Albino Lullaby Preview: No Jumpscares, No Gore, Final Destination

I went to Otakon for the first time a few weeks ago. Even though I'm not as into anime as the rest of my friends I still had a lot of fun. The place I spent most of my time in was the game room where hundreds of people hurdled around televisions and tables playing almost every kind of game imaginable. I spent most of my time playing games at the developer booths, a place where fledgling developers show their games off for the first time. Many of these games were fun, but only one really stood out in my mind. That game was a very surreal first person survival horror game called Albino Lullaby. I got to play through the entire demo and I have to say I was very impressed by what I played.

This the first thing you see when you begin the game and it is cryptic as hell!

The demo begins with me being pulled out of a burning Victorican house being engulfed by some stage green energy. Then scene then abruptly cuts to me driving a car down a dark road and swirving to miss something standing in the middle of the road before cutting to back again just as I was about to hit an oncoming tracker trailer. I then awaken in a cage. The room around me is dark and all I can make out are hundreds of eyes looking back at me. The strange green energy from before then engulfs the cage and suddenly the cage falls to the ground and I escaped and thus the game proper began.

The prison facility is filled with bizarre and terrifying contraptions like this one here.

The first thing I notice about playing Albino Lullaby is its incredibly eerie sound design. Muted whispers and distant moans of pain flooded my ears as I began to explore the strange prison facility I'd found myself in. It reminded me a bit of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center from the Portal series with its modular test labs changing form at a moments notice. I eventually was able to find a way out of the prison and into a strange, empty Victorian manor. I spied a cracked door and peeked inside it to see a very strange creature taking a bath. I was told by the developer handling the demo that this creature fingerlike was one of many being collectively called The Grandchildren. I eventually was able to progress and found this room that changed form when I pressed a button in the center of the room. My heart stopped when the room suddenly formed into a church and I was confronted by over a dozen of The Grandchildren at once and outlet feeding power to the button had been unplugged.

This part scared the shit out of me.

I had a split second to react and restore power to the button before The Grandchildren swarmed me. I was able to get it working again and the room changed form saving me from the ambush. But before I could catch my breath another group of The Grandchildren banged down the door behind me. I ran as fast as I could. As I ran I found that the strange place I had found myself in was suppended over a massive underground cliff with not hint of where an exit might be. I eventually found a box of blue matches and used them to light lanterns in a particularly dark part of the facility. I eventually made my way back to the Victorian manor. Only now it was swarming with the Grandchildren. I attempted just to make a run for it, but I was ambushed and killed. After the game reload I took a more stealthy approach. I realized that lighting lanterns with the blue matches that I found would drive away the Grandchildren. I was able to evade the Grandchildren and make into a new asylum like area. I came across a Grandchild watching television and I sneaked up and stole his remote. However, when I turned around I was confronted by dozens of the Grandchildren and before I could even react the demo ended.

The Grandchildren may look kind of dumb and they do. But in large groups they are a force to be reckoned with.

Albino Lullaby is the brainchild of former Irrational Games developer Justin Pappas, who had previously worked on the BioShock games. After Irrational Games closure in early 2014 he left to create his own studio Ape Law. The game is being developed on the next generation Unreal 4 Engine and I have to admit that game looks fantastic and runs beautiful. Thought there was one instance where I fell through the world and had to reload a save. The goal Ape Law had in mind while making Albino Lullaby is to create a horror game that breaks conventions. No blood, no gore, and no jumpscares. Albino Lullaby is a game that seeks to scare you with pure game and sound design. From the demo I've played, I say that Ape Law has succeeded in what it has set out to do. There is no clear release window for Albino Lullaby other then it will be out before the end of the year and that it will be episodic. Definitely keep your eyes peeled for this one.

Here is a link to Albino Lullaby's website: http://albinolullaby.com/