Combining the slingshot controls of Angry Birds, the swordplay of Fruit Ninja, the gorgeous Unreal Engine-powered graphics of Infinity Blade, and the dark fairytale them of the film Pan’s Labyrinth, The Dark Meadow is the sort of iOS game nightmares are made of.
Last seen working on >ambitious super hero games, the ex-Midway staffers at Phosphor games have spent the last several months creating The Dark Meadow, a sort of fantasy horror shooter with lofty goals it might just fulfil, if the teaser trailer is any indication.
From the newly launched official website:
You wake in the bed of a hospital long ago fallen to stunning ruin, not knowing or understanding why you are here. You are greeted by the only normal looking person in this world, who sends you on a quest to gather what you need to track down and defeat the evil presence that has you trapped in this never-ending parallel world. The decaying hallways and rooms are haunted by creatures relentlessly hounding your every move. As you explore, you learn more and more about the mystery from the world and what you find in it, evidence to be gleaned from the environment, snippets of the past of this forsaken place, words and writings from others who have been trapped here, and you look for clues of how to get out.
The player explores this twisted world armed with a crossbow (bonus points!) and a sword, pulling back and releasing to launch bolts and swiping to slice enemies that get too close.
It sounds like the developers reached into a bag filled with the best horror-suspense games, mixed in a little first-person shooter, and sprinkled it liberally with other games that have had tremendous success on the iOS platform: Angry Birds, Infinity Blade, and so on. I’ve absolutely no problem with that.
The game was recently revealed exclusively at Pocket Gamer, where the developers name-dropped Capcom’s zombie adventure Dead Rising in regards to replay value, while BioShock and Half-Life were mentioned in regards to the quality Phosphor is aiming to bring to the iPhone and iPad.
Like I said, it’s ambitious. If it succeeds, it will be glorious. If not, it’ll still look gorgeous.
Keep up with the development progress of The Dark Meadow at the game’s official website.
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