After You is a psychological horror game and the debut from Normal Wholesome Games, a studio that developer Andy Sum founded. It’s a big departure from his previous work — he co-created the family-friendly mobile game Crossy Road and developed the meme-laden shooter 420Blazeit. It will be out on PC, with no release date yet.
“I’ve always tried to understand the things that scare me, and making games is a great way to do that,” said Sum in a press release. “I can’t handle anything horrific – movies, games, or anything – so that intrigued me: why do so many people enjoy these things that are inherently unpleasant? So I started making a game in a genre that terrifies me.”
Normal Wholesome Games is keeping the details sparse, saying that it wants the story to be a surprise. According to the short teaser trailer, it seems like players will be exploring a dark environment armed only with a flashlight. Rather than combat, players may be asked to make moral choices instead, such as deciding whether to kill another character or save her.
“It’s extremely uncomfortable to test my own game, just designing it has been giving me nightmares,” said Sum. “How messed up is that?”
Sum’s previous game, Crossy Road, was a huge success, garnering $ 10 million and 50 million downloads in around three months after launch. It’s free-to-play with in-app purchases and models itself after the classic arcade game Frogger, tasking players to cross the road as a chicken in a bright, colorful voxel world.
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