Grave Seasons and Crisol are further proof that Blumhouse Games means business

Throw a rock in the Steam store these days and it’ll likely bounce off a few horror games before landing in a bloody puddle.

As someone who’s been a fan of horror films all my life – well, since I was allowed to watch them – navigating the genre can often be a frustrating affair.

Since the ‘80s the horror film has been the choice of the low-budget filmmaker, and as a result being a horror fan often involves trudging through a river of similar scarefests, panning for the few flecks of gold that stand out. For every It Follows or Paranormal Activity there are hundreds of forgettable ‘found footage’ or zombie movies doing the rounds.

In recent years the same has become true of horror video games. The continued rise of YouTuber culture means many indie developers looking for a quick buck will try their luck with a horror game, in the hope that by filling it with jump scares and other overused tricks it’ll be perfect fodder for any influencers who may be all too happy to comply with exaggerated screams.

While there are undoubtedly some great horror games out there, then, the sea of indie games – particularly on Steam – means it’s getting increasingly difficult to find truly original ones. That’s where Blumhouse Games comes in.

“While there are undoubtedly some great horror games out there, then, the sea of indie games – particularly on Steam – means it’s getting increasingly difficult to find truly original ones. That’s where Blumhouse Games comes in.”

If the Blumhouse name rings a bell, it’s probably because you’ve seen its logo before any number of popular horror movies in the past decade and a half. From the aforementioned Paranormal Activity and its sequels to the likes of Insidous, The Purge, Unfriended, Get Out, M3GAN or the recent Halloween / Halloween Kills / Halloween Ends trilogy, Blumhouse has established itself as one of the leading horror studios in recent years.

Last year at Summer Game Fest, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum took to the stage to officially mark its arrival in the games industry with no fewer than six game announcements. The first, PS1-themed Fear the Spotlight, was well received with a Metacritic score of 83.

For this year’s Summer Game Fest, I was able to play two more of Blumhouse’s upcoming games, and came away reassured that – to reuse the analogy – this is a publisher not content with simply throwing a bucket into the river of horror games and giving us whatever it scoops out, but is instead willing to put in the effort to pan for the gold contained within.

First I tried out Grave Seasons, a game that at first glance looks nothing like the sort of thing a horror-focused publisher would release. At its core, it’s a farming sim, with the player inheriting a farm in the sleepy neighbourhood of Ashenridge and trying to make a new life for themselves.

It only takes a few minutes of harvesting crops until you notice something unusual – lying in the soil among the carrots and radishes is a human hand. It’s the game’s Blue Velvet moment, the first sign that not all is well in this seemingly idyllic country town.

After befriending the muscular Hari and the outgoing Pilar – since this is a farming game, romancing the townsfolk is still very much a thing – I agreed with Pilar to head into the woods into the middle of night to investigate spooky goings-on. It’s a good job I didn’t bother romancing her, because suddenly an enormous shadowy beast appeared and tore her into bloody pieces. I’m racking my brains but I’m sure Harvest Moon never had gore like this.

As I sat there smiling at the twist, one of the game’s developers came over and explained more about its structure to me. She told me that there are random elements to each playthrough, that the killer is different each time and that various other decisions made along the way – not least who you romance, of course – can affect the path of the story.

While a full playthrough can last 30-40 hours, then, the hope is that players who become hooked on Grave Seasons’ paradoxical mix of equal parts cosy and creepy will want to start over again to see who the killer is next time.

Naturally, a 20-minute demo is nowhere near enough time to judge whether Grave Seasons will be able to keep the player’s interest for the duration – a daunting task given that developer Perfect Garbage will have to make both its farming sim and its horror plot equally engaging – but the vibe is right with this one and I’m keen to see where it goes.

After my time with Grave Seasons I moved onto the 180-degree tonal shift that is Crisol: Theater of Idols. Developed by Madrid-based Vermila Studios, this is a first-person horror game set in Hispania, a “nightmarish reimagining” of Spain.

Players take on the role of Gabriel, a soldier who finds himself exploring the island of Tormentosa, trying to carry out a divine mission from the Sun God by taking on the animated statues of saints.

Much like Grave Seasons, Crisol isn’t exactly what it first appears. While its viewpoint has you thinking it’s a first-person shooter it’s very much a survival horror game at its core. Indeed, going for an all-out action approach here is pretty much the worst thing you can do.

That’s because the ammunition used for Gabriel’s weapons is his own blood, meaning your health bar and bullet count are drawing from the same resource.

Along the way you can find syringes of blood which can be used to top up your supply, and you’ll also occasionally stumble on dead creatures whose blood can be absorbed. For the most part, though, careful weapon use and deciding when to run and when to fight are the order of the day.

Given that most of the enemies I faced in the demo were statues, they at least didn’t take too much ammo to defeat. A couple of shots blows their legs to bits, but they’ll still crawl after you, and melee attacks have been made deliberately clunky to ensure they’re only ever used as a last resort when ammo / health is low.

The highlight of the demo was easily the enormous statue that follows you round the stage at one point. Any noise you make gets the statue’s attention, meaning stealthily creeping around the streets is key.

This only gets you so far, however, as at one point you have to slowly turn a massive wheel to open a gate – I was genuinely nervous doing this, and because the statue creeps up on you so quietly I was constantly stopping and quickly turning around to see if it was standing right next to me.

The main takeaway from my time with both Grave Seasons and Crisol was that neither felt like the sort of cookie-cutter horror games that can be found shambling around the depths of Steam.

Blumhouse is clearly taking care to provide a curated collection of horror-themed games that offer more than cheap jump scares and spooky corridors, and while the range of genres covered so far – from farming sim to first-person survival horror – means not every release will be to everyone’s taste, its apparent discerning eye means those who do have their personal boxes ticked will hopefully find their needs met.