The hype surrounding the game play of indie game developer Sean Vanaman has reached an all-time high since his game debut at the Game Awards earlier this month. Many fans of independent video game sensation Corpse Husband Merch have been surprised after his first ever official merch drop sold out in just over 10 minutes. While Coraline had a devoted following on YouTube long before last year's festival-themed madness, he quickly shot to new heights of fame in the game community, especially with his action-packed indie hit Among These Things. But where does he take his game concept and use it to create his own independent work instead of continuing on From Software's path? That question, and many more, will be answered here.
It all started with the game trailers, of course. During one of his trailers, a bloody, naked corpse was shown frozen in a freezer. What appeared to be blood spurted from the mouth and eye sockets, suggesting that the character was really killed by some unidentified assailant. This sparked loads of internet debate, with some people speculating that it was simply a blood spur from a sword thrust, but it went on to become one of the hottest topics in the video game industry, given the fact that nobody could find the source of the bloody mess, and no clear motive could be ascertained.
However, it turned out that the whole "blood spurt" thing wasn't from the game play at all - it came from a scene in the game called "The Coldain Chronicles." The scene involved the main character, a merchant/thief named Alex, encountering a wraith (a corrupted human soul) that took control of his mind and tried to lure him into a trap. The wraith then started repeating a phrase, "I am the corpse bride."
This triggered Alex's memories of his childhood, when his father was away in war. In these memories he saw his mother being killed by a cult leader. This prompted Alex to become more violent and dangerous - as the game play went on he would kill even more people, even while under hypnosis. When the game completed, he was killed and all traces of his existence were wiped out.
Because of this, merchandising for The Coldain Chronicles had to find a way to explain how and why Alex could have become the lich Lord Wulfgar of the game play. This led them to the idea of a vision quest, where the player's actions would directly lead them into the scenes where the action happened. Merchandising for the game has also used this method ever since, even including a gallery of art that fans can visit to see the various visual effects the game will have.
Regardless of the positive or negative reaction that anyone had over the game, it still sold like crazy. In fact, it is sold so well that Cryptozoic, the company behind the game, decided to make three more expansions to the game. So not only did The Coldain Chronicles sell-off its copies it has inspired imitations. And as long as Cryptozoic keeps the game play free and is willing to take on the risk of bringing in more fans, it looks like they have a stable business ahead of them.
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