Abandoned is the tentative title for an upcoming survival horror game being developed and published by Blue Box Game Studios, an independent video game company based in The Netherlands. Described as a "cinematic horror survival shooter" featuring "realistic" gameplay mechanics, Abandoneds premise centres around Jason Longfield, who must escape a forest after being kidnapped. A playable teaser of Abandoned, titled Abandoned: Prologue, is also in development and is planned to be released before the main game.
Originally announced as a PlayStation 5 exclusive title in April 2021, Abandoned drew significant media attention and hype due to the game trailer's stylistic similarities to Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid, leading to speculation that Hideo Kojima was involved in the game's development. These rumours were discredited by Blue Box, its CEO Hasan Kahraman and later by Kojima himself.
Abandoneds development has been troubled, with the game's concept and design being changed multiple times, and its gameplay trailer and release date were both repeatedly pushed back before Blue Box indefinitely suspended any tentative release dates for Abandoned and the Prologue in March 2022. Despite this, Blue Box has stated that Abandoned is not cancelled, and both games will be released "when [they are] ready". A Windows version of Abandoned is intended to be produced "eventually". However, the lack of substantive updates have led to accusations that the game is vaporware.
Synopsis and gameplay
Abandoned has been described as a survival horror game that follows a man named Jason Longfield, who awakens stranded in a forest. Through exploration, he realizes that he was kidnapped and brought to the forest for a "dark purpose". He is tasked with fighting against a cult and its leader, who is Jason's estranged older brother, and finding his way out of the forest. Jason meets up with other characters throughout the game, but the player must ultimately decide at the end of the game whether Jason will fight against, or join, the cult and his brother.
Abandoned makes use of horror, and some first-person shooter, elements, and requires tactical uses of weapons to survive. The game utilizes a "realistic approach" to survival gameplay, whereby every action the player performs in the game has an effect; for example, sprinting can exhaust Jason and reduce his aim accuracy. It also uses motion-capture technology to determine how Jason will take damage in-game.
Background
Blue Box Game Studios, founded in April 2014 by Hasan Kahraman, is a small Dutch video game development studio with roughly 10 full-time employees as of 2021. The studio's first project, titled Rewind: A Paranormal Investigation, held a Kickstarter campaign to garner funding, though the campaign was cancelled, as the studio had secured outside investment, allowing the game to be reworked into Rewind: Voices of the Past. However, after the scope of the project grew without further investment, the game was cancelled.
The prospect of a game centering around paranormal investigations continued into The Lost Tape, another cancelled project, and The Whisperer, which was cancelled on PC but saw a free-to-play release on mobile devices, though it was delisted shortly after. A mobile Japanese role-playing game titled Tales of Six Swords saw a similarly short-lived mobile release, though Kahraman claims that Blue Box plans to revisit the concept in the future. The Haunting: Blood Water Curse, a Fatal Frame-inspired horror game, was released into early access in 2020. After poor reception, the early access release was removed from digital storefronts, and Kahraman claims that development will be completed by outside studio CreateQ, with Blue Box acting as the publisher.
According to Kahraman, the repeated cancellations of projects were due to lack of staff and fan interest—in an interview with IGN, he said that the team's inexperience was largely to blame, and that the announcement of projects served to gauge a potential audience, and those projects were cancelled when the audience was too small.
Development and marketing
Initial announcement and Hideo Kojima involvement rumours
Abandoned was first announced as an open world, "cinematic horror survival shooter" game on April 7, 2021 via the PlayStation Blog, along with a minute-long teaser trailer. The trailer contains various shots of a winter forest, including shots featuring an abandoned building with graffiti stating "Kill the Trespasser", and a sign reading "God's town".