By Indie game developer TikGames has been developing a Child’s Play game for some time now, and yet this is the first time Flixist is actually reporting it. I had previously heard about the game, being the shameless Child’s Play fan that I am, but now it seems their development cycle is coming to an end. The game is slated to release this fall (so, like, now, I guess) on consoles as well as PC. The game is expected to be a stealth/action affair, more or less like Assassin’s Creed, I imagine, except probably much worse. TikGames has worked mainly on downloadable/mobile games in the past and isn’t really the triple-A developer the franchise deserves/needs, though, hopefully they can do a half-way decent job of it.
As for the concept of the game itself, where you play as Chucky going out on the kill, I see this as both a triumph as well as somewhat of a missed opportunity. It’s a triumph as it’s the first, real Chucky game to ever materialize (that I know of), but the opportunity for a truly visceral Chucky game feels a bit wasted here, because–as with any video game–you start to relate to the character you’re playing as. This runs completely opposite to the entire concept of the Child’s Play movies, wherein you related to the victims rather than to Chucky himself. Chucky was always this unknown threat waiting in the darkness until he got the drop on his victims, the ultimate reveal being that Chucky is a walking, talking doll bent on killing them… It’s a truly horrifying thought when you think about it.
The change in naming convention from the first three movies (Child’s Play 1, 2 and 3) to the more recent two movies (Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky) is an important distinction to make, since the Chucky movies marked the end of the franchise’s horror roots and from then on pursued a more parodied style. We started to see things from Chucky’s perspective as well as laughing with him and his perverse humor. Audiences stopped being afraid of him and he became somewhat of a pop culture icon from then on. That came as somewhat of a blessing to me, since I had been traumatized by the Child’s Play movies since I was about 6 years old. Though, it was a relief to my psyche, it became a curse to the franchise itself. Seed of Chucky was an abysmal failure as it turned the delightful horror/parody concept seen in Bride of Chucky into a big, fat joke that was neither scary, nor funny. Here’s hoping that there can still be some hope for the franchise in the upcoming remake (that may or may not ever see the light of day). Though this game seems to be borrowing more cues from the Chucky movies rather than the Child’s Play movies (identifying with Chucky and the facial stitching circa Bride of Chucky, for two), it may end up surprising us.
Hit the jump for some nifty renders of the Chucky model from the game.
[Via /Film, ShockTillYouDrop]