In addition to a new console release, Doctor Who fans will see a new game released on smartphones and Nintendo Switch in early 2021. The recent past of Doctor Who has been full of change, from the introduction of the first female Doctor to various shifts in the series canon. It's an exciting time, especially for longtime fans looking for more than a monster of the week. These changes have seemingly also come with a renewed push for Doctor Who among mediums beyond just television.
Fans are currently in the midst of Time Lord Victorious, a transmedia storyline taking place across comics, audio plays, and even an immersive theater production in the UK. Video games don't tie into this storyline directly, which could be due to how few times The Doctor has appeared on console and PC in recent times. It's a lost opportunity for a franchise with such storied lore, but it's also one that can start to be rectified with the two releases currently scheduled for 2021.
Revealed via teaser trailer in conjunction with Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality as part of this week's digital NYCC event, Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins provides an FMV-heavy "found phone" experience based on recurring villains The Weeping Angels. Based on Stephen Moffat's highly-praised episode "Blink," players will work alongside Petronella Osgood (portrayed by returning actress Ingrid Oliver) to uncover what the developers at Kaigan Games refer to as the "hidden past" of these recurring franchise villains. Considering the nature of the villains in question, there will likely be plenty of opportunities for players to quickly look away from their device for fear of being warped back to some horrible tragedy in the past.
Of all the many elements of Doctor Who, Weeping Angles seem to have become the inspiration of at least one other notable game outside the official franchise canon. First introduced in 2007, the unique way the characters turn to stone whenever they're in view was easily translated to the world of games. While the owners of Doctor Who haven't created a game focused around the characters until now, various horror games on Steam have borrowed the concept to great effect
One notable game was The Flock, an asymmetrical horror game that cast attackers as Weeping Angel-type creatures that were venerable to light. The game also had a unique idea that the game could only be played a limited amount of times, an aspect that made more headlines than the novel gameplay. While the concept that the species of horror creatures was going extinct as the play continued was intellectually interesting, it couldn't hold up the concept of an indie game on Steam, and the player base dwindled long before the game could expire.
While a phone-based experience starring the fear-inducing statues is a novel idea, it would be interesting for Doctor Who to lean fully into the concept of a horror game based on these characters. With so many other games providing a template of what does and doesn't work, it seems like a trivial task to partner with an experienced studio and provide fans something that there's clearly an audience for. Until then, The Lonely Assassins should provide a fun distraction for diehard fans.
Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins will be available on iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch in early 2021.
Source: Doctor Who