The Park Wants To Feel Like A Stephen King Novel
Will be a psychological horror tale
MMORPG specialists Funcom have revealed more details about their ominous theme park-set single-player outing The Park [official site]. Although it's the studio's first solo-playing venture in nine years - Dreamfall: The Longest Journey in 2006 being the last - The Park takes place in The Secret World's wider universe.
The latest trailer asks 'What is The Park?', before taking a behind-the-scenes peak beyond the rope barrier as it arrives at an answer.
Whilst Funcom note Gone Home and The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter as narrative comparisons here, the abandoned amusement park-cum-searching parent/lost child conceit very much reminds me of the Silent Hill series, which, within the bounds of a psychological horror game, is most likely a good thing.
The Park will take players an hour or two to conclude and will have a distinct focus on the emotional story arc of protagonist Lorraine as it hopes to "capture the feeling of a Stephen King novel," according to creative director Joel Bylos. He also had this to say:
For the last ten years, Funcom has been focused on making massively multiplayer online games, so 'The Park' is our first single-player experience in a long time. It has been an incredibly fun and rewarding process working on 'The Park'. What initially started out as a prototype and a way for us to learn new development tools, has evolved into a short and intense psychological horror experience which we are all very excited to share with gamers out there.
The Park has a tentative "October 2015" release date, according its website.