Exploring the Eerie New Narrative Adventure – PlayStation.Blog

Sure, here you go:

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So, here we are, counting down to May 8. That’s when The Midnight Walk drops for PS5 and PS VR2. This game is like, officially my obsession now. Heard about it at State of Play last year and instantly it’s got this crazy “cozy horror” vibe. Like, who even thought of that? Deformed antiques and little freaky dudes everywhere — it’s that kind of nightmare fuel you don’t wanna turn away from, you know?

Anyway, Moonhood, a Swedish studio (never realized they made stuff like this before) gave me a peek into a new section of this game. I swear, the visuals feel like walking through a stop-motion dream. Can’t explain it, but it’s like you can smell the pixels? Makes no sense but there, I said it.

Oh, right, they showed me this clip or something — not sure why I’m telling you but it stuck with me. Anyway…

So, imagine you start as “The Burnt One,” crawling out of some DIY grave. Not how you’d wanna wake up on a Monday but hey, it’s fantasy. The world’s all about using matches to set fires, dodge creepy vibes lurking around, and hoarding items. And here’s the trippy part: you close your eyes to, like, hear things better? Sometimes the world even changes when you open them again. On a flat screen, you just hold a button to crank up the spooky sound effects. And with the DualSense controller, you’ll feel stuff vibrate when you’re near something important. Neat but also, kinda weird.

Then you meet Potboy — such an odd little dude. Big head, little body, fire on top — he’s alive when you light him up with a match. He bolts off hiding like he’s being chased by ghosts, leaving you to find coal to win his trust. I know, right? Before you know it, he’s your ride-or-die while you journey to Moon Mountain — this giant rock towering out in the distance, like it’s judging you.

There’s a whole crew in this world. Pothead — nimble as heck — sneaks into places you can’t squeeze into. And his fire? It’s got magic, transforming the landscape, making dead branches bloom, that sort of thing. Figuring out problems means using him and your surroundings creatively. I saw one puzzle where you light a candle to distract a monster so Potboy can flip some switches. Felt like solving a mystery while balancing upside down, if that makes sense.

Oh, and there’s Housy, another friend who’s basically a walking house. Yes, legs like a bug and all. He’s somewhere you can crash and stash collectibles. Creepy yet comforting, go figure. When the scary stuff kicks in, trust me, it’s all “fight or flight.” Some hulking creature with too many teeth comes roaring, and there I am, thinking maybe a closet is my best bet. Or sometimes, you just leg it and pray.

And as for the night in this game, it’s like every shadow has a story. The environments? Totally creepy but in a “I can’t stop staring” way. Weird how they used real models and scanned them in. Buildings, kinda both natural and artificial — just unsettling. There are “Shellphones,” telling tales of forgotten worlds. Even the not-so-hostile folks seem a bit… off? Seriously, there are townsfolk who’ve lost their bodies. Just heads left, all wary of us “limbed” people. Yikes.

Playing on a regular screen is cool, but pop on a PS VR2 and you’re practically living there. Imagine closing your eyes for real to boost your senses or trigger otherworldly changes. Eye symbols are hidden for you to meditate on — they shift the whole scene or spawn monsters. It’s wild!

Sound does a lot here too. Binaural audio means everything sounds more alive — every unsettling creak and swoosh of flame. MoonHood showed off with VR and yeah, might have convinced me that’s the way to go. So there you have it, find your matches, brace yourself — it’s gonna be one crazy midnight stroll.