”Developping a horror game is a tricky challenge. You need to have proper characters and story. Therefore, this week I wanted to share a little bit about Othercide lore and background story through one of the main protagonist : The Child.
Alexandre Chaudret, Art Director on Othercide
There is no great confrontation without a powerful antagonist. It was therefore crucial for Othercide to get a strong and meaningful opponent, a creature that will be the reflection of our twisted universe. Indeed, there is no Batman without the Joker, you see what I mean?
I personally feel that the most frightening monsters feed from our own inner demons, from the instincts and thoughts we can’t control, held in a « dark corner » of our mind…
Once we decided to give Othercide a « horror game » flavour, we knew it was time to grab our shovel, find the creepiest and darkest graveyards in the past of our artists and start digging. That’s where we found the Child.
The Others feed and grow from human feelings. One of them chose a poor, tortured and lonely creature, a scratched figure and worst echo of mankind’s cruelty, to become his host, his vector… The Child’s pain provides an inexhaustible stream of energy for the entity who wants to shatter Reality.
The Child’s story is struck by disease, sickness, confinement, madness creativity, injustice, and forbidden love… a story that dies ultimately in a long and passionate scream of anger against the world that made him suffer so much. From his Dark Corner in between consciousness and unconsciousness, he shapes and sculpts the legions of nightmarish creatures that haunt the realms of Othercide, and the grid of our horror tactical game.
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
Stephen King
That said, like everything existing in Othercide, there are two faces to the same mirror. Thus, the Child is a representation of what we try to accomplish in our project. A contrast between the fragile figure of a tortured infant and the unutterable horror within his incredible powers, a link between the tragic lore he endured and the emergent narrative that will be disseminated through environments, creatures, sound design and music.
Is the Child the final – and terrible – key that opens the gateway for the Suffering Other? Or just a poor victim of the incredible cruelty of mankind?
In any case, some answers will appear during your last stand to prevent reality from shattering. Will you be able to do the necessary sacrifices for a greater cause? Or will you face your own inner demons?
Take our hands, follow the path behind the mirror… Don’t worry if it is a bit dark, my dear, don’t worry if it is a bit cold and pay attention to the nibbling scratches and off-key lullabies you hear down here.