This year’s Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin, TX will feature a showcase for horror video games.
Fittingly titled “Fantastic Games,” the event is a collaboration with Day of the Devs and will run from September 20 to September 22. 12 games will be present, some of which may be publicly playable for the first time.
Per Fangoria, sponsors include Double Fine, Devolver, and Blumhouse Games. The latter launched last year and earlier this summer revealed its first wave of games from indie studios like Perfect Garbage and Half Mermaid.
Fantastic Games marks another new showcase for Devs, which teamed with the Game Awards last year for an indie-focused event. It also comes months after the festival went independent.
A match made in indie horror heaven
Talking to Fangoria, Fantastic Fest’s festival director Lisa Dreyer called Day of the Devs a “perfect fit” that “champions some of the most unique and innovative experiences.”
“We’re excited to connect our Fantastic Fest attendees with incredible video games that will leave them shocked, horrified, and excited for more to come,” she continued.
Horror has been a consistently strong genre in film. The same can’t always be said for games, where it was back-burnered for a few years by triple-A studios. Things have improved (mostly), and this new showcase can introduce movie fans to games they may not have previously heard of.
And for studios whose work may be buried by bigger tentpoles at similar game showcases like Summer Games Fest or Gamescom, a more focused venue offers some wider recognition.
Developers who want to submit their game for Fantastic Games have from now until August 5, and can do so here.