The Park

The Park is a first-person psychological horror adventure game developed and published by Funcom. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on October 27, 2015 and is a spin-off of an earlier Funcom game, The Secret World.

Plot
Amusement parks are happy places, filled with the innocent joys of childhood and the exhilarating rush of hair-raising, but safe adventure. Balloons, cotton candy and fantastic rides to be dared. Perhaps that is how Lorraine pictured it too when she brought her son Callum to one... just before it descended into the most terrifying nightmare of her life. Lorraine enters the park after her son just as the park prepares to close for the afternoon, only to find that nighttime comes unnaturally fast as she ascends the escalator and discovers the park to be abandoned, vandalized and rundown as if several years have passed. Despite abandonment, the rides and lights mysteriously still function. Lorraine calls for Callum and his voice calls to her, leading her through the decrepit park.

Lorraine boards several rides which reveal the themes and backstory of the game: the Tunnel of Tales tells the story of Hansel and Gretel, this time with a new ending - in which after cooking the witch in the oven, Hansel and Gretel devour her. On the Ferris Wheel, Lorraine remembers Callum's father Don, a construction worker at the park who died in a fall from the Ferris Wheel when Lorraine was still pregnant with Callum. Between rides, Lorraine expresses her frustration with Callum, her belief that she is a failure as a mother, her history of mental health problems, and her fear that Callum is becoming changed by some mysterious threat. However, while aboard the roller coaster, a monstrous top-hatted ringmaster (identified in the credits as The Boogeyman) accosts Lorraine and claims 'the Witch' has her son.

According to notes found throughout the area, the park's grounds are hinted to have a sinister history that tainted them, as a consequence of previous owner Archibald Henderson's actions, which the new owner Mr. Winter tried to take advantage of: several notes indicate that he had found a way to unlock the power hidden beneath the grounds by harvesting the positive emotions of guests, and believed that the energy he unlocked would be enough to grant him immortality. However, workers and employees alike experienced feelings of anxiety as a result of the process, and a number of fatal incidents occurred. One noticeable case involved 'Chad the Chipmunk', the park's mascot: Steve, the employee wearing the chipmunk suit, became disturbed and reluctant to remove the suit as time went on - and ultimately murdered a teenager with an icepick. Following Steve's arrest and the disappearance of over a dozen children inside the House of Horrors, the Park was forced to close permanently, drawing Lorraine's perceptions during the introduction into question.

At last, Lorraine enters the witch-faced House of Horrors, still following Callum, and remarking on the similarity between this and the Hansel and Gretel story. Inside, messages from Mr. Winter reveal that he retreated into the House with his machines when the Park closed, hoping to achieve immortality by other means. However, the interior of the House changes to a loop of Lorraine and Callum's own home through time, where it is revealed that Lorraine's father abused and abducted her as a child, her estranged mother refuses to help her in the belief that she ran away from home, and she suffered from depression when Callum was born and given electroshock therapy. As Lorraine passes through each version of her house, it becomes more decrepit and disturbing. At the end, she finds a message by Mr. Winter revealing that he needs children for his harvesting machines, and has already kidnapped and killed at least one in order to fuel his immortality; notes such as these, combined with popular depictions of Winter in a similar ringmaster's garb and top hat, suggest that he is actually the Boogeyman haunting the grounds.

Lorraine reveals that in the oldest versions of the Hansel and Gretel story, the cruel mother and the Witch were the same person, and that she believes she is the real Witch - apparently accepting that her neglect of Callum was the indirect cause of Callum's disappearance. Finally, she reaches Callum, lying unconscious on a slab. Chad the Chipmunk appears behind her, then is replaced by the Boogeyman, who forces a bloody icepick into Lorraine's hands, then guides her hands so she holds the point above Callum's chest; however, he then releases her hands and vanishes, allowing Lorraine to stab Callum in the heart.

Afterwards, Lorraine is sitting in a police station interrogation room, clearly grief-stricken. A detective identical to the Park gatekeeper enters, carrying a jar with a bee in it, and tells her not to worry about losing things and to think of the last place she saw her son. Lorraine narrates that, in her heart and mind, she will always return to Atlantic Island Park. Ultimately, though the supernatural elements of the game are eventually confirmed to be true by the game's ties with The Secret World and Lorraine's appearance in later issues of the game, it's left ambiguous as to how much of The Park was real and how much was simply imaginary.

Gameplay
It is an adventure game that in terms of atmosphere somewhat resembles the works of Stephen King and such productions as Gone Home or The Vanishing of Ethan Carter in which we observe the action from the eyes of the protagonist. The gameplay is focused primarily on exploration and gathering various items that let us move the plot forward. One of the distinguishing features of The Park is the incredible role of sound effects, namely the shouts of the heroine (which are triggered by the right mouse button). Lorraine incessantly calls her son, and the changes in the timbre of her voice and the tone of her expressions indicate her attitude and emotions. The Park for PC, PS4 and XONE is characterized by high-quality graphics to which Funcom’s games got us used to. As the action of the title takes place only at night, both in interior and exterior areas of the ghastly park, the production is characterized by an incredibly suggestive atmosphere that can give thrills even to experienced gamers. The ambience is further enriched by the well-matched soundtrack that emphasizes and plays well with the on-screen events.

Characters

 * Lorraine
 * Callum
 * Don
 * Chad the Chipmunk
 * Bogeyman

Locations

 * Atlantic Island Park
 * Tunnel of Tales
 * Octotron
 * Bumper Cars
 * Ferris Wheel
 * Roller Coaster
 * Sideshow Alley
 * House Of Horrors