Posted November 09, 2022
Our Made In Poland sale is live now, gathering some of the best titles released by talented people of Poland with discounts as high as -90% and it lasts until November 14th, 11 PM UTC.
Cracow-based developer Bloober Team is one of the representatives of that group and we are incredibly happy that we had the occasion to talk with Anna Oporska-Szybisz from their team about studio's amazing horror titles, what “being scary” means to them and does their home country inspire them in any way while developing their games. Check out our interview with Anna below and make sure to get Bloober Team's atmospheric Observer: System Redux and The Medium on special Made In Poland deals! Enjoy your reading!
Layers of Fear, Blair Witch, Observer: System Redux and The Medium - all of them incredible and atmospheric horror titles. Would you mind sharing with us some information about the process of coming up with all these rich and immersive stories?
It is certainly not easy. Each successive Bloober Team game sets higher demands and challenges that we have not encountered so far. Certainly the most interesting, and one of the most difficult elements is to create a story that draws the players in, and at the same time maintains the right level of tension and anxiety without overwhelming them. For our games, the most important thing is the atmosphere and story, as well as the primal nature of fear. We draw inspiration from everywhere: for Medium it was Cracow, while Layers of Fear draws fully from the world of art. So at the beginning, we choose a theme, and then we add everything around it.
To create games that are truly terrifying and don’t rely too much on jumpscares and shock value is not an easy feat, but it seems you guys excel at it every single time. What’s your philosophy behind “being scary”, how do you achieve that?
While developing our games, we focus primarily on the psychology of fear and anxiety; where it comes from, what conditions foster it, and how people deal with such situations. One of the most important matters is people's ability to connect facts. It is thanks to this ability that we are able to predict that specific situations may lead us to meet face to face with real fear. This is what our games are based on. By giving players a handful of information, creating a climate and building on their previous experience, we build anticipation in players' minds, and then these predictions are confirmed or disproved. As a result, we were able to dispense of jumpscares, and emphasize on much stronger and longer-lasting stimuli. Our games can best be described as "hidden horror". You know that statement that people are not really afraid of the dark, but of what lurks in it? That's exactly the kind of excitement we care about. We confront players with difficult choices: should they look into that darkness and face it, or stay put, but not discover the rest of the story? An atmosphere of anxiety and fear is then born on its own.
Bloober Team is a Polish video game developer based in Kraków. Would you say being Polish translates in any sense to your titles? Is it something that can inspire you in any way?
As a company, we try to draw from Polishness by the handful. This can be seen, for example, in Medium, which is set in 1990s Cracow. Creating stories based on what surrounds us, and what we know, allows us to better imagine the space, skillfully manipulating it to meet our needs. I think that by also relating to the space and reality that actually affects us, we can tell stories that are more coherent and closer, including to the players.
You guys already created both entirely new games but also have given us the second part of Layers of Fear. What is more exciting for you, working on something new or a sequel to an existing story?
Each game, whether a sequel or a completely new product, pulls in different challenges and interesting aspects. With existing IPs, we are able to focus more on the details. We know what worked in the previous parts and what caused the scrapes and fix it, while adding something completely new. Increasingly advanced technology and graphical capabilities allow us to show more elaborate, more interesting worlds and more strongly engaging stories, which is why revisiting titles like Layers of Fear makes us shudder.
With new games, we have to reinvent the wheel. This definitely gives us more space and allows us to test new solutions, but it doesn't provide a guarantee that everything will work the way we planned it. For example, we are now working on Silent Hill 2 Remake. That very word Remake is key here. As a result, we are able to draw handfuls from the original, but we also have a certain freedom that allows us to adapt the game to the current realities and expectations of the modern player, while fully respecting the original. This is unquestionably a huge challenge, but also an equally great pleasure to work on such a well-known title.
And lastly, what is your favourite thing about horror games?
The best thing about horrors, and especially games in this genre, is that they allow you to experience a kind of catharsis. A threat appearing on the screen causes a sudden release of adrenaline and cortisol, or feelings of fear. At this stage, our brain is working at top speed trying to find a way out of the situation that will allow us to avoid what will inevitably happen if we don't hurry. Moments later there is a discharge when the stimulus causing the fear disappears. But it's not that moment that's most enjoyable, but the sense of control and composure we had to exhibit moments earlier. Horror games teach us that even if something doesn't feel good to us at first (the feeling of anxiety), over time we gain the skills to deal with it, and that feeling is the one we keep coming back for. Horror movies, most of all genres, rely heavily on psychology. They go deep into the primal nature of people and bring to light our greatest fears, basic instincts. They skillfully play with them, providing us with incredible sensations. Thanks to this, they allow us to experience emotions, feelings and events that, although scary, can be tamed, and after some time, turn into satisfaction and pure pleasure.
We’d like to thank Anna for speaking to us and wish you all amazing experiences while playing amazing titles from white & red land.
Cracow-based developer Bloober Team is one of the representatives of that group and we are incredibly happy that we had the occasion to talk with Anna Oporska-Szybisz from their team about studio's amazing horror titles, what “being scary” means to them and does their home country inspire them in any way while developing their games. Check out our interview with Anna below and make sure to get Bloober Team's atmospheric Observer: System Redux and The Medium on special Made In Poland deals! Enjoy your reading!
Layers of Fear, Blair Witch, Observer: System Redux and The Medium - all of them incredible and atmospheric horror titles. Would you mind sharing with us some information about the process of coming up with all these rich and immersive stories?
It is certainly not easy. Each successive Bloober Team game sets higher demands and challenges that we have not encountered so far. Certainly the most interesting, and one of the most difficult elements is to create a story that draws the players in, and at the same time maintains the right level of tension and anxiety without overwhelming them. For our games, the most important thing is the atmosphere and story, as well as the primal nature of fear. We draw inspiration from everywhere: for Medium it was Cracow, while Layers of Fear draws fully from the world of art. So at the beginning, we choose a theme, and then we add everything around it.
To create games that are truly terrifying and don’t rely too much on jumpscares and shock value is not an easy feat, but it seems you guys excel at it every single time. What’s your philosophy behind “being scary”, how do you achieve that?
While developing our games, we focus primarily on the psychology of fear and anxiety; where it comes from, what conditions foster it, and how people deal with such situations. One of the most important matters is people's ability to connect facts. It is thanks to this ability that we are able to predict that specific situations may lead us to meet face to face with real fear. This is what our games are based on. By giving players a handful of information, creating a climate and building on their previous experience, we build anticipation in players' minds, and then these predictions are confirmed or disproved. As a result, we were able to dispense of jumpscares, and emphasize on much stronger and longer-lasting stimuli. Our games can best be described as "hidden horror". You know that statement that people are not really afraid of the dark, but of what lurks in it? That's exactly the kind of excitement we care about. We confront players with difficult choices: should they look into that darkness and face it, or stay put, but not discover the rest of the story? An atmosphere of anxiety and fear is then born on its own.
Bloober Team is a Polish video game developer based in Kraków. Would you say being Polish translates in any sense to your titles? Is it something that can inspire you in any way?
As a company, we try to draw from Polishness by the handful. This can be seen, for example, in Medium, which is set in 1990s Cracow. Creating stories based on what surrounds us, and what we know, allows us to better imagine the space, skillfully manipulating it to meet our needs. I think that by also relating to the space and reality that actually affects us, we can tell stories that are more coherent and closer, including to the players.
You guys already created both entirely new games but also have given us the second part of Layers of Fear. What is more exciting for you, working on something new or a sequel to an existing story?
Each game, whether a sequel or a completely new product, pulls in different challenges and interesting aspects. With existing IPs, we are able to focus more on the details. We know what worked in the previous parts and what caused the scrapes and fix it, while adding something completely new. Increasingly advanced technology and graphical capabilities allow us to show more elaborate, more interesting worlds and more strongly engaging stories, which is why revisiting titles like Layers of Fear makes us shudder.
With new games, we have to reinvent the wheel. This definitely gives us more space and allows us to test new solutions, but it doesn't provide a guarantee that everything will work the way we planned it. For example, we are now working on Silent Hill 2 Remake. That very word Remake is key here. As a result, we are able to draw handfuls from the original, but we also have a certain freedom that allows us to adapt the game to the current realities and expectations of the modern player, while fully respecting the original. This is unquestionably a huge challenge, but also an equally great pleasure to work on such a well-known title.
And lastly, what is your favourite thing about horror games?
The best thing about horrors, and especially games in this genre, is that they allow you to experience a kind of catharsis. A threat appearing on the screen causes a sudden release of adrenaline and cortisol, or feelings of fear. At this stage, our brain is working at top speed trying to find a way out of the situation that will allow us to avoid what will inevitably happen if we don't hurry. Moments later there is a discharge when the stimulus causing the fear disappears. But it's not that moment that's most enjoyable, but the sense of control and composure we had to exhibit moments earlier. Horror games teach us that even if something doesn't feel good to us at first (the feeling of anxiety), over time we gain the skills to deal with it, and that feeling is the one we keep coming back for. Horror movies, most of all genres, rely heavily on psychology. They go deep into the primal nature of people and bring to light our greatest fears, basic instincts. They skillfully play with them, providing us with incredible sensations. Thanks to this, they allow us to experience emotions, feelings and events that, although scary, can be tamed, and after some time, turn into satisfaction and pure pleasure.
We’d like to thank Anna for speaking to us and wish you all amazing experiences while playing amazing titles from white & red land.
