I like ghost stuff. I like stories about ghosts, I like seeing old photographs that supposedly show evidence of ghosts, and I like videos that claim to show ghost activity.
But I view all that stuff as goofy fun. There’s always a reasonable explanation for whatever shadowy face can be seen in an old photo or brief swirl of light someone claims to be a ghost captured on film. I don’t actually believe in ghosts.
Not until it’s late at night and the house is quiet and I’m all alone and I think about ghosts for precisely one second. Then I suddenly believe in ghosts one million percent. And the second I believe in ghosts I just know there’s one right behind me and it’s gonna grab me or jump out at me or whatever it is ghosts do when they want to scare someone who until a moment ago didn’t even believe in them.
So, while I’m interested in playing the creeptastic looking adventure Shutter Story, I don’t want to do it alone because I’ll definitely start believing in ghosts and get really scared and then a ghost will immediately kill me. Would one of you reading this be willing to come over and play it with me? I don’t know why having a second person in the room would somehow protect me from vengeful murderous ghosts, but I’d sure feel braver.
In Shutter Story you’re helping out a friend who is worried that his family is being haunted, and your job is to go through his old photos and home videos looking for the truth. At your fingertips is SpectralAware, a software system that lets you apply filters and sliders so you can analyze pictures and clips to see if there’s any horrifying specters lurking in the background.
Spoiler alert: there are definitely horrifying specters lurking in the background.
As you go through photos and clips on an in-game computer, Her Story-style, you sort your findings into categories like apparitions, simulacra, demonic entities, and so on. As you reach generations back along your friend’s family tree you might even discover the reason for the hauntings. There are also sections of the game you play in first-person, walking through the house and experiencing supernatural phenomena for yourself. That sounds like some good, spooky fun (only, like I said, if someone is here to protect me from ghosts).
Shutter Story doesn’t have a release date yet, but its Steam page promises that it’s coming your way soon… sort of like that ghost that’s been standing in the doorway behind you, watching while you read this.
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