Through the Woods Preview – Norse Horror
“I’m going to kill Old Erik,” the words uttered by the protagonist as she discovers her son’s bright orange bubble jacket lying in a heap on the floor of a cave. The cave is filled with broken toys: dolls without eyes, trains with no wheels – it’s a depressing sight to say the least, and one that fills you with a foreboding sense of dread.
This is Through The Woods, a Norwegian third-person psychological horror game set on the western shore of said country. You follow a mother in search of her missing son as she navigates the enormous forest inhabited by beasts and creatures heavily influenced by Norse mythology and Norwegian folk tales. As you play, she recites the events which she experienced to a psychiatrist who regularly doubts her story.
Like many horror games of late, your only tools to survive the creatures of the forest are your flashlight and your legs. In the short press demo I was able to play, you take control of the mother as she first ventures in to the forest equipped only with her torch, navigating the towering trees and eerie huts which lie between them with only her son’s reflective teddy bears to show her the way. The graphical fidelity of the game, even in its alpha state, is excellent: leaves, branches and roots of the trees all stand out and feel part of the world instead of just a decoration.
However, what cements the games fear factor is its stellar high-quality sound design. Nothing is more terrifying than hearing a gurgle, a moan through the trees far off in the distance. The creaking of doors, the rustling of leaves underfoot all intensify the atmosphere of the forest, keeping it heavy and suspenseful. However, developer Antagonist cranks it up a notch as you leave the small forest hamlet and come across a cave. A huge troll appears, looking frighteningly abstract and hellish, chasing you into the cave and sealing the entrance behind you. Intense is an understatement, running as you watch the camera tremble with the force of his footsteps and hear his nightmarish groans as he bounds after you.
A strong selling point for Through The Woods is it’s unique influences. Drawing from a totally different mythology than most horror games, its Norwegian spin makes it feel fresher than your usual Japanese-inspired thriller. It also gives the game a sense of national identity, something which the developers Antagonist have prided themselves upon, opening up the history of Norway and it’s twisted folk tales to a wider audience.
Through The Woods promises to deliver “a profound experience that will leave you feeling as if waking up from a nightmare”. From what I’ve played, it looks as though Antagonist are going to go above and beyond this promise and create a game truly unique within its genre, and one that stands apart from its competitors with its innovative background and disturbingly realistic level of immersion. Due out in the Q1 next year, I look forward to revisiting the Norwegian forest: this time, for the long haul.
