Summary
I’m very doubtful of movie franchises moving into the world of video games, especially horror movies. Too often, they end up being asymmetrical survival horror games, likeThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Killer Klowns From Outer Space,Evil DeadandFriday the 13th. Of course, this isn’t always the case – Alien: Isolation is a single-player survival horror based on the Ridley Scott classic, for example, and it’s amazing. This game genre isn’tbadby any means, it’s just not my cup of tea. I also don’t feel strongly about those movies, for what it’s worth.
However, Idofeel strongly about the 2022 movie Barbarian, one of my favourite horror movies in recent memory. When my friends and I streamed it on Disney+ earlier this year, we enjoyed it so much that we stood in my living room and cheered as the credits rolled. It’s campy, it’s gory, it’s tense, and it has just enough humour to make it an instant classic. (Justin Long answering the phone had me doubled over.) Now, it’s also going to be a game.
Diversion3 Entertainment, the studio behind the Friday the 13th and Evil Dead games, is leading development on an adaptation of Barbarian in partnership with New Regency Pictures. In a statement toBloody Disgusting, Tim Hesse, executive producer of Diversion3 Entertainment, said the game will ‘expand on the settings, characters and creatures’ of the hit movie. He also said, “The film did a magnificent job of not only scaring audiences with its unexpected and horrifying twists and turns, but also in establishing strong characters thrown into terrifying situations. We look forward to exploring these themes further in the game.”
We don’t know who will be publishing the adaptation just yet, let alone when it’ll release or if it will be able to capture themovie’s distinct vibes, but I’m still excited. Barbarian’s characters are alternately compelling and hilarious, making me root for and against them with ease. The film focuses on an Airbnb stay gone wrong, after two guests are forced to share a house and discover something terrifying in the basement.
It doesn’t seem like the kind of film that would make sense as an asymmetric survival horror. I’m picturing more of a single-player survival horror that expands on the lore, especially considering the monsters have such a horrific and tragic backstory, and perhaps it would include different characters, considering their fates. Spoilers: bad things happen. But Diversion3 is best known for their work on asymmetric multiplayer survival horror games, making it increasingly likely that Barbarian’s game adaptation will be similar.
Knowing this, I still want to give it a fair shake. Barbarian was a great movie and potentially getting to see Justin Long get torn apart by the movie’s monsters because of my own actions will be worth braving yet another survival horror game against my better instincts. But I wish horror movie adaptations would move away from the predictable choices and get more experimental. How many IPs can we see turned into 4v1 survival games until we get bored? Where’s the creativity? Only time will tell if Barbarian goes the same way.
