Summer Game Fest Proves Horror Game Fans are Eating Good in 2024

Though the traditional scary season may still be months away, and summer is officially just around the corner, fans of horror and adjacent games were given a number of titles to look forward to at this year’s Summer Game Fest. Among the world premiers, trailers, and gameplay reveals at Geoff Keighley’s annual showcase, there was perhaps a larger than expected presence of forthcoming fear-inducing games at 2024’s Summer Game Fest coming from developers both established and more recently formed.

Likely one of the bigger surprises and welcome announcements for fans of horror games of all kinds, was that Blumhouse, the film production studio well-known for its prolific output of horror, psychological thrillers, and similar works, is entering the gaming industry via a publishing division. Having released the adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s last October, Blumhouse is now diving fully into the video game world, and is committed to producing a range of games in line with its approach to its cinematic pieces. On top of that, a few other notable horror titles made appearances, all of which bodes well for fans of the genre.

Summer Game Fest 2024 Contained a Bag of Treats for Horror Fans

Blumhouse Announces Partnership With Various Developers During Summer Game Fest 2024 to Publish a Suite of Horror Titles

At the event, Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum, and Louise Blain, Creative Lead for its newly minted gaming label, took the stage to officially reveal and present a selection of six upcoming horror games via a series of trailers and teasers. Largely focusing on smaller or independent creators, the entries appeared to cover a range of design styles and subgenres, and a few have some notable names attached. These titles and respective developers that Blumhouse unveiled it was partnering with include:

• Fear the Spotlight (Cozy Game Pals): A 90s-era retro-inspired demake revolving around a supernatural mystery in a high school.
• Crisol: Theater of Idols (Vermila Studios): An FPS with disturbing and creepy doll-like foes, stating that players will need to “sacrifice their own blood to use as ammunition against lurking horrors.”
• Grave Seasons (Perfect Garbage): A Stardew Valley-like farming sim with the dark twist of a serial killer stalking the unsuspecting neighborhood.
• Project C (Half Mermaid Productions) A collaboration between Sam Barlow (Her Story, Immortality) and director Brandon Cronenburg (Infinity Pool, Possessor) promising their “most twisted vision yet.”
• Sleep Awake (Eyes Out): Cory Davis (Spec Ops: The Line) and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck’s collaboration, centering on a psychedelic story in a future world of nightmares.
• The Simulation (Playmestudio): A detective tale framed around the discovery of a strange video game at a crime scene.

Other Horror Games Shown At Summer Game Fest 2024

Aside from the above collection, another highly anticipated title for horror enthusiasts shown off was Bokeh Game Studio’s Slitterhead. Fans were given a closer look at the upcoming entry envisioned by Keiichiro Toyama, creator of Silent Hill and Gravity Rush. With its survival horror story set in Tokyo, intense combat, and creatively grotesque monster designs, it looks to be hitting all the right notes, and players will be able to experience it this fall, as Slitterhead is scheduled to release November 8, 2024.

The
Day of the Devs
event following the
Summer Game Fest
also featured some titles of interest, such as Rocket Adrift’s
Psychroma
, a
dystopian cyberpunk vision
marrying “paranormal concepts and grounded future technology,” and
Karma: The Dark World
by Pollard Studio, a psychological thriller channeling George Orwell and David Lynch.

2023 was a phenomenal year for horror games, and with all the above and possibly more to come, fans currently have plenty to look forward to now as well. Roughly halfway through the year, 2024 already seems set to deliver some excellent horror games in the near future, keeping the genre alive and well into the latter part of the year and beyond.