The Founder Limited Edition will be available until New Year's Eve!
Hello horror fans!
We are still speechless with the reception Song of Horror is getting by all of you, thank you so much for your lovely comments! As you know, we are in the middle of the story, and the remaining two episodes come out in January and March of the next year. That's why we wanted to remind you about a special offer: the Founder Limited Edition!
As you probably know, the first two episodes of Song of Horror can be picked up on Steam for $7.99/€7.99/£6.99 each, or as part of the Season Pass that unlocks the rest of the episodes on top of the original ones in the months ahead for $21.99/€21.99/£18.99. However, the Founder Limited Edition includes all the episodes for $19.99/€19.99/£17.14. This offer is only available until December 31st, so we encourage you to share this offer with your friends and family! Your support means everything to us.
Who is excited for Episode 3?
We are so ready for tomorrow's launch! We are launching the episode at 4 pm CET/ 10 am EST and we have updated the previous episodes with some interesting fixes, you can take a look at the specifics right here:
GENERAL
Fixed a lot of English subtitles.
Tweaked M.R. James difficulty so that it doesn’t reduce the number of scares and paranormal activity happening, but instead only reduces the number of dangerous events and the difficulty of said dangers. The description text has been updated accordingly.
Fixed a bug with the selection of collectible and additional personal items, which could make the game not reflect your choices in that matter.
Starting a new game by selecting the Prelude in the Episodes menu should no longer lock difficulty to M.R. James if that was the currently selected difficulty.
You can no longer use keys and items in unintended doors or places (e.g. the door blocked by a wheelchair in Episode 2).
Changed the “Apply options” warning to state that only language changes require a restart.
Fixed a bug with Daniel’s attributes being shown incorrectly when augmented by his personal insignia.
EPISODE 2
Tweaked the luminol puzzle instructions to make it clearer that you only need luminol and hydrogen peroxide to activate it.
You should no longer be able to pick up the fallen magnet multiple times.
Carried items should no longer be inaccessible when losing a character in the infinite hallway.
If you lose your first character in Episode 2 or later, the corresponding tutorial should now be showing correctly.
Fixed a bug that caused Erica’s front door peephole to be usable at unintended times causing you to get stuck.
One more thing!
We also have a very special surprise: we are launching Song of Horror on PS4 and Xbox One next year! However, what's more interesting for you is that we are going to spend the extra time between the launch of the last episode on PC and the console version to include new features and improvements on the console editions, that we will include on the PC version for free for those who have the 5 episodes! These additions will be based on the feedback you've been giving us during the past weeks, so please continue to share with us your sincere thoughts and opinions about Song of Horror!
Like last time, we wanted to share a very touching comment that we received from the community in the last update:
Simply one of the best recent horror games! I'm a small streamer and my audience loved the game, it had a good reception. The artistic style of the title is amazing! And tension is constant. Thank you for your work! (I could have paid the Founder Limited Edition and save some money, but you are doing such a good job, that I prefer to spend a little bit more and buy each chapter separately) ːsteamhappyː
Thank you! And may you escape from the clutches of The Presence unharmed...
Don't miss this exclusive interview where we talk about The Presence!
Greetings, horror fans!
It's been a few days since we put ourselves in this fearsome adventure where the Presence is always watching you and playing by its own rules. That's it, this dark entity responds to the player's action, creating many different situations, even if you do exactly the same...
To discover more, we bring you an exclusive interview from Xataka, (originally in Spanish) where we talk about the process of creating The Presence, "the damn thing that still manages to scare them".
Let the horrors begin...
There are many theories that attempt to explain why so many people enjoy scary films and video games. One of the most common brought up by psychologists is 'emotional regulation', a term that describes experiencing an emotion in a controlled setting. When you watch a horror film, you’re expecting scares – you’re ready for them and give in to your reactions. You might scream, cover your eyes, or even jump, but you know everything will be just fine because you're sitting in your living room and you know everything will go back to normal once it’s over.
We also like horror for the same reason that we keep going back to the same pizza place: whenever we go there, we have a good time. Audio-visual genres (comedy, drama, science fiction, etc.) have a degree of predictability and, therefore, of expectation. "Whenever I watch horror movies, I enjoy them", we think to ourselves. And so we watch horror movies.
Now, a Spanish team has developed a video game to put horror fans’ wits to the test, because everything that happens during gameplay is completely unpredictable. Literally. Not even the developers themselves know exactly what might happen. According to the developers, it’s all thanks to an Artificial intelligence that makes sure it’s impossible to predict the scares.
The (evil) Presence
'Song of Horror' is an adventure in psychological terror that takes its cues from legendary titles such as 'Alone in the Dark' and 'Resident Evil'. Everything kicks off with the disappearance of a famous writer ¬– and it’s your job to find him. The search will take players into his home, where it becomes clear that something sinister is hiding within its four walls.
From left to right: David Navarro, Ignacio Fernández and Carlos Grupeli, the creators of 'Song of Horror'
The game's creators, led by Ignacio Fernández, Carlos Grupeli and David Navarro, (who we spoke to for this article) decided to call this sinister something 'The Presence', and tasked it with making your time with the game as unsettling as possible. In the words of Ignacio:
'What I see in 'Song of Horror' that I don't see in other horror games nowadays is the threatening, tense atmosphere that was palpable in the first 'Alone in the Dark'. That feeling of 'this is so scary, if I blow it now I'll have to start all over'. The fear is a bit more mature, more of a constant pressure on you."
One of the ways this is achieved is through permadeath (i.e. if one of the 13 playable characters dies, they are dead forever) and The Presence, which in effect acts as the 'monster' that, according to the experts, all works of horror should feature. Such monsters are often used either so that we can empathize with them and unleash our wild side by siding with the enemy of our beloved characters, or simply out of curiosity to learn more about them (in fact, the philosopher Noël Carroll believes that the process of discovering the monster, of getting to know it and its motives, etc, is another reason why we're hooked on horror as a genre).
Not to contradict any of these experts or philosophers, but the truth is that The Presence doesn't make itself easy to empathize with, especially given that not even its own 'parents' know what it's going to do next.
An AI that plays by its own rules.
"The Presence watches the player. As the player enters The Presence's territory, it responds to the intrusion and continues to respond in answer to the player's actions: how far they intrude, how quickly, and so on. We always kept the famous 'dog scare' from 'Resident Evil' in mind. The first time you're terrified, the second time, well, you still get a fright, but by the third, you barely react. With The Presence it's different. Even if you do exactly the same thing, it will respond differently. You have no control over it because it plays by its own rules".
It was Carlos who defined The Presence this way. He was the main person in charge of programming the artificial intelligence that brings the monster to life. He explained to us that over the five years it has taken to develop the game, they have input ever more variables, weapons, and tools for the Presence. He spoke of the many factors that 'it' takes into account before making a move: if you attempt to open a door X number of times, if you try X number of light switches, if you spend X number of seconds in a room, if you move quickly or slowly, etc.
The Presence watches you, and every movement you make or thing you do provokes a reaction (or not)
Ignacio notes that, with The Presence, even when a floorboard squeaks as you step in a certain place, it's different from it not squeaking. And with so much granularity and so many variables, our next question was obvious: how did you program something like that? "We're talking about small elements here which, when combined, give rise to a universe of possibilities, basically in an intrinsic way, without us having to force anything", says Carlos. In other words, they basically input a massive number of variables.
To complicate matters even more, each playable character has certain traits which bring their own set of variables to the game. A stealthy character isn't the same as a strong one, and all those circumstances come together to affect the difficulty of the game. For example, if The Presence attacks you by suddenly opening a door, it will be more difficult for you to block it if your character is weaker – but that might just be the character you need to solve a particular puzzle. "Depending on what you're good at, you will have to sacrifice certain traits", Ignacio explains.
And as if that isn’t enough, The Presence goes even further. It's not the same in the first chapter as it is in the fifth and final chapter of the game. "In each chapter, we've added new elements – some specific to that chapter, and others to The Presence itself. As you enter its territory and learn more about its history, it becomes more aggressive and visually more powerful. From glimpsing a pair of hands to shrouding everything in darkness, the level of visual intensity increases. It becomes more and more apparent", Ignacio notes.
What's it like to design levels that feature so much uncertainty? The developers admit that there are 'unique events' that happen to everyone, no matter what. Ignacio elaborates:
"Sometimes we have to tether The Presence to force certain things to happen during the game. For example, let's say that in one chapter we want the same event to happen in a specific place to all players. Obviously, the game contains the same puzzles, scenes and so on for everyone. What changes is the gameplay. There’s an event in chapter one where we don’t want anything else to happen, so we have to stop The Presence for a bit and release it later. It's a little more tricky".
The same goes for the setting and music: "Each room has a mood, its own background music. But later when The Presence gets involved, it has its own music. When it makes a major appearance, its theme begins and all the others stop. What's more, it usually begins with a bang", Ignacio explains.
For everything else, however, the developers assure us that The Presence makes its own decisions in response to the stimuli it receives at any given time. "Most of the tools The Presence has in its arsenal can be used if not everywhere, then almost everywhere", Ignacio concludes.
"The fun part of testing this game, even though I've played it about 400 times, is that sometimes even now the damn thing still manages to scare us"
According to Carlos, "The fun part of testing this game, even though I've played it about 400 times, is that sometimes even now the damn thing still manages to scare us". To which Ignacio adds, "Not long ago we thought there was a bug because The Presence did a combination of things we hadn't seen before. We checked and it turned out everything was fine, but we had to go over the code with a fine-tooth comb. But these combinations of things unsettle you, they surprise you".
Five years to learn how to make a video game from scratch
Carlos and Ignacio during one of the first-ever public presentations of 'Song of Horror' at a video games event (2015).
The interesting thing about the boys from Protocol, the developers of 'Song of Horror, is that Ignacio is an architect, Carlos is a computer technician, and David studied Fine Arts. None of them had any prior experience in the world of video games. There was nothing else for it but to start from scratch.
"The first year we were just taking everything in", Ignacio recalls. "We watched people playing and took note of anything strange that happened, or parts that were too boring. We've since polished all that up and, in fact, joke amongst ourselves that we're actually on 'Song of Horror' 2 or 3 thanks to all of the improvements we've made along the way. The second year was the polishing stage, and the other 3 have been about making the game we truly saw in our imaginations", he finishes.
"We've had lots of support, especially with the financial side of things. Our families have made so many sacrifices"
The trio confessed that they did the bulk of the work on the game with Luis, another programmer, and that in total some 15 people worked on developing the game (including collaborators for some specific matters). Meanwhile, they themselves supplied all of the funding (they had two failed rounds on Kickstarter) which, as they explain it, led to some very difficult moments. "Over and above my own and Ignacio's personal savings, the rest of the time we have been lucky that our close family and friends have been able to support us. We've received a lot of support, especially financially. Our families have made many sacrifices for us", Carlos admits.
It's only logical then that they will have encountered problems within the video games industry. "In many areas, I don't think we're taken seriously in the way that cinema is, for example", says David, to which Ignacio adds, "The problem is that ultimately it's a global market, and we're competing with studios that have much larger teams and better funding". In any event, it's admirable that they've managed to develop such a complex game from scratch and get it off the ground, centered around such an interesting AI concept. As Ignacio himself proudly states, "In monetary terms, we're not an AAA, but when it comes to things that don't depend solely on money, such as the details or the narrative, I believe we measure up just fine".
Song of Horror Episode 3 launches on December, Friday 13th!
Greetings, horror fans,
We are launching Song of Horror newest episode on December, Friday 13th!
Following the trail of evidence, the third episode sees play moves to the State University of Arts and Humanities - both Husher’s place of work, and mysteriously the last place he was seen alive. You will find yourself joining forces with some of Husher’s closest acquaintances, bringing in new threads of plot as The Presence ups its attacks and the truth looms large.
In Song of Horror - Episode 3, you will:
Continue the adventure in a haunted university, cursed by the Song of Horror.
Change characters throughout the episode on some particular points to explore and progress through different areas of the university.
Encounter new characters who join the story: Omar Nassiri, Husher’s coworker, and Grace Richards, Husher’s pupil, as well as an appearance from a surprising character.
Take on even more unique events, threats, and challenges by The Presence.
You can visit Song of Horror's Episode 3 page here.
Remember that there are several options to play Song of Horror, but the one we recommend is the Founder Limited Edition at the special price of $19.99/€19.99/£17.14, which is only available until the end of 2019! With this edition, you can get all Song of Horror's Episodes. Alternatively, you can pick each episode of Song of Horror individually on Steam for $7.99/€7.99/£6.99, or as part of the Season Pass that will unlock a further two episodes on top of the existing three in the months ahead for $21.99/€21.99/£18.99.
All five episodes each pay homage to a specific survival horror genre classic. The debut episode - which sees your encounter against The Presence for the first time - tips its hat to Infogrames’ classic series Alone in the Dark, while episode two is especially pleasing if you are a fan of the phenomenal Silent Hill. The brand news third episode, however, owes most to survival horror classic Obscure.
We are so happy with the reception of the game that we wanted to share with you some of our favorite comments from the community:
"This is honestly one of the best horror games in this decade!!!"
"After playing 2 released episodes this becomes my fav horror game in the recent decade."
"Great game, I made a good purchase, congratulations"
"This game is actually somewhat unique"
"Finding this game is like finding my soul mate"
"Song of Horror is AMAZING! I’ve played so many terrifying horror games and that game was the first to have me on edge for the entire playthrough!"
"I love you devs, best horror game of the year"
"You all seem so passionate about making the game that it makes me want it even more!! It looks amazing!"
"I had an amazing stream playing Song of Horror. Such a good game so far. I am really enjoying it."
"Bought it yesterday and the last two horror games I've bought on steam I've returned but not this one. Love it..."
Thank you everyone for the kind words! We are eager to share with you more about Song of Horror's Episode 3 and look at your reactions!
Beware of The Presence!!!
Song of Horror's first ever update is HERE! The Horror Continues...
Dear horror fans,
We had a wonderful launch day on Halloween, playing live with all of you and enjoying the scariest night of the year together. We are so happy to read all your positive comments about Song of Horror! The reception of the game has been great overall, and we want to thank all of you for your support, love, and feedback...
...That's why we are able to introduce today the first official update of Song of Horror! We've focused on improving and fixing several aspects of the game attending to your requests and petitions. You can take a look at everything we are adding to Song of Horror, including quality-of-life improvements, gameplay tweaks, audiovisual changes, and bug fixing:
THE PRESENCE
Fixed rare instance of lost characters appearing when they shouldn’t.
Detecting danger when listening at doors should now be easier.
THE SILENCE
Characters now utter a voice phrase on overcoming The Silence.
Added missing startled character sounds when The Silence begins.
Fixed several instances of The Silence happening where it shouldn’t, causing bizarre camera bugs & possible blocks.
THE DARKNESS
Heartbeat sound has been adjusted for clarity.
Increased heartbeats’ successful timing range, with an even greater increase in M.R. James difficulty.
Slightly increased the average time between shrieks.
Politely asked The Presence to stop generating Darkness events in some very specific places where your way to a hiding spot would be blocked.
EPISODE 1
Fixed some wrong texts belonging to Alina.
Changed the sound you hear when listening to Saul’s room door to be more sinister and indicative of danger.
EPISODE 2
Fixed some wrong texts belonging to Alexander.
Fixed a wrong clue in the keys puzzle document.
Fixed a loading bug that could happen on saving and quitting while standing on stairs, by which you’d be stuck in the wrong camera on loading, without your character in sight.
Fixed several map icons related to Etienne’s note folder and several wrongly placed standard map icons.
Fixed the character arm movement when using a Coltar token in the Coltar machine.
Fixed a bug with Coltar messages’ texture.
Fixed an instance of characters using voice lines from a different character than them.
You no longer should lose all remaining characters when losing a character in the infinite hallway.
Subtitles for “Recording 3 by Isaac Färber” should now be properly in sync with the audio.
Fixed a few visual and audio bugs in the ending cinematic sequences.
Added subtitle to Rene’s gun cocking for players with “Visual Cues” option enabled.
GENERAL
Slightly tweaked speaking facial animations.
Translated some texts which had been left in Spanish.
Modified Resolution selector text to clarify it only affects resolution in Windowed mode. In Fullscreen mode, it should detect your screen’s native resolution if it’s 16:9, and the closest one if it isn’t.
Added 1440p (2560x1440) resolution to Windowed Mode Resolution selector.
Remember that more episodes are on their way. We cannot wait to share with all of you what we have in store for the next months, stay tuned!
Beware of The Presence...
JOIN US ON OUR SONG OF HORROR LAUNCH LIVE STREAM IN HALLOWEEN!
Hello, horror fans!
We are getting really close to the launch of Song of Horror, the game we have been developing during the last five years of our lives. We want to celebrate this anticipated date with all of you, and that's why we are going to stream Song of Horror live on Halloween!
We invite all of you to join us during the launch of Song of Horror, starting at 4 pm CET/11 am EST, here on Steam. We'll be doing four simultaneous streamings with the four different playable characters of the first episode, sharing development stories, quirky anecdotes, cool references... And of course, getting scared live! Even after playing the game for more than 400 times, we still get chills when playing it.
[previewyoutube="20xHEYb2_Es;full"]
A professional makeup artist will be here as well to help us dress for Halloween. Don't miss the chance to watch all of us dress up as iconic Halloween characters (and maybe some of our own as well!). We invite you to do the same and share with us your freaky Halloween costumes and Song of Horror gameplays on social media with the hashtag #SongOfHorrorLivestream.
This will be the most memorable Halloween of our lives. We want to share this exciting experience with all of you.
Do not forget, The Presence will always be watching you...
HOW TRUE HORROR IS BORN: THE 5-YEAR DEVELOPMENT BEHIND GAMING'S SCARIEST ENTITY
Greetings, horror fans,
Today we will escape from the horrors of The Presence to something more earthly: video game development! But believe us, crafting a great horror game can be as scary as gaming’s most terrifying entity! Here's how we spend the last years of our life bringing our disturbing idea to live:
Song of Horror development started five years ago. The game looks nothing like it was at the very beginning. If you played our first demo, the latest build will be like you are playing two different games!
What has changed during all these years? There have been several changes in different areas. For starters, the story is now located in five different scenarios (one for each episode) and there are up to 13 characters that will offer a unique point of view as well as different play styles. The gameplay has been fine-tuned, allowing for a more immersive experience either with a gamepad, or keyboard & mouse. The addition of skills for every character, as well as 10+ new events per episode, are features that aim to keep every episode fresh, as it was a single game on its own.
But there’s one aspect of the gameplay that stands above all. Yes, you are right: we are talking about The Presence. We have spent a lot of resources making sure that it can live up to its promise. Now, The Presence observes your way of playing so it can adapt to you and attack you whenever you’re feeling more comfortable.
Designing each episode with The Presence in mind has been crucial for the team. Now, this entity can attack you everywhere in the map, so you can never feel safe while playing. We want you to be able to fight back, run or hide... But we don’t want you to feel safe in any way. And, of course, developing a game during five years means that the actual look of the title has changed. A LOT.
Let us summarize some of the changes so you can understand how the game has improved: now it has more than 700 new animations, 200 cutscenes that vary depending on the character at play, more than 2,000 3D objects and a completely redesigned lighting so the environment can look as gorgeous as possible, and much more.
Now that you have seen the work behind the scenes, you have to face the scariest challenge: are you ready to meet The Presence and unveil the mystery behind the Song of Horror?
SONG OF HORROR WILL SCARE YOU TO DEATH!
Dear horror fans,
We are truly excited about the horror adventure we are working on. As the release date gets closer and closer, we are able to share new content about a game that we hope will blow your minds. We are pretty confident that the blend between mystery, adventure and the horror of The Presence will drag you down… for months. That’s why we are super happy to reveal that Song of Horror will be released in five episodes, starting from October! Bonus track: here’s our latest trailer of the game!
Song of Horror launches this Halloween, October 31st on an episodic format. The first two episodes will be out on Halloween, and each one of them will offer a unique, scary experience set in a different location and seen through the eyes of 13 different characters with permadeath. You can wishlist the Complete Nightmare Season Pass now on Steam!
Every episode will offer new, unpredictable spooky situations that will scare players. The first episode will be located at the scary Husher mansion. But for the second one, we will travel to a haunted building with a particularly horrifying antique shop. Do you fondly remember your school days? That's about to change when the third episode brings you to a cursed college building. An abandoned abbey, surrounded by a deadly halo after a creepy concert, is the location of the fourth episode but the one that really gets me is that mental institution where you will face the ultimate challenge. Here's the full roadmap for Song of Horror:
Song of Horror is a psychological horror adventure where you have to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances. It’s not a classic horror game set in a cursed house but a story told in unique, different locations where you will have to control up to 13 characters to investigate, solve riddles and face The Presence, the relentless AI prepared to become your worst nightmare.
We are so excited to be able to finally start sharing with you everything about this beautiful, scary game of ours! We hope you are able to get a taste of what you will be facing in Song of Horror with our latest trailer and images. Don’t try to get ready to face The Presence because it will be it, and not you, who adapts to your gameplay to hunt you down the moment you least expect it to happen.
