. They're... non-linear violent adventure games? No, I still don't know how to describe this. Each episode turns characters loose in a little horror movie setup to survive any way they can - you get to try the things you shout at characters to do, basically. Or try to. Now the Collection is complete with the release of an Aliens-y, Thing-ish episode and a little epilogue.

Lakeview Cabin VI has been in beta for a while, but it's properly done and so is the Collection. I've only poked my nose into but it seems to be set in the future on a research station orbiting a destroyed Earth. Oh yes indeed a cabin is up there too. Unlike many Lakeview Cabin films, this one has plenty of friendly people around. They seem to be people anyway, not e.g. husks filled with some alien thing flailing tentacles.

Accompanying VI is the long-teased Lakeview Cabin II, a small epilogue. I'd tell you what it's like but I can't. You have to complete every other Lakeview Cabin to access II, see, and that goal has eluded me so far. (That's a fancy way to say I'm rubbish at it.)

I may be rubbish at Lakeview Cabin Collection, but I've enjoying poking at them to influence the outcome. I know the pitfalls and tropes of horror films so I have a vague idea of what's up as I poke around and discover my options, but it's one thing to shout solutions at characters on a screen and another to pull it off yourself.

The Lakeview Cabin Collection is available on Windows and Mac from Steam and Itch. It's cheapest on Itch at $8.99, where you get DRM-free versions as well as a Steam key.

"About the future: I have a little project simmering that I can't wait to show you all," says creator Roope Tamminen after this release. "I'm also of course going to keep supporting Lakeview Cabin with fixes and patches so the work is still far from done."

In a similar-ish vein to Lakeview, I recently played Until Dawn on PlayStation 4 with Cara. I was dismayed when, as much as I tried to shut down any hanky-panky or dalliances, the game still dragged off characters who I made jolly well certain stayed chaste, were well-mannered, and didn't touch anything spooky they found in the woods. That's not how it's supposed to work, maaan.