With slightly over $24,000 out of its $67,765 goal, set to end April 25, the team behind this project have just released a playable tech demo to raise further interest. For those who have never heard of Dreadful Bond before, it is a first-person psychological horror whose one of the most immediately attention-grabbing aspects is that the famed Italian film director Dario Argento, commonly known as ‘The Master of Horror’, is the creative supervisor behind it.
Set in a Victorian-era house, it is up to we the player to explore and uncover the secrets it holds. The first thing you’ll notice in the demo is the purely black & white aesthetic it has opted for, to mimic the look of older horror films, that of the Giallo subgenre in particular. Another interesting fact about the objects of the game world is that they have been captured via photogrammetry using actual artifacts found around Italy.
As you walk around the atmospheric environments of the demo, you will discover that all of the areas are interconnected. From the graveyard like area we start in, all the way to an ominous mansion, there are no load times as you travel and is all seamless. Aside from eyeing everything around you, there isn’t much to do or events to witness at this stage of development. It is purely a tech demo for us to see the foundation of what they can build upon.
What really sells Dreadful Bond for me is the exceptional short film released for it, which shows just how much potential it can have in the narrative side of things as to accompany the eerie environments. All around it is a really interesting project and here’s hoping they manage to reach their goal. Included below are both the short film and a link to their Kickstarter.
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