It seems like the survival horror genre has never been more popular in the world of gaming than it is right now. Over the past couple of days, players have seen many new horror titles, like Resident Evil 8 or Outlast Trials, announced for the upcoming generation of gaming. With so much competition in the space, developers really have to come up with concepts that make new ideas stand out from the pack. With Maid of Sker, it seems that Wales Interactive has done that by steeping the game in Welsh folklore.
Wales Interactive is an independent developer and publisher based out of the United Kingdom. In the past, Wales Interactive has seen quite a bit of success, particularly with its FMV titles like SIMULACRA and Late Shift. Now the developer is hoping to see similar success with Maid of Sker by bringing on some of the writing talent behind SOMA and Battlefield 1.
During the Future Games Show, Wales Interactive debuted gameplay for Maid of Sker for the very first time, and gave some insight on the themes of the game. The horror game seems to be heavily steeped in Welsh folklore and tells the Welsh story of Elisabeth Williams. According to the game developer, players can expect, "a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel." The game also promises multiple endings that players can discover through exploration.
Gameplay revolves heavily around sound-based mechanics. The enemies that roam the hotel grounds are all blind, not unlike suitors from Amnesia. If the player makes too much noise, enemies will mercilessly track them down. With no weapons in the game, save for a device with limited ammo that emits a high pitched tone, players will have to make sure they move carefully through the world.
While players have experienced horror games where they control a blind character, like in Perception, there are very few entries in the genre that have blind enemies that are as intelligently programmed as the ones shown here. Adding the fact that players will have to control how their character is breathing to avoid detection, it seems that Maid of Sker will be an absolutely horrific time when it launches in July.
Maid of Sker will be released in July 2020 on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Wales Interactive