Dawn Of The Planet Of The NOPES: The Hum's Sci-Fi Horror
nope nope nope nope
I do love a good looming doomsday apocalyptic humdinger. I like to ask myself, "Man, what is going on here?" as a giraffe necked alien monstrosity twists my head off my body like it's de-stemming a cherry. Good invasion stories are rarely about the what. It's the why that hooks people. What are these creatures? What's their motivation? Where did they come from? Or, in the case of The Hum, where did everybody go? In this scrumptious-looking survival-horror game, a nauseating humming noise ushered in the end of humanity. Just like that, most people disappeared, and only dilapidated cities remained. Well, that and the occasional Half-Life-2-Strider-esque spindle monster. Trailer below. (But why?)
Yep, I don't like those things one bit. Perhaps they'll leave if I scream and cry at them a lot.
The Hum is about these things:
"The Hum is a horror game set in a world that has been destroyed by a sudden alien invasion. You will play the role of a survivor hiding in a barn since the invasion, months ago."
"But something strange starts to happen. Every day, every night, you wake up with new memories, new abilities, new paranoias. You ask yourself 'what is happening here?' Gameplay includes typical stealth mechanics, inventory and first person movement, but you will be suffer constant abductions that will alter your sense of reality and will break down your deepest beliefs."
Apparently the focus will be on debilitating, disorienting fear, not domino tripwires of jump scares. Sustained unease seems to be the goal here, to hear the game's developer tell it.
The Hum is set to release at the end of the year. It already made a successful run on Steam Greenlight, so all that's left is the wait until release. And then, finally, we'll be able to know once and for all why everybody went bye-bye (hint: it's probably because the aliens are jerks, but maybe because the entire world is throwing you a surprise birthday party).