Kickstarter to help make October Nightmares a reality

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Cosmic horror game from the creator of The Whispering Valley set during the 1970s October Crisis in Canada

Indie developer Studio Chien d'Or has devoted itself to telling unique, distinctly French Canadian stories in their previous releases, The Whispering Valley and its short prelude, The Whisperer. For their next game, the team has opted to tell a horror story set during a particularly turbulent time, the October Crisis of 1970, and is seeking help on Kickstarter to make October Nightmares a reality.

In a rather dark moment of Canadian history, the separatist group Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross, resulting in the first and only peacetime invocation of the War Measures Act by the federal government. Civil liberties were suspended, police were granted extraordinary powers, the military was brought in, and hundreds were arrested. Against this disturbing backdrop, in the game the residents of Petit-Cartier, a "working-class neighborhood in Montréal," have become afflicted with unexplained recurring nightmares that continue to negatively affect them during the day. In all the turmoil, Hélène's brother goes missing, and to find him she'll need to get to the bottom of this terrifying supernatural phenomenon and an "otherworldly creature" called the Snatcher.

Although based on a real historical event that designer Olivier Leclair aims to represent authentically, October Nightmares is "not a political intrigue or a police investigation," but rather a cosmic horror inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, and in particular his "Dream Cycle" short stories. Presented in first person, the game blends exploration and puzzle solving across several day/night cycles. Armed only with your camera, you're able to freely move through the neighbourhood while the sun is up in order to identify the Snatcher's last victim. When night falls, however, you can access the "dark world of dreams," in which you will "follow in the footsteps of the Snatcher and, perhaps, discover the terrible fate reserved for those who have been taken."

In order to fully fund the project, the developer has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise CA $20,000 by November 15th. If successful, we should see October Nightmares arrive first on Steam and GOG for Windows PC in two years' time.

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