With DreadOut being the most popular horror game made by an Indonesian developer, it was only natural that a sequel would be announced. And with DreadOut 2 coming out in 2020, I spoke to Rachmad Imron (co-founder and CEO of Digital Happiness) about his forthcoming third person supernatural horror game, and how it would be implementing a new action-packed battle mechanic. Enjoy!
For those people who’ve never heard of the DreadOut franchise, with DreadOut 2 being the second game in the series, how would you describe it to people who’ve never heard of the game and who you would sell it to as part of an elevator pitch?
Okay, it’s actually a third-person survival horror. It’s a love letter to classic survival horror games like Silent Hill and also Fatal Frame / Project Zero. It’s a mix of both. Yeah, so that’s our love letter to the classic survival horror interpretation.
How big is the team?
Right now, there’s about 15 to 20 people working on our game.
How long has the game been in development for?
Already 1.5 years.
Is it okay for people to jump straight into the second game, or would they have had to have played the first game to get a better idea of the story?
You don’t have to buy the first one. Its different, but not that different. But in our sequel there will be stories that explain the previous DreadOut game. So yeah, people who didn’t play DreadOut first, I think they can jump right into the second game.
I assume DreadOut 2 will be a better game than DreadOut 1?
Yeah, hopefully yeah.
In which case, what lessons did you learn from the first game that you’ve implemented into the second game in order to make DreadOut 2 a better game than what the first game was?
We really depend on the fans, there’s a lot of input from the fans from the previous game. That’s why in DreadOut 2 the stories will be more solid, more narrative… And also in DreadOut 2 there will be an action type of survival horror, since the first one is purely survival horror. In this sequel, we want to try a bit more action… action survival horror. Like, right now our protagonists can have melee weapons, like…
Like Silent Hill?
Yeah, like Silent Hill basically.
How long will the game take to finish for the average player?
For DreadOut 2, it’s about less than 10 hours.
The games I play… they’re about 10 hours, maybe 15. I don’t like long games.
(Laughs) yeah…
You said that the game is a love letter to classic Japanese style survival horror games like Silent Hill and Project Zero. What kind of games do you play personally?
For now, I think me and the team are really looking into the FromSoftware games. Like the Souls series, and recently Sekiro… The stuff like melee weapons, we’re trying to learn about those from that great developer.
The game is coming out on Steam. Any plans for a console launch?
Yeah, we’re still negotiating with the publisher. So there’s a very good probability that it will release it on other platforms like PS4 or XBox One. Nintendo Switch as well… But I cannot promise for now.
Mister Rachman, thank you very much.