‘Content Warning’: Cosmic Horror Meets YouTube
Justin Wood
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When Lethal Company released in October of 2023, it took TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch by storm. Almost overnight, it became a TikTok and Twitter sensation. Focusing on SCP-type enemies, players would enter a facility or haunted library to collect scrap on different planets. Based on the planet you chose, it would lead to more aggression from the enemies. But more aggression also meant better loot. And when you only have three days to collect a certain amount of loot, sometimes you need to get to the more difficult planets.
The whimsical charm of Lethal Company, coupled with the thrill of exploring randomly generated facilities, made for an experience and game that could be enjoyed endlessly with a group of friends. Over the span of a month or two, I found myself investing nearly a hundred hours into Lethal Company. It was the perfect game to share a laugh with friends.
While we have seen some quick turnaround grabs at this style of game. Thankfully, developers Skog, Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, and thePetHen saw this emergent game style and added a unique evolution to it. In Content Warning, instead of scavenging facilities for scrap while being hunted by monsters, you and up to three friends will be entering the “Old World” to film yourselves doing horrendously stupid things to upload to spööktube (after the Swedish word for ghost).
The way the old world presents itself in black-and-white simplistic line art is incredibly effective. It makes encountering these monsters much more terrifying, as they feel pulled right out of our worst nightmares. After each successful run, if you manage to save your camera and manage to get enough views, you’ll be rewarded with money for items like a boom mic to capture sound better.
The most intriguing thing about Content Warning is not only the exploration of the old world but the implementation of spööktube. After bringing your camera back, you’ll be given a disc to upload your footage. What happens next as it plays back all of your recordings and voices. Live comments come in and are relevant to what is happening in the video. If someone’s death gets captured, you will get lots of views, but the comments will also mention it. The same with the commentary in the video will get commented on.
It’s a weird sorcery that makes it all work, but Content Warning is another way of showing that innovation can really make something cool. I just hope that it keeps being updated and worked on because it’s clear there is something very special here.
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
