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New Alone in the Dark, Haunted House games in Atari's horror revival
Despite recent strife, Atari's 2014 offensive continues with upcoming reveals of new Alone in the Dark and Haunted House games. Both games are coming to PC this fall, and Atari plans to reveal them behind closed doors at next week's PAX Prime conference in Seattle. Alone in the Dark: Illumination marks the first entry in the horror series since the 2008 release, which failed to set the world alight despite its hi-tech fire physics. Illumination is in development at Pure FPS, a Californian studio with little info to go on except it holds the trademark to Rekoil, a game made by Plastic Piranha. Consider one of our eyebrows raised.
Anna - Extended Edition improves UI, horror based on player feedback
When Anna launched late last year, it freaked us right out. It's an adventure game soaked with subtle, horrifying moments and disturbing imagery overlaid on a gorgeous Italian countryside – though not everyone agreed with this positive assessment. It was knocked for being too short, too esoteric, not structured enough. Anna – Extended Edition promises to address these criticisms, based on "the feedback of the thousands of players of the original Anna." The extended edition is available now, in boxed and digital form in the UK, and digitally in the US via Steam, for PC, Mac and Linux.Anna – Extended Edition includes new environments, puzzles, user interface and music, improved graphics, and a new character, "The Wife Doll," who has her own AI. The user interface was one con we noted during our time with Anna, though we still found the entire experience to be an outright creep-fest. Enjoy your Wife Doll, everyone – we'll be over here, cowering in the corner.
Anna finds new victims on Mac this November
Polarizing horror adventure Anna makes its way to Mac on November 9. Previously released on PC, our snapshot of the game found it "refreshing," but opinions about the game are scattered like arterial spray.Anna is billed as a point-and-click adventure about a "sort of haunted" sawmill. If you're looking to learn more about the fright fest, check out our Indie Pitch on the game.%Gallery-167122%
Snapshot: Anna (PC)
There are so many games out there we couldn't possibly review them all. Welcome to Snapshot, where we highlight games that might fall outside our usual coverage but are still something we think you should know about. Don't fool yourself about what type of game Anna is. Though screenshots may deceive you into believing the game is a realistic point-and-click set in the gorgeous Italian countryside, Anna is a horror game through and through. Even the developers at Dreampainters pitch Anna as a classic point-and-click adventure, based on the heritage of Val D'Ayas, a small village steeped in ancient folklore. The sawmill? "Oh, that, it's sort of haunted," the developers seem to say, "but don't worry your pretty little head about it."After playing Anna, I suggest you worry about it. Worry about it a lot.%Gallery-167122%
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Anna
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Dreampainters talks ancient Italian legend, modern murder and the beauty of point-and-click adventure games with its new PC release, Anna. What's your game called and what's it about?The game is called Anna and is a point-and-click graphic adventure about a "sort of haunted" sawmill.What inspired you to make Anna?The main inspiration came from a real-life old sawmill in Valle D'Aosta, an all-mountain region in Italy (to be very precise, in Val D'Ayas). It is an ancient and beautiful place, with some legends about ghosts and hauting around it. We mixed all this with a set of local legends and personal stuff. This game is actually a true homage to Val D'Ayas and its heritage.%Gallery-167122%
Meet 'Anna' today on your PC
The horror adventure game Anna launches today on multiple download services (including Gamersgate and Desura). To celebrate that important milestone, enjoy this trailer that starts off pretty serenely before veering into creep-out territory.
Anna disturbs its way onto Steam September 21
Italian horror Anna is coming to Steam September 21, available to download for PC and Mac. Developer Dreampainters originally released Anna on other portals in the summer, but German publisher Kalypso Media is now distributing the game onto Steam with a price tag of $10.The point-and-click thriller is based on the myths of a northern Italian valley. The choices you make affect the protagonists' "mental health," leading to one of three different endings.
First trailer for Anna, a pretty, spooky and pretty spooky title from Italy [Update]
This little indie ditty has been on our radar for a few months now, intriguing us with slick graphics and a mysterious, vague storyline that seems to smear the line between Dear Esther and Amnesia. Anna takes inspiration from ancient legends in Val D'Ayas, a scenic valley in northern Italy, developer Dreampainters says. Anna is a PC-exclusive, point-and-click exploration title which, as is obvious in the above trailer, has a dark, subtly terrifying edge to it. It has three different endings, each taking about three hours to complete, thus bringing the entire experience to around nine hours. Anna is coming at a "budget price," according to Dreampainters. Update: That's definitely the release date at the end of the trailer up there, so keep a lookout for Anna on May 18, 2012. We'd look out for it ourselves, but apparently we need to get our glasses checked.
