Bloober Team: A brief gameography
With its phenomenal remake of Silent Hill 2, it’s safe to say that Polish studio Bloober Team has cemented itself as one of the premier developers in the horror game space. Though while Bloober Team has been focused on scaring players for a number of years now with varying levels of success, it’s not always been that way; its titles were much more light-hearted and colourful in its earlier years.
Here, we take a look back at the gameography of Bloober Team, a studio that was founded way back in 2008 by Piotr Babieno and Piotr Bielatowicz. It’s not quite exhaustive — there are perhaps a few titles that the studio has worked on that are absent — but it gives a good overview of the origins of the studio, and how it’s shifted its focus and grown over the years into what is now one of the most recognised voices in horror.
2011 – Double Bloob
Perhaps the first notable game in Bloober Team’s history is 2011’s Double Bloob, originally announced as full retail title for the Nintendo DS but then put out as a DSiWare title instead.
Unfortunately for Bloober Team, this colourful arcade-styled shooter, which found players shooting vertically at swirling and diving aliens, wasn’t received very well, with IGN stating “Funny name. That’s about all it’s got going for it, even after five years’ worth of development time.” Harsh, but perhaps fair.
2012 – A-Men
Bloober Team’s follow-up to Double Bloob was thankfully much better received. Released on PS3, PlayStation Vita and PC, A-Men is a puzzle-platformer inspired by the likes of Lemmings and Lost Vikings. Granted, it didn’t blow critics away when it was released, but it garnered favourable review scores across all formats.
A sequel, A-Men 2, was released a year later in 2013 which critics weren’t quite as warm to. A common criticism was that it was unreasonably difficult, requiring players to have lots of patience to gleam any enjoyment out of it.
2014 – Basement Crawl
Fast forward to 2014, and Bloober Team’s efforts start veering towards the dark side with PS4 title Basement Crawl. This maze-based action game was reminiscent of Bomberman, only with players setting up traps to catch out other players rather than bombs.
There’s not much else to say, however, other than it was terrible. In fact, it was so bad that Bloober Team announced that it would remake the title as Brawl, with those who bought Basement Crawl being given it for free. And indeed, 2015’s Brawl was a much better game, though still not a great one by anyone’s standards.
2016 – Layers of Fear
There’s no doubt that 2016 was a turning point for Bloober Team. Inspired by P.T., its next title, Layers of Fear, was a first-person horror title with cutting edge visuals that showed real ambition. Putting players in control of an artist known as The Painter, they roamed a house that changed and shifted around them as they solved puzzles and encountered spectral entities, learning more about their character’s past while assembling his “magnum opus”.
We loved it, and it proved to be quite the success. So much so, in fact, that it was ported to a wide range of formats after its PC debut.
A sequel to Layers of Fear was released in 2019, featuring a brand new protagonist and setting, but its reception was much more mixed than that of the first title. And in 2023, both Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2 were combined in the confusingly-named Layers of Fear, a remake which added new content and boasted dramatically improved visuals.
2017 – Observer
If one Bloober Team title can be given the title of under-appreciated gem, it’s Observer. Released in 2017, this cyberpunk-themed investigative horror title puts players in control of Daniel Lazarski, the titular Observer who is played by the late, great Rutger Hauer. Receiving a message from his estranged son, he’s drawn to an apartment building where he hopes to track him down.
Instead, he finds himself drawn into an investigation where he’ll soon struggle to differentiate what’s real and what’s not. Though the truly nightmarish scenarios are saved for when he hacks the minds of others to see what secrets they hide.
Observer is a truly unique game that blends first-person horror, stealth and investigation to great effect. After being ported to a wide range of formats, including Switch, an enhanced version of the game, called Observer System Redux, was released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2020, featuring notably enhanced visuals and additional story content. It eventually made its way to PS4 and Xbox One, too, though the visuals were toned down, of course.
2019 – Blair Witch
It must have been a dream come true for Bloober Team when in 2019 it got to work with Lionsgate and release a game set in the terrifying world of the Blair Witch. As former police officer Ellis Lynch, the simply-titled Blair Witch saw you enter the Black Hills Forest in search of a missing boy. Accompanied by your trusty dog, Bullet, it doesn’t take long for you to realise that there’s something rather wrong, however.
A few things make Blair Witch stand out. The first is that you have to make effective use of Bullet to progress through the game, with the ‘seek’ command in particularly being vital to follow clues. Another is a system that allows players to manipulate the environment via cassette tapes that are found during their ordeal, adding a puzzle element. And while Blair Witch doesn’t have combat, players are required to sometimes defend themselves from attack by shining their torch at hostile entities.
2021 – The Medium
Anyone that played The Medium upon its Xbox Series X/S and PC release in 2021 might have felt the same as us: that it clearly was a trial run for Bloober Team tackling a Silent Hill project. This is a game that features both a real world and an otherworld, just like Silent Hill, and a story that deals with equally dark subject matter. On top of that, it even had Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn helping with its soundtrack. There’s are just two things missing that stop it from totally feeling like a Silent Hill game: fog and combat.
The reception to The Medium was mixed. We quite liked it, but it didn’t blow us away. We enjoyed its dark story that kept us on the edge of our seats, and we also enjoyed its puzzles, though they were a little simple. Its dual-world mechanic was a bit of a let-down, however, and there simply wasn’t enough horror. Still, it’s very much worth a play if you enjoy engaging story-driven experiences thick with atmosphere.
2024 – Silent Hill 2
Many were sceptical when it was announced that Bloober Team would be remaking Silent Hill 2. Some even hated the idea. After The Medium, however, we were pretty optimistic that the studio could pull it off, providing it hired new talent that could implement a satisfying combat system. And in close partnership with Konami, Bloober Team has worked hard and silenced its detractors, putting together a remake that exceeds expectations.
Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2 can be described as nothing other than a masterpiece, remaining faithful to the original game while enhancing and building upon it in meaningful ways. Playing through this new Silent Hill 2, fans will be reminded of what made the game so special all those years ago, but will still be kept on edge thanks to brilliant sound design and carefully-updated gameplay that makes puzzles more engaging than ever and combat more violent and visceral.
But it’s the story here that remains the real highlight, made even more captivating by stunning cinematic direction and more subtle facial animation that adds emotional depth. Needless to say, Silent Hill 2 is Bloober Team’s best game yet. And we imagine that Konami will be very keen to work with the studio further, perhaps bringing new life to other existing Silent Hill titles — or making new ones. In any case, we’re here for them.
