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Fractured Blooms finds horror in repeating the mundane
A
Alan Wen
"I remember playing the first Harvest Moon, where you're trying to do your best to grow these crops, but then suddenly there's a snowstorm, you cannot go outside, and now land is going to get screwed up by the weather, and there's nothing you can do about it," Yang says. "As a kid playing those games, it's not necessarily like a Resident Evil monster jumping at you and taking down your health, but I certainly was horrified by these moments where all my plans are ruined, and I've lost half of my productivity."
Even though a farming sim may seem the polar opposite of survival horror, the two genres are essentially both about managing resources, and failure means trying to overcome the same obstacle again. With this in mind, Yang wants to try and manifest horror in different ways.
"If you look at farming sims or life simulation games, or more importantly real life, you actually recognize horror in a lot of different ways," Yang says. "Sometimes in the mundanity of your day-to-day life that you don't necessarily pay attention to, but it certainly still has those very grungy, painful and grueling moments that you have to go through day after day. There are then more resources to show this than an HP bar—your time, your energy as a player, your emotional sanity."
What horrors lie in Fractured Blooms' cozy life simulation may not be immediately apparent from the activities you undertake on your first day, as you grow crops in your garden, cook dinner in the house, and tidy up the house before going to sleep. But it won't take long to notice something disturbing around the edges, and it's perhaps no surprise that developer Serenity Forge was also involved with Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, a psychological horror game in the guise of a cute visual novel involving high school romance.
Doki Doki Literature Club artist Satchley is also behind the character design of Fractured Blooms' anime protagonist Angie. The irony is she's rarely seen since the game is played in first-person, also an unusual perspective for this genre.
"Fractured Blooms is a game that's meant to be extremely immersive," Yang explains. "You are managing all the stats around you. Paying attention to what's around you is a big part of the gameplay. Being able to find things and getting your hands dirty and being present with your crops and your resources is very important."
There's also an important narrative reason for this perspective, even if Yang can't give too much away. "I would like to say that this game's story cannot be told outside of a first-person perspective. This is fairly obviously a game played through an unreliable narrator. As a result, a lot of times the story is told in a nuanced way where what you see and what it actually means might be several different things, and it's up to the player to start deciphering exactly what's happening in this world."
One thing that becomes apparent is that after your first day, the next day begins—or rather repeats, as you are actually in a mysterious time loop. But what does that mean in the context of a life-sim where you expect progression, like the crops you grew the previous day?
"You're asking precisely the questions I want players to have while they're in this game," Yang teases. "Does that mean that I can't store food in the fridge? Does the tomato persist on the next day or do I have to grow something else? These are questions that are meant to be asked 30 minutes into the game. But once you find answers to those questions, you're probably going to have new questions that you didn't even realize you had previously."
There will certainly be some kind of persistent progression within the loop, such as unlocking new cookware that allows you to cook new recipes. Given that the team only took four months to make the house and garden that the loop takes place within, there are also hints that you can venture to other locations too.
How this will happen, as well as the meaning behind the repetition of your daily tasks, is something Yang is keeping under wraps and hoping players will try to decipher for themselves.
"I think we can be very transparent that Fractured Blooms is clearly not a cozy farming sim," he says. "There are tons of amazing farming sims out there. I don't think we're going to do anything here that is revolutionary. I think Serenity Forge's approach is to try to create stronger messages for the games that we do."
Fractured Blooms is coming soon to Epic Games Store.