Summary
Video games,particularly those of the horror variety, are no stranger to collaborations with famous horror IPs.Mortal Kombat X added the likes of Leatherface and Alien, whileDead by Daylight has added Chucky and Saw over the course of its lifetime. Point being, horror games and horror movies are a match made in heaven when it comes to cross promotion.
That said, not every collaboration makes sense. Some are downright confusing. Case in point,Hunt: Showdownadding Ghostface to the gamein a new DLC update. The only problem is, the game takes place in the 1800s, and Ghostface canonically appears in the 1990s, making it quite the headscratcher of a crossover.
Now its developer, Crytek, is defending the decision and the “artistry” behind it.
Trust Us, It Makes Total Sense
In a statement shared on Hunt: Showdown’s official account, Crytek has tried to fan the flames of what has been an ill-received piece of content.
“Our approach to identifying and evaluating collaborations focuses on working with IPs and personalities that we feel remain true to their brand while blending seamlessly with our themes, setting, and storytelling,” the statement read in part. “The aim for us is to enrich the narrative and weave new threads into the ever-evolving mythos of Hunt in a whole new way. Not to simply drop new characters into the game.”
And while adding Ghostface seems like exactly that — dropping a new character into the game — the team believes Ghostface is beyond that. To Crytek, he is an “ageless, almost mythological figure that transcends eras.” And so, instead of being a teen slasher, his origins have been adjusted as follows: “In the 1890s, a madman took up the mask, driven into a bloody frenzy by its foul whispers on a hunting trip in Louisiana—and the rest is history.”
It’s a lot of words to say that Ghostface is more than just a way to capitalize on the spookiness of October, the built-in promotion from using a well-known IP, or a way to extend the game’s lifespan.Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped fans from taking out their frustrations about the game’s bugs, with reviews having dropped the game to “Mixed” status on Steam.
Who knows, maybe the collaboration is a pretty solid effort. But if you have to justify it because of how unnatural it all is, then maybe it was worth shelving for something a bit more on brand.
