The head of Blue Box Game Studios, Hasan Kahraman, has revealed that the upcoming PS5 shooter Abandoned isn’t really a horror game. This is despite the fact the game was previous described as a “cinematic, first-person horror survival shooter” in a PlayStation Blog post.
During a recent conversation with NME, Kahraman revealed why the controversial game isn’t adjacent to the likes of Silent Hill:
“Abandoned is a shooter/survival game. It has some horror elements in it but it’s not really a horror game. It’s not what people think – that it’s Silent Hill.”
Of course, while Kahraman’s claim clarifies the shooter’s genre, it also serves to dismiss speculation over whether or not Abandoned is secretly a Hideo Kojima project. Despite denying this claim numerous times, Blue Box Game Studios and Kahraman are still being accused of being part of some kind of marketing conspiracy.
After commenting on Abandoned’s genre, the Blue Box head then delved into what kind of the game the FPS actually is:
“At first, we said it was going to be an open-world game. But with the high-quality graphics we have now, we had to sacrifice that. It’s not really open world anymore – it’s a linear story.”
Clutching onto conspiracy
As you’d perhaps expect, the Abandoned creator was also asked about the conspiracy theories that currently haunt the project. In response, Karaman denied the claims while highlighting the difficulties caused by suggestive posts made by Hideo Kojima himself. Specifically, the developer highlights a specific post by Kojima, which depicts a Coraline inspired chibi version of the Metal Gear Solid creator with a zipped both standing on top of a “blue box”.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that the box in Kojima’s photo isn’t really a box and looks more like a food container. In fact, there’s nothing really in Kojima’s post that suggests anything to do with Blue Box or Abandoned. Nevertheless, fans have still been digging for anything that can link the two studios together, whether there’s actually anything there or not.
Convoluted conspiracies and accusations
Regardless of whether the unlikely conspiracies associated with Abandoned transpire to be true, Blue Box’s marketing tactics have been questionable. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with trying to steep your project in mystery. However, the studio has released some rather peculiar game assets out into the wild, like the recent “real-time experience” banner that seems to depict a blurred out man in an eyepatch.
As a result, Blue Box Studios has been accused of being scammers. While discussing the accusations with NME, Kahraman revealed how the situation was affecting both his physical and mental wellbeing:
“I’m really depressed right now. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. The biggest thing that’s bugging me is just that people are labelling us as scammers. That is the big thing that really, really hurts me. Because that is not my intention at all, you know?”
Let’s hope that the conspiracies and accusations subside once more is revealed about Abandoned. While the game’s marketing has been convoluted, to say the least, perhaps a more transparent and informative approach will help ease the situation.
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Featured Image Credit: Blue Box / Hasan Kahraman