Described as ‘part horror film, part horror game’, this FMV game takes us to hunt ghosts in a haunted hotel full of secrets. And the main character is a perfect role for Florence Pugh
If you are just 60% like me, probably you have been looking for a good horror game to spend this October in the spookiest way. Well, in that case, today is your lucky day (or I hope so). While I was checking for the latest witchy games, I ran across this little jewel that can improve your spine-chilling season: At Dead Of Night, available on Steam, and was developed by Baggy Cat Ltd. in 2020. Are you ready for visiting the Sea View Hotel? You aren’t, probably, because I wasn’t. Oh, and Florence Pugh should star in the main role of a hypothetical movie.
Maya, Jimmy, and ghost stories
At Dead Of Night is described as a ‘part horror film, part horror game, and part ghost hunt’. And the only thing I can say about it is that they are right: players will feel like they are inside a horror movie, where they will have to catch some ghosts and enjoy this eerie tale. That’s thanks to their FMV graphics: full-motion video allows the developers to show you very realistic images, like an interactive film. The environment, people, sounds, and voices are so real that from the very first moment you arrive at Sea View Hotel, you will feel goosebumps.
Like every good story, it begins with a friends’ trip. Our main character is called Maya. She gets in the Sea View Hotel, where her friends are waiting for her to come… However, our heroine will discover soon that something worse is waiting for her. His name is Jimmy. And probably he is going to be in your nightmares for a long time (I’m sorry). He seems to be the porter of the hotel, the errand boy that gave us the warmer welcome to the place. Nevertheless, Jimmy has a very dark side that we will find out very quickly.
The hunt starts
When the first night comes, he will kidnap our friends. Disguised as a “Mr. Fix It”, he is indeed a kind of sociopath. So, our mission will be rescuing our friends trying to hide from Jimmy. We don’t have weapons or anything to fight. In fact, we will use just four essential objects that are part of the main mechanics of At Dead Of Night: the master key of the hotel, a compass, a mirror, and a device (the Ghost and Spirits Voice Receiver) that allows us to talk with spirits. Yes. This story is also full of ghosts that will love to tell us their stories.
While we hide around the three-floor hotel, Jimmy will chase us to knock us. Maya will have to hide in the rooms and dodge Jimmy. Meanwhile, she will collect other objects from the rooms: these artifacts are related to the ghosts’ stories. We will have to keep them to make connections with the testimony of the spirits. Why? To discover what happened in the hotel and why Jimmy is… you know, a psych that wants to kill us.
So, why it deserves a movie with Florence Pugh?
To make a good film you need, essentially, good writing, and characters well-developed enough to support it. At Dead Of Night has got both. The stories of the ghosts and the different points of view that we discovered while we researched through them make you feel very engaged with the story. In this sense, I was thinking: who would be perfect to fit the role of Maya? And the answer appeared in my mind as clear as water: Florence Pugh.
It’s that truth that Pugh is now known for her portrayal of Yelena Belova in Marvel’s Black Widow. But she did such a stunning job in Midsommar, the second horror movie by Ari Aster (Hereditary), that I just couldn’t help to think: ‘I would like to see her as Maya in a movie.’ Off the record, I just want Jim Carrey to play Jimmy if that’s possible. Chloé Booyens is the actress that plays Maya brightly, and I also would love to see her in a movie about this game. Dreaming is free, after all.
The plot is fresh air in a genre that receives with open arms this creepy, dark, and tense narrative. You know the storytelling is brilliant when makes you ask: ‘What is going to happen next?’ The cast of characters, the ghosts whom we can talk to, also feel very human and real, with a good background story that adds that spicy ingredient that drives you to be interested in them. I could easily imagine becoming a movie. I hope Hollywood or any movie studios also do the same.
Contradiction, looking for more liars
As a final note… If you like noir novels and murder mysteries, I also invite you to check Contradiction: it takes place in an English little town, and players step into the role of a police inspector. Like we do with the ghosts in At Dead Of Night, in this game, we will collect clues and interview the suspects to find their lies… and the guilty ones. It is also available on Steam.
