Night Terrors: The Beginning – A Hauntingly Powerful Glimpse into the Future of Augmented Reality
Ted Hentschke
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I shouldn’t admit this, but it took me way longer to do this Night Terrors: The Beginning preview than it should have. There are a number of legitimate reasons that certain games or movies might fall through the cracks, ranging from an oversaturated release season to it just not being that good. But the reason that I put this one off falls squarely into the category of “not a legitimate reason.” I didn’t play Night Terrors for weeks because I was scared to. I legitimately was bitching out. That’s right, a one dollar, ten minute long iPhone app spooked me enough to make me worse at my job.
Now that I’ve lost all my cred, let me explain why Night Terrors: The Beginning is so effective. I watch horror films and play horror games to the degree where my family really should sit me down and explain that they still love me and beg me to get in the car and go to rehab, so It’s not like I’m easy to psych out. I get startled pretty easily, but without that rush of adrenaline it’s just me and the cold void of my inevitable death and fading from memory, so I welcome the spooks. No matter how many skins I jump out of or pants I shit, there’s always the warm safety of my own life to retreat to. In the comfort of my living room under a warm blanket, all of the ghosts are purely emotional.
Well, the people at Novum Analytics want to take that away from me. Night Terrors isn’t content just making me jump, it wants me to be afraid of my own house. When I heard of it over a year and a half ago, it looked like a nifty way to turn any room into a bunch of jump scares. So when they sent the code for preview, I was eager to give it a shot. “Spooky ghosts anywhere! Hot diggity dog!” I thought I could just sit in my living room, spin around, and see some ghosts. Nope.
Night Terrors doesn’t just haunt your room, it haunts your whole house. Turning your phone into the screen of your very own found footage movie, you’ll have to walk from room to room trying to find the source of a signal. Meanwhile, various visual distortions, audio effects, and the occasional jump scare make that task a living nightmare. This is a game to play with the lights off, headphones in, and no one around to witness how much of a bitch you are.
To say that things just jump out at you is wrong. In fact, the actual visuals of the jump scares are disappointing. The spooky skeletons that pop out are far less fearsome than the monstrosities they promoted in their Indiegogo. There are some interesting visuals that interact with the environment, but they fall short of being really convincing. I’m not even linking any of their previous trailers, since almost none of it is in The Beginning. That’s really not the point, however. Night Terrors is far more about the tension. It understands that the scares that do happen are just as important as those that don’t. The flickering lights and eerie audio effects build a fear of the unknown on par with great horror films. I won’t describe it any more, you just have to experience it.
This is going to be one of those games that’s just impossible to screenshot. I swear to god this is way spookier when your phone light is going nuts and radio static is clicking in your ears.
I’m honestly having a hard time classifying Night Terrors. I wouldn’t really call it a game. It’s closer to a short film, but unlike any I’ve seen before. Instead of just hitting to play button and watching, you have to actually move around to watch. What’s more, the settings and characters aren’t some hapless teens in an abandoned asylum, but you in your own house. You can call it an ARG, or an alternate reality experience, but that sounds like one of those new media terms designed more to attract investors than actually describe the product. It’s not long enough yet to say that it single handedly legitimizes alternate reality experiences as a genuine and lasting new medium. At the same time, it’s so effective that it’s impossible to ignore.
How do you describe a game that makes doing THIS genuinely scary
This is another example of where my status as a bullshit millennial is useful. There’s so much new tech coming out, that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with what’s actually worth it. I’m generally more skeptical than others my age. Everyone is so excited for a magical world where they can play shooters running on an Omni platform with a rifle controller and an Oculus headset, and no one seems to be pointing out that laser tag/paintball already exists. VR headsets are cool, but expensive and limited. It’s fun when you’re hanging by yourself, but as soon as you have friends over it’s just one person surrounded by increasingly bored spectators.
With Night Terrors: The Beginning, all you need is an iPhone and a dollar. When so many people already have an iPhone (Android support is still in development), the investment is basically nothing. I’ve always said that the greatest barrier to VR is the cost. It’s hard to ask someone to drop $400-$800 on a peripheral. But Night Terrors transforms your existing device into the experience. It lacks the visual fidelity and processing power of something like the HTC Vive, but it doesn’t require any kind of setup or investment. For an experience 1/800th the price, I can accept a few visual shortcomings.
What Night Terrors: The Beginning does most effectively is chip away at the barrier that separates you from the scares. There’s a reason we still tell ghost stories around the campfire. Horror is most effective when we put ourselves in the story. Night Terrors puts you in that story, and forces you to tell it. If you have an iPhone, there’s no reason to miss this. It’s short, terrifying, and a great glimpse into the future of alternate reality horror. Click here, or search for it in the app store. Let me know if it also damaged your sense of security.
Categorized:Editorials Horror Gaming
