The director of Until Dawn and The Quarry has revealed heâs working on another full-scale horror title, which is tentatively planned for release by 2026.
Supermassive is known for its branching narrative adventures within the horror genre. Over the past decade, the BAFTA-winning UK studio has released both larger games (Until Dawn, The Quarry) and a series of smaller, episodic titles underneath The Dark Pictures banner.
Speaking to VGC in a recent interview, studio director Will Byles â who directed both of Supermassiveâs larger horror games â confirmed it was his intention to continue creating full-scale narrative adventures with the same genre.
âI do like the luxury of being able to really explore characters and you get that with a longer story,â he explained. âIt annoys some people, because they get bored with it, but I really like the fact you can go in-depth with the characters and explore relationships in a way thatâs harder on a shorter story.â
Specifically discussing his next project, Byles said it would be equivalent in size to this yearâs The Quarry â which was published by 2K â and suggested it could deviate from the teen horror explored in his last two releases.
âWeâve started working on [the next game],â he said. âI canât really tell you very much at all about it, but we have started. Again, itâs the same sort of horror genre, weâre sticking to that. Itâs equivalent in size to The Quarry⦠and thatâs about as much as I can say without giving too much away.â
He added: âPotentially we might be a little bit like⦠I donât know how far we can stretch the teen horror thing out further, because especially when we try to stir it up, the number of surprises you can add to that becomes limited.
âThe Dark Pictures explores hundreds of variants of the horror genre. What weâre looking at now, and I canât tell you exactly what it is, is a bit of a diversion away from that sort of standard, but itâs still very much classic horror.â
Asked if fans will have to wait the seven years that passed between Until Dawn and The Quarry to play the game, Byles indicated he was planning on a much shorter turnaround of about four years. âNo, it certainly wonât be the seven years it took between Until Dawn,â he said. âIt will be 2025, or maybe 2026.â
Supermassive was recently fully acquired by Danish entertainment company Nordisk, and claimed that the sale will give it more ammunition with which to create its projects.
Evidence of the studio’s growing stature could be seen in this yearâs The Quarry, which featured a Hollywood cast including David Arquette (Scream), Ariel Winter (Modern Family), Justice Smith (Jurassic World), Brenda Song (Dollface), Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Lin Shaye (A Nightmare on Elm Street).
Byles indicated that the company was continuing to be ambitious in its pursuit of acting talent, and said he believed it wouldnât be long before the very biggest Hollywood actors lead video game casts.
âI donât think thatâs far off. Itâs mostly about the number of days we have them for, because itâs very expensive, and shooting this takes a long time. So that becomes a bit of an issue,â he explained. âAlso when you get somebody like Tom Cruise, that becomes what could be a budget of an entire game just on him. So, it will come down to that.
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âHowever, thereâs an argument that these are businesses and they need to make their money back, thereâs a certain budget that if you go beyond you canât sell more copies of the game â unless Tom Cruise adds a couple of million [by himself].â
He added: âWe thought we would never get David Arquette. We do push it. And now, people take our calls in a way that was harder before when it wasnât a medium they didnât understand. The younger ones are much easier, because they know this stuff.â
Quartzier on September 3rd, 2022 at 18:02 UTC »
It will be pre-teen horror lol
Rugkrabber on September 3rd, 2022 at 15:45 UTC »
The most common complaint I have heard so far is the cringe in the typical teen horror. I think it’s a good idea to explore alternatives and I’m looking forward to their next creation.
domastsen on September 3rd, 2022 at 14:48 UTC »
I liked both Until Dawn and The Quarry and if they can take the best parts from both games and avoid the worst parts then they’d have a great game, teen horror or not.
Also from Supermassive, though not sure if it’s the same creator, House of Ashes was also good but I didn’t really like much about Man of Medan or Little Hope. Both started out stronger than they finished and I didn’t get very invested in the characters.