Flight Rising Discussion

HONESTLY THOUGH, this SHOULD be a horror game type experience. Usually, in lovecraftian horror, video games don’t do it very well. But a browser game type experience? Something linked to a bigger story that won’t SHOW it? Never getting to see exactly what’s happening or what the eldritch brings killing everyone are? That’s a great recipe for lovecraftian horror! It may also be a similar experience to DEFCON, where, despite being separate from all else while everything ends, it’s STILL a haunting experience. Basically, what happens is that it’s a normal browser game at first, but as the game you play goes on, the forums start slowing down. The updates start seeming strangely... somber ‘Sorry folks! But, due to recent real world events, updates have been delayed...’ you don’t know what these real life events are. The game starts acting like, in its world, there’s some tragic real world events going on that it vaguely mentions in updates, and then adds that it won’t go into too deep of detail as to what is happening as ‘not to upset players’. Like a real browser game. Then, it starts getting darker. A few of the update and forum posts keep mentioning weirder and weirder stuff, such as ending on, ‘And remember! Stay safe out there, we believe in you!’ What’s going on out there that you need to stay safe from? A pandemic? A war? You don’t know. That’s part of the horror. The creeping dread. Something AWFUL may be happening, but you don’t know because all the news you get of it is from vague mentions on a browser game. It keeps the ‘fear of the unknown’ part of horror there. Then, it starts getting worse. Updates speed up in a ‘goodbye event’ and you wonder what has caused this site to shut down. More and more solemnly worded updates appear... you start to worry that the browser game is getting shut down... what is causing this?! Then, the update descriptions start getting cultish. Forum posts slow down. The user count is only in the hundreds. The game is now on a timer as you watch the player count trickle down. You watch as the last updates come out... remembering loved ones... mentioning the rapture. The dread gets worse and the sadness continues as you see the player count trickle down further. Looking back at the updates, the wording is mournful and apologetic.

It’s not the browser game that’s ending.

The world is ending.

You don’t know HOW or WHY, but it has befallen a TERRIBLE FATE which, in this game you will never know... because in this game you’re always disconnected behind this screen browser game format. But you know it’s happening. Something scary is happening, and you see the effects of it but you never see it firsthand. Fear of the unknown. Perfect horror, and especially perfect for lovecraftian horror is done well enough.

The player count reaches zero.

The last part of the game is an empty screen, with the words ‘WEBSITE COULD NOT BE FOUND’ or something like ‘WE ARE SORRY, BUT IT’S ALL GONE’ or just a simple ‘SO SORRY! ‘BROWSER GAME’ HAS PERMANENTLY SHUT DOWN. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!’

But there’s nobody to see the words anymore.

Just noticed the logo in the nightmare reads the same if flipped.

Huh. Neat.