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Annapurna Interactive teams with Observation developer for new horror game

The creators of Observation and Stories Untold didn't mean to make horror games. With Annapurna Interactive backing them, now they do.

Ozzie Mejia

July 29, 2021 12:31 PM

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As the crew at the Glasgow-based No Code Entertainment will often say anecdotally, the team never set out to be a "horror" studio. However, the releases of Observation and Stories Untold may suggest otherwise. The two games became cult hits in the genre and it's gotten the attention of Annapurna Interactive. During Thursday's Annapurna Interactive Showcase, the team at No Code announced that work on a new horror project is underway.

"It's one of these opportunities that come up and you just kinda have to move along with it," No Code co-founder Jon McKellan said during a vignette that aired late in the Annapurna Interactive Showcase. "We're taking what we do and what we love and trying to push it to the next stage with a bigger budget and a little bit more time. We've never really set out to make a horror game, but we've kinda ended up in that. Whereas this game, we are setting out to make a horror game. I don't think anyone's expecting what we're going to do next, which makes it even more exciting."

There's no indication of what this horror project could be or what it will entail. The vignette notes that the No Code team is doubling its size and upping its budget significantly for its next title, but there are no clues of what said title will actually be.

For those who are unfamiliar with No Code's previous project, Observation was released in 2020 and puts players in the role of a space station's artificial intelligence. As the AI, players must aid the station's crew in tracking down a mysterious horror that's attacking everyone on board. The game received mostly positive reviews on Metacritic with critics citing the game's unique ideas and premise. Both Observation and Stories Untold were published by Devolver Digital.

We'll be sure to keep an eye on this ongoing project from Annapurna Interactive and the expanding No Code team. We'll be sure to come back with any updates as they come up, so keep it on Shacknews for the latest.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?