Amanita's unhappy Happy Game is coming in time for Halloween
And has a demo now
Amanita Design are known for their cheery and charming adventure games, wonders like Samorost, Machinarium, Botanicula, and Chuchel. Their next game sounds like it should be their cheeriest yet, given that it's named Happy Game. Reader dear, this is a trick. Happy Game is blood and death and horror. You will see this soon, as Amanita today announced plans to release Happy Game on the 28th of October. Or you can try a demo now!
Happy Game stars a kiddywinkle who falls into a terrible nightmare, which seems to involve a lot of things having their heads removed. A demo is up on Steam to show how this starts and offer a few puzzles. In the Amanita way, it seems quite trial-and-error-y but playful enough that I quite like pulling and prodding to see what everything does. I don't mind that when characters don't simply shrug say "I can't do that."
I'm not often one for cutesy horror but I have a lot of trust in Amanita.
They have dabbled in the unsettling and eerie with several of their games, particularly Creaks—though that game about spooky shadows was originally created by two students before they joined the studio. Happy Game is made by some very familiar Amanita faces. It's directed by Jaromír Plachý, the designer and animator behind Chuchel and Botanicula. And music comes from Dva, who did tunes for those two too.
Happy Game is coming to Windows and Mac via Steam and GOG on October 28th. It will also be on Nintendo Switch.