Haunted House is one of Atari’s original “golden era classics” for the Atari 2600 and has been pretty obviously very ripe to revisit for a new generation of console and PC platforms. So with a new “roguelite” take on the original, Atari is indeed doing just that and is hard at work prepping to show off a first game trailer and a demo to coincide with the upcoming Brazilian Independent Games Festival later this month.
Check out the announcement below, and stay tuned for the first media and more details soon.
Atari — one of the world’s most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers — is delighted to reveal Haunted House, a spooky reimagining of a golden era classic. Coming to PC and consoles later this year, Haunted House pays homage to the original survival-horror adventure by seamlessly adopting dynamic roguelite elements while incorporating stealth-based gameplay and haunting boss battles.
A demo of Haunted House will be on display at the Brazilian Independent Games (BIG) Festival in São Paulo, where the first game trailer will be showcased. BIG Festival, taking place from June 28, 2023, to July 2, 2023, is the largest game show in Latin America, with over 500,000 visitors expected to attend. Visitors will be able to play the game demo as part of the Panorama Mundo section on the show floor, where Atari will be present with four individual demo stations. The Brazil-based developers behind Haunted House, Orbit Studio, will be featured live and on-stage in the show’s programming.
In Haunted House, players take control of Lyn Graves, the precocious niece of legendary treasure hunter Zachary Graves. Lyn visits her uncle’s mansion with her closest compatriots, only to find the house overrun with ghouls and monsters who quickly grab and spirit away her friends. In order to free her uncle and her friends, and capture all the supernatural foes, Lyn must find the shattered pieces of a magical urn and put them back together to contain the troublesome poltergeists.
Through procedurally generated room layouts, shifting walls, unpredictable enemy placements, and unique ghostly encounters, Lyn must creep, sneak, and dash her way through hordes of ghouls and eerie ectoplasms in order to locate her friends and uncle. Each urn shard is fiercely guarded by a bone-chilling boss — with 3D isometric stealth gameplay, Lyn must think on her feet to conquer each challenge. When she gets knocked out by a shadowy specter, she winds up back at the haunted house’s entrance and must face an entirely new floor layout and enemy placement, ensuring each run is unique.
Key Features of Haunted House:
- Resurrected Roguelite: Iterating upon one of Atari’s greatest hits, Haunted House doubles down on stealth and mystifying challenges while adding roguelite elements, ensuring no two play-throughs are the same.
- All-Ages Thrill Ride: The whimsical, cartoonish art style only thinly veils the chills and thrills in Haunted House! Expertly riding the line between goofy and spooky, the game keeps things rated E with its primarily stealth-based gameplay and light combat sequences.
- Unlockable Characters: As Lyn explores the haunted dwelling, she’ll free her trapped friends, who become playable characters you can use to dive deeper into the mansion. Each friend possesses different stats, so depending on who you explore the mansion with, it’ll be a totally new experience!
- Atari Easter Eggs: The game is full of collectibles and lore based on the original Haunted House and other classic favorites from Atari’s golden age.
- Did We Mention Stealth?: With combat de-emphasized, players must focus on stealth movement and solving challenges unseen in the shadows, along with utilizing the arsenal of traps and items at their disposal to distract the ghoulies hunting Lyn. Lyn must collect gems to power up the skills and perks that make her that much stronger during the next trip through the mansion’s labyrinth.