Frictional Games is at it again, teasing an upcoming new horror game with four brief video clips as part of an augmented reality experience.
If you missed the first two, you can check out Box 52, Tape 16 and Box 7, Reel 2, Partial Success over here first to see the tone and themes that kicked off the ARG puzzle hunt earlier this year.
Those clips previously showed off some odd rocks, followed by a black screen with screams. In this latest batch, things are a bit clearer; a group of spelunkers is shown uncovering some disturbing things deep underground.
Box 12, Recent Acquisitions, shown below, shows a spelunker reading a barely-legible letter. Thankfully, Frictional’s included a description:
Recovered 12/5/2018, via source S576a. Salzburg, site TBD. Document retrieval failed, investigation commissioned.
There is an itching behind my eyes. As if a beetle burrows there, in the folds of my brain, boring its way in, mandibles tearing at grey matter. As if a gnarled finger has been pushed into my skull, a broken fingernail working into my thoughts. I want to reach in with a needle to scratch it. Or perhaps a piece of wire. Through the tear-duct, threading through the lacrimal canal.
Thread-like black worms swim in my eyes. When I think about them they are agitated and start to thrash around. They know I am scared. And it makes them worse.
If I hold myself still. If I easy my mind, if I empty my head and try not to be afraid of… Then the itching fades to the tickling of a feather. I’ve tried filling myself with the notes of a song, or the colours of a beautiful picture, but it doesn’t work.
Only emptiness gives me any
I wish I had my gun.
Then there’s Box 17, Card 9, where some people in a cave or mine shaft find something very, very unpleasant. As with the other videos, there’s also an accompanying description:
Recovered 12/2/2013 via source S118. Manila envelope marked “Ivry – Edouard et Thérèse” in blue ink.
A third video is titled Box 11, Recent Acquisitions. It’s a clip that’s a bit more cryptic, just showing someone listening to humming and singing on a radio:
Recovered 3/3/2017, website acquisition. Private workshop, Saint-Denis, Paris. Cover note: “Qu’avec cette vieille radio et qu’en cet endroit précis.” (Translation: “Only with that old radio and only in this precise location.”)
The Box 12, Recent Acquisitions (Card 3) features a twisted stick figure totem and a ring, which the guy in the video should most definitely not put on his finger:
Recovered 13/7/2018, via source S576a. Algeciras, worksite, ex-warehouse – prev. owners Ortiz Marin (until 2004), GPDS (1997-2004), Estrella del Sur (1973-1995), Sterling Shipping Company (1942?-1973).
The fourth clip is Box 11, Recent Acquisitions (Card 15), shows someone reaching a destination with a compass that goes wild and may indicate we are nearing the end of this rabbit hole (maybe?):
Recovered 12/2/2016, website acquisition. Saint-Jérôme, Quebec. Recovery team dispatched, could not locate site or anomaly.
What do you think is coming next from Frictional Games, and what do you make of the more recent date in the final video clip?
Stay tuned to GameSkinny for official news on the next horror title from the developers of Amnesia, Penumbra, and SOMA.
