Richard Rouse III
Richard Rouse III and the people at Paranoid Productions have released the first trailer for The Church in the Darkness, a game about infiltrating a 1970s cult, according to the information released in Feb 26, 2016 from Rouse III’s blog and paranoidproductions’ website. The game originated from a real historical event, Jonestown’s Mass Massacre, created by the People’s d Temple and its leader Jim Jones.
The official website of says:
No one is forced to join a cult. It welcomes you. It understands you. It envelops you until the words become more than truth - they make you whole.
In the late 1970s, the charismatic Isaac and Rebecca Walker lead the Collective Justice Mission. Labeled radicals and feeling persecuted by the US government, they relocate their followers to the one place they believe they can create a socialist utopia: the jungles of South America. There they build Freedom Town. But relatives left behind in the US become worried: what exactly is going on at this compound in the jungle?
The Church in the Darkness combines unique narrative with tight top-down action-infiltration gameplay in an open-ended environment. As Vic, an ex-law enforcement officer, you travel to South America to get into Freedom Town and check on your nephew, Alex. Play how you want - you can avoid detection completely, take on the guards using non-lethal methods, or kill anyone who gets in your way. But you'll have to live with the consequences of those choices.
The game stars Ellen McLain (best known as GLaDOS in Portal) and John Patrick Lowrie (the Sniper from Team Fortress 2) as the intense Rebecca and Isaac Walker. You soak up the story through the town PA system, where the preachers share their dogma and beliefs. You find documents and letters scattered around camp which clue you into the true nature of Freedom Town.
Every playthrough offers unique gameplay scenarios and story elements, with different character personalities and a shifting narrative told through investigation and action. How dangerous are the Walkers? Who are your allies and enemies? How far will you go to uncover the truth and save these people?
Richard Rouse III also gave a briefing on his blog（http://goo.gl/VXRlGn /）:
Rebecca and Isaac Walker are the leaders of Freedom Town, a relocated church group in South America who have fled the US to escape the country's injustices as they perceive them. You play a former police officer who intends on infiltrating the cult to check on his sister's son, one of the many devout followers of the Walkers. According to the brief introduction on Richard Rouse III’s blog.
The inspiration of creating this game comes from real historical event. As game writer Mark Delaney points out in his article (https://goo.gl/4He4lx):
In the 1970's, Reverend Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple church group moved to Guyana to escape what they perceived to be a persecutory and invasive federal government. Despite some friendships with elected officials, Jones felt his socialist views made him a target in the eyes of Cold War-era US domestic policy. In reality, Jones' mind was slipping. In years to come he would be labeled a narcissist and a psychopath. That's because on one November afternoon in 1978 in "Jonestown", with media and governmental scrutiny bearing down on him following allegations of abuse and corruption, he ordered his cult following, nearly 1,000 people, including some children and infants, to drink Kool-Aid knowingly laced with cyanide. Nearly everyone who was a part of Peoples Temple would die that day in what is still the largest mass suicide event in United States history.
If you already knew the story of Jonestown and you're at all like me, you may have always found this story to be morbidly fascinating. It seems at least one indie studio agrees. Richard Rouse III, the man behind the original Xbox's The Suffering, and Paranoid Productions, have today introduced The Church in the Darkness, a top-down "action-infiltration" game that very closely mirrors the events of Jonestown and other religiously motivated cults that ended in violence.
The Church in the Darkness is coming to PC/Mac, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in early 2017. For more information, follow developments via Facebook and at paranoidproductions.com/church.
“Peaceful” Freedom Town in the Game
Freedom Town is an isolated Compound in the Game
Killings in the Game
