Sean Parker
The first trailer for the upcoming cosmic horror game The Chant was launched today, announcing its availability on Playstation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S this fall. Prime Matter and Brass Token’s game is a third-person horror-survival-action adventure where a journey of enlightenment goes horribly wrong. The Chant trailer shows us the beauty and natural wonder of Glory Island at the start as a guru welcomes us to a peaceful, artsy dome amid the scenery.
Getting the sense that the player will embody the woman who says she’s “not a very spiritual person,” the guru tells us to lift ourselves up to the infinite and things get a little Lovecraftian from there. Psychedelic coloring and trippy graphics cause the next few moments in the trailer to become unsettling. We’re then told this new-age retreat follows in the same footsteps of a ’70s cult, while the next few landscapes have similar psychedelic millisecond cut-ins of a man with antlers sprouting from his head. The voiceover informs us something called “The Gloom” is lying, and whatever it all means, it’s hooked us.
The images that climax The Chant trailer are fast and bright before ending with our heroine atop a wooden staircase to a cave. The whole affair has vibes ranging from movies like Friday the 13th, series’ like The Path, and video games Oxenfree, The Call of Cthulhu, and Until Dawn.
The Chant gets wild after an ethereal group chant goes wrong (Klaatu, Barada, Necktie, amirite?), The words summon a portal to a nightmarish dimension called The Gloom, which releases interdimensional creatures that feed off negative energy and cause you and the others on the island to go batsh*t f*cking crazy. The Gloom says it manifests monsters that cater to the individual fears of the player, we’re guessing like Until Dawn‘s inkblot test. In order to win, you have to strengthen your mind, body, and spirit and untangle the secrets of the ’70s cult. It’s the only way to reverse the chant and avoid becoming part of The Gloom too.
In an interview with Gamer2.com, Brass Token’s Mike Skupa has highlighted his influences for The Chant as Resident Evil 2, Alone in the Dark, and Eternal Darkness. So you should probably prepare for some heavy survival elements, jump-scaring creatures, and psychological moments that will absolutely make you lose your mind.
The Chant releases this fall to PC and next-gen systems (Xbox Series X/S and PS5).
