Damned: Multiplayer Survival Horror

[SlaveNumber23]

I just wanted to shed some light on an awesome little game I recently discovered called Damned. Its a multiplayer survival horror game in early access on Steam at the moment.

The basic premise is that 4 human players must work together to escape various randomized maze-like buildings while a 5th player hunts them down as one of two terrifying apparitions, each with very different abilities and playstyles. The players are helpless and cannot defend themselves against the monster, but instead must run and hide to survive.

I had an absolute blast playing this game with a group of friends, inflicting countless scares upon each other and sharing many hilarious moments, and once we got more used to the game it actually became surprisingly tactical.

Has anyone else picked up this awesome gem of a game yet? If so, tell me about your experiences.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

That sounds hilarious! Nothing fucks with people's heads better than other people. I hope there's VOIP a la The Hidden for +1 sp00ks.

 

[Euphbug]

It is currently one of the possible community choice games on Steam, which will drop it to 75% off (to 3.75 US). If it wins I will be picking up a 4 pack for me and a few buddies of mine to mess around with, so here is hoping.

 

[josemlopes]

Remember when people said you couldnt make horror without being alone? It isnt even the first game to properly do it.

 

[Rylot]

I think I saw a let's play of Cry and Pewdie playing that. Interesting concept, the graphics looked pretty basic (this might have been a very early beta) and the location that they were playing in seemed pretty limited. However this does seem like a really good idea. I seem to remember another game that had one player playing as the monster and trying to kill everyone else, I remember it being a FPS. Don't remember the name of it though.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

That sounds hilarious! Nothing fucks with people's heads better than other people. I hope there's VOIP a la The Hidden for +1 sp00ks.

There sure is, its implemented really well too, where the sound declines with distance so players have to be pretty close to each other to be able to communicate, and the monster is able to eavesdrop on everything they say and hear them scream. There are also some great moments when the monster starts playing Tiny Tim through his mic.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Oh, I heard of that. It's the one where one player is the "hunter", right?

Well, I think the idea of multiplayer survival horror is stupid. Well, there's a difference between Japanese horror and Western horror. In Japanese horror, you're stuck in/with something that hates you, on a more mental level. In Western horror, guns akimbo.

It's quite unique; it's an odd mix of the two.

captcha: like the dickens. My neighbours used to be called Dickensons. Everyone hated them for some reason.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

That sounds hilarious! Nothing fucks with people's heads better than other people. I hope there's VOIP a la The Hidden for +1 sp00ks.

There sure is, its implemented really well too, where the sound declines with distance so players have to be pretty close to each other to be able to communicate, and the monster is able to eavesdrop on everything they say and hear them scream. There are also some great moments when the monster starts playing Tiny Tim through his mic.

Mind fuckery ahoy! I love it!

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

I think I saw a let's play of Cry and Pewdie playing that. Interesting concept, the graphics looked pretty basic (this might have been a very early beta) and the location that they were playing in seemed pretty limited. However this does seem like a really good idea. I seem to remember another game that had one player playing as the monster and trying to kill everyone else, I remember it being a FPS. Don't remember the name of it though.

I think you're thinking of The Hidden. I think as long as the hunted players can't really defend themselves effectively with weapons, then I think this should be able the pull off horror more effectively than The Hidden, especially if the hunter can really draw it out and screw with some heads.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I've seen a few streams of this being played and it looks interesting. For better or worse, it really does put the horror in the hands of the players. If they don't take it seriously, then the game is basically a joke. If they do take it seriously, there can be lot of good stuff going on. At least with the version I saw, and this was some months ago, it's more of a game frame work than an full blown game itself.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

At least with the version I saw, and this was some months ago, it's more of a game frame work than an full blown game itself.

Well at the moment the game is much more fleshed out, there are 7 or 8 large maps to play on and the gameplay feels quite refined. It seems like they just need to iron out a few performance issues and bugs here and there and the game is pretty solid.

 

[Aeonknight]

At least with the version I saw, and this was some months ago, it's more of a game frame work than an full blown game itself.

Well at the moment the game is much more fleshed out, there are 7 or 8 large maps to play on and the gameplay feels quite refined. It seems like they just need to iron out a few performance issues and bugs here and there and the game is pretty solid.

I demand details. Is it from a First Person point of view? high end graphics that will melt your computer or generally a bit simpler?

 

[SlaveNumber23]

I demand details. Is it from a First Person point of view? high end graphics that will melt your computer or generally a bit simpler?

Both the humans and the monster play in first person, the players are armed with only a flashlight and the monsters have more complex mechanics, but I'll say that they managed to balance the monsters very well. They are absolutely terrifying without being too overpowered, once you find a player you will kill them in one attack but the challenge comes in finding and catching players, which is where the complex mechanics come in. The experience is never frustrating for both the humans and the monster.

As far as the graphics go I wouldn't call them bad, gritty would be a better description, they fit the horror theme of the game perfectly in my opinion but yeah it won't take much to run this game. I have encountered a few performance issues but I assume they will be ironed out by the time the game is out of early access.