Horror fans brace themselves for Downfall tomorrow

Written by Jack Allin — May 14, 2009 at 15:58

If the expression "no guts, no glory" is true, then tomorrow's launch of Downfall promises to be a glorious one.

Four years quietly in the making, the independent point-and-click horror from tiny English studio Harvester Games is definitely not for the squeamish, but it should appeal to those who like their adventures haunted with the stuff of nightmares. When Joe and Lucy Davis sign in to the Quiet Haven Hotel to stay overnight, little do they know what terrors the new day will bring. First Lucy disappears mysteriously, and in the morning the hotel has drastically changed, as "nothing is what it seems anymore. Joe is left alone, trying to understand what is happening, trapped between reality and the nightmare. Then everything changes again and the world turns black and white. Only the colour of blood is still red... And it's all around him."

Controlling multiple characters throughout more than seventy stylish hand-drawn locations, players will meet the hotel's other inhabitants, including a birthday girl crying all through her party, another girl having a strange, disturbing dream asleep in her room, and a doctor hearing voices from the walls, urging him to "perform a certain experiment". The game offers a mature storyline with multiple endings, and comes with a distinct warning of "scenes of violence and gore, sexual content and strong language". The game's creator, Remigiusz Michalski, claims that Downfall "is not afraid to feature exploding heads and cutting people in half with a chainsaw, all of which are animated pixel by pixel", a claim supported by the lengthy trailer available at the game's website. Rest assured, however, that the developer also promises clever puzzles sprinkled into the mix.

Barring any unforeseen delays, Downfall will release as a download exclusively on Direct2Drive on May 15th.