Maid of Sker
Limited Edition Vinyl Giveaway
With the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru, from the horror soundtrack of the year. Only 300 vinyl soundtracks have been made and produced, enjoy the entrancing sounds of Maid of Sker at home!
To enter, just head over to our competition page (or any of our socials) and complete one of the actions ... no socials? no worries, there's a Steam entry in there as well as bonus entries for anyone who owns the Maid of Sker game on Steam
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE
The competition is open worldwide and ends on 03.08
To find out more about how the soundtrack developed, check out the in-depth interview by our very own Sound Director/Composer Gareth Lumb in his Rely on Horror Exclusive
https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940/Maid_of_Sker/
Links & more giveaways
Website
Pre-order is now available with free DLC
Inspired by the haunting Welsh folklore tale of Elisabeth Williams, Maid of Sker draws players back to 1898 to venture through the shadowy halls of Sker Hotel. Armed only with a defensive sound-device, players will have to keep eyes open and stay alert through the waking nightmare in order to solve the supernatural mystery that hangs over the Sker Hotel.
Pre-orders on Steam are available with a 10% discount.
Exclusively on Steam, all pre-orders will receive the downloadable soundtrack for free.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940/Maid_of_Sker/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1356980/Maid_of_Sker_Soundtrack/
Experience the beautifully haunting and iconic soundtrack, featuring 14 tracks composed exclusively for the game by Gareth Lumb. Featuring the enthralling Welsh hymns Calon Lân and Suo Gân. Also included is Ar Hyd y Nos - a bonus hymn that isn't included in the game from the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru.
Want a sneak peek into the soundtrack? Check out our Calon Lân and Suo Gân trailers!
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Entrancing Songs From Welsh Folklore
🧠 The Mind behind the Music - Interview with Sound Director and Composer Gareth Lumb (if it makes a noise, it was him)
"I would call the music setup in Maid of Sker “pseudo-dynamic”. I try to keep the score fairly dynamic so that it mirrors what’s going on during gameplay. It’s so important for the music to respond sympathetically to gameplay cues."
Find out more in his interview with Rely on Horror:
Rely on Horror - Maid Of Sker Interview With Sound Director/Composer Gareth Lumb
💿 Limited-edition Maid Of Sker vinyl is coming soon
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Sign-up to hear the news first for the Limited Edition Vinyls.
Add to your Steam Wishlist now
https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940/Maid_of_Sker/
The soundtrack will be available for purchase via Steam and all major streaming services.
Plus, receive the original soundtrack for free if you pre-order on Steam, available 21st July 2020
01. Calon Lân
02. A Letter From My Love
03. A Walk In The Woods
04. A Warm Reception
05. Night Falls
06. Green Fingers
07. Sanctuary
08. Suo Gân
09. Something Beneath
10. Tortured Genius
11. Going Up
12. Relentless
13. Don't Breathe
14. Ar Hyd Y Nos
👻 From the horror soundtrack of the year
🎤 With the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru
🎧 Featuring Famous Welsh Hymns such as Calon Lan, Suo Gan and Ar Hyd y Nos!
Make Your Reservation at Sker Hotel on July 28
Make your Reservation at the Sker Hotel!
Join us for the hotel's Grand Re-opening on July 28th, pre-order from July 21st on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
At Sker Hotel we offer grotesque views, eerie forest trails, and blood-soaked beds. Be our guest but watch your step, make a sound and the Quiet Ones welcome you.
[previewyoutube="Ewkx5eBlOEs;full"]https://youtu.be/yiC7Z7Ih27I [/previewyoutube]
Now you've seen sound devices in use, you've seen the breathing mechanic, the sound-based AI enemies, the inventory system... now we'd like to share a few details on the save system (a common question we receive!)
Yes, you can manually save your game via our Phonographs.
We welcome you to indulge in the use of the Phonographs, a device for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. Invented by Thomas Edison, the American inventor who gave us the Electric light bulb, it transitioned into the gramophone, which led to what we still use today — the vinyl record player.
Our Phonographs offer safety, allowing you to catch your breath and save your game, listen to the recordings and unlock the mysteries lurking within the Sker Hotel.
Upgrade your stay by adding the game to your Steam Wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940
Now the gates are opening, we will see you soon.
Wales Interactive
Web: https://www.walesinteractive.com/maidofsker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalesInter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WalesInteractive
New Trailer | Suo Gân (Welsh Lullaby)
Introducing the new trailer for Maid of Sker featuring the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru with a re-imagining of a traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân.
Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore. Coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One in June 2020 and closely followed by Switch.
We're also proud to announce that Maid of Sker will be receiving a physical release on PS4, Xbox One and Switch with our publishing partners Perp Games.
Support the game by adding to your Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940
Discover multiple story endings through exploration, a sound-based AI system and no-weapon survival tactics. Set in 1898 and inspired by the haunting Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, this is a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel.
Developed by Wales Interactive with a plot crafted by the writing talent and designers behind the likes of SOMA, Don't Knock Twice and Battlefield 1.
What do you think? Give the trailer a thumbs up and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Wales Interactive
Web: https://www.walesinteractive.com/maidofsker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalesInter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WalesInteractive
Maid of Sker Interview – A Spooky, Atmospheric Title Based on Haunting Folklore
1. What made you want to make a horror game revolving around what is admittedly very spooky Welsh folklore?
Anyone who’s followed our catalogue of titles will know that we have a soft spot for creating horror games. We’ve always injected a little bit of Welsh – and British - culture into them too but nothing to the extent of where we’re taking Maid of Sker. Our studio is based a short drive away from where Elizabeth Williams lived, and where the haunting folklore originated. The tale is truly terrifying but we’ve gathered inspiration from many different versions of the story and put our own Wales Interactive spin on it. In this industry, little is known about Welsh folklore and it’s not all that often you find British culture portrayed in a video game either. As both developers and publishers, we have the creative licence to tell a story to the world — it’s going to be dark, twisted and unsettling for sure.
2. Survival horror games, due to their very nature, are always in danger of perhaps relying too much on jump scares, and while jump scares certainly have some value in moderation, audiences don't seem to respond too well to games that rely on them too much. Is this something that's been in your mind with Maid of Sker? Do you believe there's any value in jump scares, even in small doses, and can we expect to see some good ones in Maid of Sker?
One thing we often get a lot of credit for is creating atmosphere in our horror games. Don’t Knock Twice for example featured very little jump scares and almost entirely relied on atmosphere, player immersion and story to scare the player. With that said, the few jump scares that did feature in the game brought some grown adults to their knees! There is most definitely value in jump scares but only when they are few and far between. They are risky because, if done incorrectly, it could ruin the entire gaming experience from then on for the player. Thankfully we don’t have to rely on them too much because Maid of Sker will have the complete package of eerie atmospherics, a unique sound-based game mechanic, stories we can elaborate on from Welsh folklore and an art direction that’s far surpassed anything we have done before. You can expect to be terrified in more ways than just jump scares alone.
3. Will Maid of Sker be veering into psychological horror territory, or is it going to be a more traditional horror experience?
Maid of Sker will be a hybrid of the two for sure, and is one of the reasons why this game will stand out amongst other horrors that often tend to present just one kind of experience. With that said, it is a stealth survival horror at heart. You can die and you can lose progress if you haven’t found a manual save point. Death is avoidable but not with the use of weapons.
4. Given its first person perspective, comparisons with the likes of P.T. and Resident Evil 7 are bound to be made, while its stealth-focused mechanics seem reminiscent of Amnesia- have any of those influenced Maid of Sker in any way? Are there any other games or other media that influenced it significantly?
We’re inspired and influenced by many different games including the ones mentioned but we try to be as original as possible or else we’ll end up just regurgitating what’s out there already, and there’s no fun in that! Comparisons are always difficult but let’s say you should expect the stealth elements of Alien: Isolation with the atmosphere of Resident Evil 7 and the drama of Outlast. In terms of narrative, inspiration has been taken from several of our FMV and interactive movie titles including Late Shift and The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker.
5. The entire concept of a "sound-based" AI system and being able to trap and distract enemies sounds excellent. Can you elaborate a bit on it, and how it translates to gameplay mechanics?
Almost anything and everything that moves will create a certain level of sound that could potentially alarm the Quiet Men. Get to know specific items that can be used as a trap or a lure, some more effective than others depending on the amount of sound it could create. Everything from footsteps, environment creaks and even your breath has various levels of sound than could attract different enemies. Sure, you can hold your breath whilst an enemy walks past but happens if you time it wrong and run out of breath? You pant. You could run away from an enemy — also making more sound — but what happens when your legs are tired and you run out of breath? You’re slow, vulnerable and panting even louder!
6. Speaking of, what are the enemies we'll be facing in the game? How much variety can we expect to see in the types of enemies we come across in Maid of Sker?
We can’t go into too much detail regarding the enemies but what we can say about the Quiet Men is that they will be tiered in terms of difficulty, and will require different stealth tactics to avoid. They cannot actually see anything but that doesn’t mean they can’t hunt you down. We’re currently working on a demo which will reveal more in Q1 2019.
7. How much of an impact will our decisions have on how the story pans out? Can we expect wildly different consequences, or is it more about inserting flavour into a concrete tale?
We have many FMVs and interactive movie titles that utilizes the multi-threaded narrative approach and so we’re using that experience to influence the story in Maid of Sker. We’re implementing a decision based event list that features in all our FMV titles. This essentially calculates all the small or big decisions made throughout the game with a consequence later on in the story. It’s more than just, “you do this and later on this happens”. It can calculate decisions to determine what sort of character you are, what sort of personality you have or what relationships you have with other characters. This will in turn take you on a slightly different path, discovering hidden areas, bypassing certain events or unlocking different endings.
Stay tuned for more details and don't forget to add Maid of Sker to your Steam Wishlist!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalesInter
Web: https://www.walesinteractive.com/maidofsker
https://store.steampowered.com/app/826940/Maid_of_Sker/