First mate Frederick Kirk has just signed on aboard the container ship MS Aurora, for what’s supposed to be an uneventful voyage from Bergen, Norway to Plymouth, Massachusetts – but fate, the sea, and even their cargo seem to have other plans… The Horror at MS Aurora is an interactive drama drawing inspiration all the way from H.P Lovecraft and Stephen King, to Heavy Rain and The Walking Dead. With cinematic gameplay, stylistic visuals, and a lush score performed by the Belarus Philharmonic Orchestra, it’s built to be an intense and immersive experience, no longer than your average friday-night horror flick. Instead of having static cut-scenes to expose story, the cinematics are interactive, giving the player a measure of control. The player is faced with making choices and outcomes will vary depending on choice and performance. This is horror as it should be; short, intense, and immersive.
Articles
(Link to the original post: Twelveoclockstudios.com)
Today, it is three years ago to the month that 12 O’clock studios weighed anchor – an adventure of unprecedented magnitude for all of us who have been involved in it. Over the past 36 months we have experienced the full spectrum of highs and lows that one might expect to come with game development – or any entrepreneurial venture for that matter. To be frank – there’s been a whole lot of them (both highs and lows) we did not expect, as well. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that our greatest high came some four months ago, as we finally saw The Horror at MS Aurora sail out into the world on Desura, shortly followed by Just Adventure.
The road from concept to product to release has been one of many adventures and experiences, where lifelong friendships have been forged, and invaluable knowledge and experience gained – but all, of course, at a cost. Today, we’ve finally had to accept the fact that our three-years adventure has generated more costs, and thus a greater – and more urgent – debt for our beloved company than what our product can possibly hope to contend with – and thus, we have no other choice but to put a full stop at the end of the grand adventure that has been 12 O’clock Studios.
If releasing our first game was our greatest high, then this is still not by far our greatest low, however – though the ending was not what we hoped for, the journey is, and will always remain, what made it all worth it. We would like to extend our deepest and warmest thanks to everyone who’s helped and supported us along the way of this adventure, and to everyone who’s helped make The Horror at MS Aurora a reality – truly, you guys rock, and we would never have made it this far without you. Same goes for everyone who’s bought, played, watched, written about, reviewed, let’s played, up-voted, shared, re-tweeted, or even seeded one of the torrents – you guys were the whole reason we made the game in the first place, and we sincerely hope that you have, and will continue to, enjoy it.
As we, the company, go into this gentle night, we would like to offer these parting thoughts: as much as this is an end, it is also a new beginning (word to the wise is to look out for the words “Autumn House”, “Afterimage” and “What do robots dream of?” in the near future). Games is part of who we are – and it is safe to say that no matter where we all end up, we will always be working on making more of them – whether that is together or apart, only time will tell. To then finally say farewell, we have kindly borrowed the words of H.P. Lovecraft:
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,yet with stranger aeons, even death may die.”
- The Team
Original Soundtrack released!
NewsDid you like the music from the game? We have released the soundtrack from the game for the low price of $4!
The Horror at MS Aurora - Press Release
NewsWe here at 12 O'clock Studios are proud to present our first game: The Horror at MS Aurora! This is our press release as seen on our site.
Post a comment
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
Profile
Icon
Platforms
WindowsDeveloper & Publisher
12 O'clock StudiosEngine
Unreal Engine 3Contact
Send MessageHomepage
Twelveoclockstudios.comRelease date
Game watch
Follow
Style
Twitter
Tags
Embed Buttons
Link to The Horror at MS Aurora by selecting a button and using the embed code provided more...
You may also like
Lust from Beyond: M Edition
Adventure
The Joy of Creation
Adventure
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Adventure
Amnesia: Rebirth
Adventure
Resident Evil / Biohazard HD Remaster
Adventure
Contemp
Adventure
Hello! I want to purchase THAMSA but sadly I do not have a credit card. Is it on Steam? And can anyone who does not want it gift it to me?
Hello, and thanks for your interest in the game!
The game is only available on Desura and JustAdventure.com, as well as over here: Indiebundle.org
We are on Steam Greenlight, but we need more votes to actually get it released over there. :)
Thank you! And you've got my vote!
Do I get steamkey when greenlit, when the game was bought via IndieBundle.org?
Hello! Glad you found the game through the Indie Bundle. Anyone who has purchased the game in any way is entitled to a Steam key if the game is greenlit. :)
I really enjoyed it, short and intense.
Just completed the game and quite enjoyed it. Short-form horror is the best form, in my opinion, as familiarity creates complacency. I'm wondering though - are there multiple endings, or just different ways to get to the same ending, or what? Thanks for a fun game, and $5 of entertainment money well spent.
Hello! We're glad you enjoyed the game. Regarding the ending, there are two distinct paths you can take that will alter the ending in various ways. You will see the same sequence at the very end, but the events up to that point will vary depending on certain actions you take during the course of the game. :)
Just played it for the first time and sadly encountered some problems.
1st: I'm playing with a german keyboard layout and the game does not adjust to that which means I have to either switch my keyboard settings in Windows first or use z/y (in german layouts the Y and Z keys are switched compared to the EN layout) in an akward way in the QTE moments which ruins the controls. You should let the game adapt to the keyboard layout of the user and gamepad controls would fit the game very well by the way ;)
2nd: I just turned on the engine again and now have to run to the bridge but I'm stuck at this part now. The thing always grabs me no matter what I do and there is no icon or other indication of what I am supposed to do to escape so I reckon that it's a bug. Running the game as admin of course.
I had this problem for the running part as well. I think it is after a certain number of times that the monster grabs you then you can run further ahead, you just have to get all of them perfectly, I assume. It took me a couple tries on that part when running back to the bridge.
the problem is there are no buttons shown that I am supposed to press so its impossible to do this :/
Edit: okay I just had a look at your playthrough and these icons arent visible for me. Guess I'll try to do it blind and push the buttons shown in your video xD
Sorry to hear you're having problems! As for the Keyboard-layout issue - I'll be honest with you here, that's nothing that even crossed our minds. We may very well try to look into it for a future patch, but for now I'll have to recommend that you switch to a standard English layout. I'm sorry, I know that's awkward at best - but it's the easiest fix at hand.
I'm also a bit troubled at the problems you're experiencing during the chase sequence - of course we want to give you a fair chance (showing UI) throughout the whole game! I recommend you try restarting the game (that will solve a lot of UI-issues, btw) and if the problem persists, put a thread in our support forum and we'll try to get to the bottom of the issue together. :)
All the best,
Victor