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CNET
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Crisol is a BioShock-Like Cult Horror Shooter Using Your Blood For Bullets
One of the best things about Summer Game Fest is discovering games that blend some of your favorite classics into something wholly new. Crisol: Theater of Idols is a game with clear BioShock influence in its first-person shooter exploration, but melds some cult horror from games like Resident Evil 4 into the mix. On top of it all, to reload your gun, you've gotta sacrifice your own blood -- and take a chunk from your own health bar. It's a novel mechanic that combines with the gothic, nautical setting for a promising approach to horror action games. Crisol is being developed by Vermila Studios, which was acquired by Embracer Group in 2020, but the game is being published by Blumhouse Games. After playing through a 20-minute demo of his new game, the studio's CEO David Carrasco explained how its game is a course correction for horror games. Each gun has its own blood-reloading animation -- for this pistol, spikes jut out from the handle and pierce to palm to draw their tithe to reload. Vermila Studios "We've thought for a long time that survival horror was getting to where you didn't have that survival element so much," Carrasco said. "We wanted to give it an extra layer of tension by using your blood, your holy blood, to defeat these unholy monsters." I certainly felt it in the demo. As I stalked the moonlit cobblestone streets of an island teeming with unholy, creepy marionette creatures, knowing every missed shot was a bit of lost life. Survival horror games give players weapons to quench fear (or in their absence, amplify it, as with the Amnesia series), but tying my guns' efficacy to my health made me slow down and pick my shots, amping up the fear as enemies closed in -- "keeping that tension constantly in the back of your head," as Carrasco put it. While I felt the slightest concern for players with poor aim, there are health-restoring syringes sitting in the corners of abandoned shops and buildings. Crisol also has a mechanic where players can harvest blood (and thus, chunks of life) from dead animals lying around. Tying weapons to health is a twist on another survival horror game trope of saving heavy weapons ammo for dangerous bosses later on, Carrasco noted -- in Crisol, you'll always be able to use your big guns…for a price. In Crisol, players take on the role of Gabriel, captain of the Tercios Del Sol, a command of soldiers under a sun-worshiping religion that takes on holy missions. He receives a divine order to go to an old island that's spun off into its own sea religion, Tormentosa, and deal with idol statues that have come alive and begun rampaging around. When I asked what inspired Crisol, Carrasco was up-front that Bioshock and a number of Resident Evil games (4, 7 and 8 specifically) had the right mix of artistic design and gameplay Vermila Studios was looking for. Dishonored was another source for its heavy emphasis on art. "Sprinkle in Spanish folklore, religious undertones, and in the end, with all of those fantastic and crazy and brutal inspirations make something that will be unique and memorable," Carrasco said. Marionette-like idol enemies that have come to life on the island. Vermila Studios Spanish folklore is underutilized compared to the Japanese, Nordic and American mythology that appears in many games, Carrasco said. Vermila Studios, based in the Spanish city of Madrid, drew on its home country's history and culture -- and though the island players visit in Crisol doesn't explicitly take place in Spain, players will be able to connect the dots with the cathedrals, old architecture, polychromatic statues and stained-glass windows that make up the game's visual language. That blend applies to religion, too: players will run into a faith following on Crisol's island that follows religions of the sea and sun, which I saw a bit of in the demo, with deification of mermaids and other pseudo-pagan effects. But Carrasco acknowledges the Catholic influence in the game, too. "We've taken a lot of religious inspiration from different religious, like the Catholic Church, which has a lot of deeply rooted components in the Spanish culture, but [also] some other, older religions, even cults from very old history," Carrasco said, affirming that there's no explicit connection to the Catholic church or Christianity. "We do have holy blood, but it's not like a Christ or any connection to the reality of religions nowadays." As I wander the cobbled streets of the demo, I see how all these elements blend into Crisol's visual language. Vermila Studio has a larger-than-usual art department, Carrasco noted, with around 20 people working for five years scribbling out drafts of enemies and locations to give the game a look and feel that felt familiar, fantastical and plausible at the same time -- that it really could be on an island out to sea. Vermila Studios As players explore the 10- to 14-hour game, they'll experience the creeping horror of the cult's presence, but Vermila isn't relying on a lot of jump scares, Carrasco said, which can lose their impact if overused. Rather, the game will rely on the tension of enemies behind and pursuing you, from those you run out of blood bullets (and health) to defeat, to those unaffected by your weapons. In the second half of the demo, I ran into what Carrasco was talking about: a tall, hulking marionette monster with an impossibly wide smile that called out to me, shrugging off my bullets as I darted into buildings to evade its pursuit. Like other invulnerable pursuit bosses (Mr. X in Resident Evil 2, Jack Baker in Resident Evil 7), I had to sneak around while finding bolt cutters to clip chained-off doors. I also had to roll up a gate agonizingly slowly, expecting my stalker to close in on me at any second. I escaped into a mermaid-themed restaurant and the demo ended, but the vibes of the game stuck with me. They clearly appealed to Blumhouse, too, who were interested in Crisol's dramatic art style and its blood mechanics. For Vermila Studios, Blumhouse was a good fit for its track record of bringing in new artists and projects that may be smaller but bring something new to the table. "For us, being a part of this Blumhouse lineup is just like a partnership made in heaven -- or hell, maybe -- where they understand horror and what tickles that," Carrasco said. Crisol: Theater of Idols is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox later in 2025.
Geek Tyrant
29-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Tyrant
Embracer Transforms Into Fellowship Entertainment, Goes All-In on THE LORD OF THE RINGS — GeekTyrant
After years of buying up everything in sight, Embracer Group finally hit its breaking point last year. The once-expanding megacorp had grown too fast, too wide, and inevitably had to reassess its priorities before things completely fell apart. Now, in an interesting pivot, the company is rebranding itself as Fellowship Entertainment, with the future of Middle-earth at the center of its business strategy. Fellowship Entertainment is throwing its full weight behind The Lord of the Rings and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The company says its new focus will be on "creating and stewarding the works of J.R.R. Tolkien into different commercial and transmedia endeavors." That means everything from video games and merchandise to comics, movies, and who knows what else. The rebrand comes after a year of drastic restructuring. Embracer already spun off tabletop giant Asmodee in February 2025, and now it's making more cuts. The popular Coffee Stain Group (home to Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, and Satisfactory) will be spun off as a completely separate company by the end of the year. That division will also take Ghost Ship, Tuxedo Labs, and a few Amplifier Game Invest studios with it. But Fellowship Entertainment isn't just about hobbits and orcs. The company still retains the rights to major gaming IPs including Kingdom Come: Deliverance , Metro , Dead Island , Darksiders , Tomb Raider , and more. Studios like 4A Games, Aspyr Media, Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Dark Horse, Gunfire Games, Limited Run Games, Middle-earth Enterprises, THQ Nordic, Tripwire Interactive, and Warhorse Studios all fall under this new umbrella. That said, the spotlight is clearly shifting toward Tolkien's legendarium and that comes with big expectations. The legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien has always been handled with extreme care by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and the Tolkien Estate. There's hope that this new commercial direction won't lose sight of that literary foundation. Fellowship Entertainment says: "The journey doesn't end here. Renaming the brand is just another path, one that different labels may take." The next age of Middle-earth has begun, and it's corporate. Let's just hope the new stewards of the One IP to Rule Them All wield it wisely.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
As nearly 2 million sales laugh in the face of live-service pushes, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's success "is a reminder" to release "great" games: "High-quality teams need to have the resources and the time to execute their visions"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has had a phenomenal start, and owner of developer Warhorse Studios – Embracer Group – has now celebrated its success in its latest financial results, calling it "a reminder" to release "great" games. Spotted by VGC, in CEO Lars Wingefors' comments in the company's Q3 results, he says: "We are immensely proud of the teams involved in the successful release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which has significantly outperformed our expectations so far." He goes on to say that since selling one million copies in its first day, the RPG is "fast approaching two million," and it's expected to keep raking in the cash "over the coming years," too. Before wrapping up his comments, Wingefors highlights a couple of points that are, uh, mostly just common sense, but it's still positive to see the company spotlight their importance. "The success of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a reminder of our core – to bring great products to the market," Wingefors says. "High-quality teams need to have the resources and the time to execute their visions. When you have [the] right teams, this trust benefits everyone, including gamers, employees and shareholders. I am convinced that we will remain among the industry leaders in our core business verticals in the future." That point about giving teams the resources and time they need is particularly nice to hear given the headlines Embracer has made in recent times as a result of its widespread restructuring program, which saw multiple studios shut down, unannounced games canceled, and an enormous number of staff laid off. Wingefors previously said he's sure "I deserve a lot of criticism," but stated that "ultimately I need to believe in the mission we set out and that is still valid." As for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Warhorse Studios just announced yesterday that official mod support is coming to PC via Steamworks, so you can look forward to even more weird and wonderful mods for the RPG in the future. The developer has already outlined plans for free content updates and DLC this year in its Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 roadmap, so there's even more to look forward to. While you're here, be sure to check out our top Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tips that are sure to be useful for your adventure in Bohemia.
