First details pave the way for Burnhouse Lane
While many horror games and movies rely on cheap scares to frighten their audiences, the most effective ones seem to fill your very soul with dread. Rem Michalski understands this all too well, as ably demonstrated in The Cat Lady, Downfall and Lorelai. Soon the acclaimed indie developer will be back with more blood-curdling chills in the upcoming Burnhouse Lane ... but this time we'll at least have a fighting chance against the things that terrify us.
The game stars a nurse named Angie Weather, who is suffering from "incurable and inoperable" lung cancer. One day, however, she meets a "strange creature" who offers to heal her illness in exchange for completing five "impossible tasks." This will involve tracking down some "really nasty serial killers" as she travels between two different worlds, the "real world (in this case a farm in Devon, UK, and local towns, moors and forests)" and the titular Burnhouse Lane, a "never-ending street which at first glance appears to be completely deserted but over time reveals its residents and secrets only available to those facing their own mortality, such as Angie." To help her succeed, players will need to "solve puzzles, make friends and enemies, run, hide and fight" in a journey that explores "some truly dark places but will also make you smile and cry and question life and all the things we take for granted." It's a story about death, yes, but also about "friendship and everlasting hope that no matter how bad things get there is always a reason to go on."
If you're familiar with Michalski's previous work, one look at the first screenshots and trailer for Burnhouse Lane will be enough to instantly recognize the new game as one of his, with its side-scrolling mechanics (controlled by keyboard or gamepad), gloomy colour palette and disturbingly surreal images, all accompanied by a searing original soundtrack by "micAmic and guests." What won't be as instantly familiar is the addition of some survival elements to go with its player choice and classic adventure elements. While this is hardly a run-and-gun action game, Angie will be armed and have the ability to fight back in some "combat sections" à la Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Beware, however, that just like its inspirations, here "ammo is sparse, enemies hit hard and every shot counts," though the developer claims that these sections aren't intended to be "too overwhelming" but rather exist to add an "element of tension" to the experience.
There is no firm target release date for Burnhouse Lane just yet, but if all goes well the game should have launched on Steam for Windows PC by this time next year.
Game information
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