Wood Curdling Screams: Lumber Island
Lumber Island is clearly the name of a strategic resource management game about constructing a timber export company, so imagine my surprise when I loaded it up, having decided to flex my management muscles, and found myself in a sinking rowboat, viewing a darkening world from a first-person perspective. I've been duped, I thought, there's no way I can begin my ascent to the top of the lumber industry without access to 57 pie charts and an isometric map. A few minutes later, a lumberjack with a curtain of flesh where his face should be was pursuing me through a forest, his axe ready to chop me in twain. MY BLOOD IS THE RESOURCE THAT HE CRAVES. Lumber Island is a free horror game and you can play the first chapter now.
I couldn't tell you how long the chapter is because I've died twice now and I've got to move on to other things. I'd say it's worth the download though, if only because it's a horror game that isn't set in an asylum. In fact, the plot is absolutely bizarre. Would you expect horror if you read this without seeing the trailer?
Back in 1970s, this island was known as the "Lumber Island". It abounded in rare wood species of the highest quality, which were sought for by the craftsmen from all over the world — many of them took trips to the island in person, to pick the best material. The island thrived on private manufactures and tourism... ...until deposits of oil were found under it. This finding doomed the island: its inhabitants were made to leave their home land, the wood was chopped down to the ground. And after the oil had been pumped out to the last drop, the island was left abandoned and totally exhausted.
It's definitely a metaphor for something.