"What Disney Land is for families, we can be for horror"
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Wednesday 27th April 2022
Feardemic
GamesIndustry.biz has interviewed a lot of indie publishers over the years, so much so that the interview often boils down to a search for the thing that is supposed to separate the interviewed publisher from the litany of competitors in the space.
This interview is a bit different, because we already knew what made Feardemic stand out when we took the pitch. As the name suggests, Feardemic is an indie publisher that only publishes horror games.
"The more you dig into the idea of horror as a narrative and not a game mechanic, you realize it's quite a big part of not only the gaming industry but the entertainment business"
"Initially you think about it and go, 'Hang on, that's a bit stupid. You're limiting yourself quite severely,'" admits Feardemic CEO Scott Millard. "But the more you dig into the idea of horror as a narrative and not a game mechanic, you realize it's quite a big part of not only the gaming industry but the entertainment business."
The focus is perhaps less surprising when one learns that Feardemic is a subsidiary of Bloober Team, the horror developer behind The Medium and Layers of Fear. Millard also says the horror focus the publisher inherited from its parent company is perhaps not as restrictive as one would assume at first glance, because it is often a thematic choice applied to a variety of genres.
The Medium might be classified as an adventure game, while Feardemic titles like Cathedral 3-D and Perseverance are clearly a first-person shooter and a visual novel, respectively, but all fit comfortably under the horror umbrella.
In fact, he cites research from data agencies have found 18% of all games have a narrative style that would be
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