The trailer on YouTube looked really stupid. But that being said, this game might be really good. Who knows until it's released?
From the description though, I hope they get
two key things right that are integral to a survival horror game that wants to be called "great".
Those two things are: Atmosphere and Pacing. The reason why Dead Space failed to be as scary as it could have been was because it lacked those two things in certain parts (the DS3 DLC was in a MUCH better direction and was actually quite scary). The two scariest times in Dead Space were the first 15 minutes of DS2 and the beginning of the Ishimura level. Also as I said, the DS3 DLC.
Atmosphere: The best horror games actually minimize the player's interaction with the monsters (I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true). Monsters are scarier the LESS you see of them. Good sound design with intimidating environments can do the bulk of the work, rather than relying upon jump-scares and inundating the player with dangers. Truly scary games like Silent Hill 2, Slender: The Arrival, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent simply drip with palpable dread, and our imaginations do worse things to us than the game itself. Whereas in Dead Space, monsters are seemingly fighting for in-your-face screentime, and the player becomes inured to the horror aspect because the pacing is kept at shooter-level near constantly. Not that I dislike shooters, but the game is far from scary... it's startling at first but soon becomes predictable. It never actually reached the level of being keep-me-up-at-night scary, which is my first gut-level evaluation of any self-proclaimed "horror game".
Pacing: Some horror games can be too intense (or the opposite). There always reaches a point where you
need times of peace in order to let the player physically recover from the stress so they can be scared again. Mixing calm moments before the really tense ones are a great way of improving atmosphere, as well, and horror games need this perhaps more than any other game genre. At the same time, you don't want too many calm moments or the player will feel too safe and become bored. The balance is naturally the tricky part. Whether or not this game will achieve that is something we won't know until we play it.
All my petty complaints about the trailer aside, I like the fact that another independent company is stepping up to the plate to take a swing. I'm so sick and tired of EA and their abhorrent business practices that I'm about ready to scream.
So we'll see. I'm willing to give this game a chance. It'll depend on the price, however, since I know Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is coming out soon, and I
know that I'm going to get that game. The chance of Amnesia 2 costing more than $20 is pretty low, so if Psychobreak can compete price-wise, I might be sold on it.