After months of teasing:
New thread for new news.
Trailer
UPDATE:
Screenshots
PlayStation Blog Post
PR said:XSEED Games to Publish Corpse Party for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system this Fall
New Horror Action Title to Deliver a Frightfully Unique Adventure Filled with Suspense, Supernatural Terrors and Fear
Torrance, Calif., (September 1, 2011) XSEED Games, an independent-minded publisher, today announced it has picked up the North American rights to publish Corpse Party, a unique twist on horror action, for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. A cult favorite in its native Japan when it was released, Corpse Party promises to deliver a tense and bone-chilling experience for all who dare step foot into situations they may not be prepared to survive.
Corpse Party is an adventure game that uses hand-drawn 2D sprite and tile art to tell the story of a group of Kisaragi Academy High School students who are trapped in a haunted elementary school filled with the decaying corpses and tormented souls of countless children whod mysteriously vanished from the Japanese countryside years, months or sometimes only days prior. Desperately trying to escape and survive, players will experience unnatural, unnerving and decidedly uncensored horrors through the eyes and ears -- of these frightened teenaged victims. Detailed 2D sprite animations and art stills show the bloody and unsettling fates that await those who enter, and full Japanese-language voice-acting combines with 3D audio support to create a simulated surround sound experience when playing with headphones, offering players a delightfully uncomfortable level of immersion.
This is a game we believe will instantly captivate fans of action, suspense and horror and leave a one of a kind impact, said Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED Games. Through its unique visual style, unpredictable storytelling and impressive audio cues, Corpse Party will test players mental strength and mesmerize them through its well-crafted mystery and intricate character-driven narrative, all while delivering a truly frightening experience thats sure to keep everyone on the edges of their seats.
Corpse Party features highly-detailed 2D graphics with a 16-bit flair, giving it a uniquely distinctive look and feel and leaving just enough up to the players imagination to enhance the impact of its already deeply disturbing plotline. With the aid of headphones, players will hear characters speak to them from the corner of the room, directly into their ears or even from inside their own heads to create a chilling 3D audio experience. Through various actions, decisions and sometimes even knee-jerk reflexes, the outcome of the story will change. There are no Game Over screens here: only dozens of brutally detailed, agonizing and heart-wrenching scenarios branching off of the one true path that might lead to the players eventual salvation.
Corpse Party was originally developed as an independent title by Team GrisGris, and was adapted for the PSP system by 5pb. It will be published in North America by XSEED Games this fall exclusively as a download through the PlayStation®Store. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB (pending M for Mature).
About XSEED Games:
XSEED Games was formed in November 2004 by a small group of industry veterans led by president Jun Iwasaki with a common vision: to cross-pollinate the avid gaming cultures of Japan and North America. Delivering unique, innovative titles across multiple platforms and genres, XSEED Games is dedicated to publishing products that appeal to and enrich the North American market. More information on XSEED Games can be found at http://www.xseedgames.com
New thread for new news.
Trailer
UPDATE:
Screenshots
PlayStation Blog said:So youve taken an interest in Corpse Party, have you? Perhaps you were intrigued by the launch trailer, or laughed at the name when you saw it mentioned on your favorite gaming news site (or hilarious webcomic?). Perhaps youre a fan of survival horror games, or visual novels, or point-and-click adventures or perhaps you simply enjoy Japanese horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge, and are always looking for your next fix.
Regardless of why youve taken an interest or how you got to this blog, theres one thing that most likely holds true: You have very little idea what Corpse Party actually is.
Our launch trailer focused on the most important aspects of the game those being its unsettling atmosphere and its dark-as-night storyline but did very little to indicate exactly how its played. So, lets dig a little deeper and find out exactly what horrors await, shall we?
In the broadest terms, Corpse Party is a horror adventure game. You play as an ensemble cast of seven senior high school students, one junior high school student and one senior high school English teacher. The games story is split into five chapters, each of which focuses (more or less) on one particular subset of these characters as they explore a haunted, otherworldly elementary school in an attempt to find some way out without dying or losing their minds. Their efforts are thwarted at every turn not only by those responsible for this ethereal schools existence, but also by the vengeful spirits of other students just like them who were drawn into this dimension against their will and met with unfortunate (and usually quite gruesome) ends.
Many have posited that Corpse Party plays out like a visual novel, but thats really not the case. While some scenes (such as the unlockable Extra Chapters) consist purely of dialogue-driven cinematics, most of the game is fully interactive, allowing you to walk around and explore Heavenly Host Elementary as you see fit, carefully examining objects and piecing together the sordid history of the school at every turn. Theres no combat, per se, but you are often confronted by hostile paranormals or potentially fatal environmental hazards and must make decisions on where to go, how to proceed or what to say. The wrong decision will either immediately or eventually lead you down a path toward one of the games vast multitudes of Wrong Ends, or bad endings generally long, drawn-out and meticulously detailed death scenes brought to life through a combination of 2D sprite animation, full-screen art stills, meaty, squishy sound effects and high-quality Japanese voice-acting (recorded binaurally to create the illusion of 3D sound, making headphones an absolute must!).
Occasionally, youll find yourself being chased by a malevolent spirit (or two, or three), and the game never makes it very easy to get away. Youll often need the perfect blend of dexterity and innovative thinking to survive these ordeals not just running for your life, but also trying to find some way of escaping a room that really, really doesnt want to let you leave. In one such instance, getting caught by your pursuer means being shoved into a shallow grave and slowly buried alive as you listen to one of the games strongest characters suffocating and retching under endless shovelfuls of dirt, begging for his life for almost five solid minutes before the last gasp of breath escapes his mouth and the Wrong End music plays. Wrong, indeed!
So no, this is definitely much more than a visual novel. Though Corpse Partys gameplay ultimately exists as a vessel for telling an intensely creepy, gory and unsettling mystery story, theres always something new to see, some new psychotic spirit to escape or some new puzzle to solve. And with over 80 corpses of your predecessors to find, three proper endings to achieve and a whopping twenty-four Wrong Ends to witness (and believe me, morbid curiosity will make you want to see them all, even if theyre hard to watch!), youll surely be scarred for life long before you ever put this game down.
Watch for its release in the PlayStation Store this fall and prepare to sleep with the lights on for a while (not that itll help!).
PlayStation Blog Post
