We recently found out that pretty much all the conspiracy theories surrounding Abandoned are wrong. It's less of a horror game and more of a survival shooter with some unique gameplay elements. Hideo Kojima is not involved, it's not a Silent Hill reboot, and it has nothing to do with Metal Gear.
However, we still don't know a lot about Abandoned, and the recent "realtime experience" didn't do anything to help matters. The four-second animation was met with derision and hostility from fans with some even calling Abandoned a scam after digging into Blue Box Game Studios' sordid history.
In a new interview with IGN, Blue Box head Hasan Kahraman explains that history in an attempt to avoid being labeled a "scammer," and he even promises to give away a free game to prove it.
Hasan explains that the controversy surrounding Abandoned is all because it was announced way too soon. "Let's be honest, even the app was just too soon,” Hasan admits, explaining that Blue Box is still a very new studio that is learning the ins and outs of PR and advertising as they go. It's led to more than a few problems, as Blue Box's history shows.
Related: Abandoned Is Just Another Survival Shooter, Apparently
A Reddit post by TicTacPaul outlines Blue Box's history of announcing five games over six years–none of which have been released. Hasan counters that all those previous titles were canceled before they could eat up "time and money" and not because of an elaborate scheme, noting anyone who'd pre-ordered or Kickstarted these games got their money back.
Hasan acknowledges there's a lot of ill-will towards Blue Box to start showing something for their work. To get back on everyone's good side, Hasan now says that Blue Box will give away an earlier game ahead of Abandoned's release to coincide with a new gameplay trailer.
That game is called The Haunting: Blood Water Curse. An ode to Fatal Frame, the game released on Steam Early Access in December and currently sits at a "mostly negative" review score. Hasan admits the game arrived in a broken state and this led to those negative reviews–another hard lesson learned about releasing a game into early access.
Curiously, The Haunting is still listed under Createq Interactive even though Blue Box plans to give it away for free. In his interview, Hasan explains that Createq is actually a four-person development team that is friends of Blue Box and that has taken over development. They'll complete the game within the next few months and Blue Box will eat the cost of giving away the game.
The Haunting's free release will coincide with Abandoned's first real gameplay trailer. Anyone who purchased The Haunting in its early access period will be given a free Abandoned package in compensation.
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