The Blackout Club, a cooperative paranormal horror mystery from Question, a team of industry veterans featuring BioShock 2’s creative director and lead writer and BioShock Infinite’s lead effects artist, enters into Steam Early Access today for Windows PC.

Set in a small Appalachian community hiding a monstrous secret, The Blackout Club follows a group of teens investigating strange occurrences in their town with no cellular or internet access. Brought together by a rash of mysterious shared blackouts, the sudden disappearance of a friend, and the local population’s eerie unwillingness to believe them, the club springs into action.

Together, they uncover a conspiracy of occult-obsessed adults who have turned the town’s population into sleepwalkers. The club must infiltrate labyrinthine tunnels that emanate hypnotic melodies from beneath the town’s seemingly idyllic surface. To save the day, up to four players will sneak out on nocturnal surveillance missions to capture the conspiracy on camera.

Players will need to coordinate with one another to collect evidence and outwit the sleepwalkers, who seem fiendishly alert despite their condition. The kids have a wealth of tools at their disposal, ranging from grappling hooks and fireworks to stun-guns and tranquilizer darts. But while these toys are fun to use, every act of rebellion has a cost, as an otherworldly entity which cannot be seen with open eyes is always watching. It lurks in the shadows, lying in wait to abduct troublemakers who spoil its malevolent plans.

The Blackout Club’s Steam Early Access release includes new content unseen in the Closed Beta and PAX West builds, including new missions, enhanced character customization, new locations to explore, unlockable gestures and emotes, and more. Additional content and features will continue to roll out over the course of the coming weeks and months as well.

“Since we revealed The Blackout Club, the response has both astonished and humbled us,” said Jordan Thomas, co-founder, Question. “First person experiences with deeply expressive systems are our lifeblood – and with The Blackout Club, we bring that freedom to the co-op arena. Together, human players combine their powers in ways that surprise even the game’s designers – and the world is so terrifying that they’ll need every ounce of that creativity to survive. We can’t wait to see how a whole new audience of players react, now that it’s available through Steam Early Access.”

The Blackout Club is currently available on Windows PC via Steam Early Access. The full game will release in Q1 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC.

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Question, a team of industry veterans including the Creative Director and Lead Writer of BioShock 2, the Senior Gameplay Programmer of Dishonored, and the Lead Effects Artist for BioShock Infinite, has unveiled its next title.

The Blackout Club, a cooperative paranormal horror mystery, steps into the light on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Set in a small town with a monstrous secret, The Blackout Club follows a group of teens who band together after learning they’ve all been temporarily losing consciousness – waking up in strange places with no memory of what they have done. Recently, one of their closest friends vanished entirely. When none of their parents, teachers, or even the police are willing to believe them, the friends launch an investigation. Together they will discover a maze of tunnels – a hostile underworld filled with hypnotic music and populated by a clandestine group of adults – all beneath their seemingly idyllic suburbs.

To save their community and themselves, the teens will need to capture the conspiracy on camera and prove its existence to the world. Up to four players will sneak out of their homes and go on surveillance missions filled with procedurally-generated elements including variable objectives, enemy encounters, loot drops, and more. Every night will be a different adventure as the team seeks out additional clues and explores new parts of their neighborhood and its ominous underbelly. The club must trust no one as they get closer to finding out what happened to their missing friend — and the cause of their uncontrollable blackouts.

Surviving the dangers of night will require intelligence, improvisation, and skill. Sleepwalking adults that could be their neighbors or relatives now seek to drag them underground. Players must create and coordinate diversions and use other tactics to break the enemy’s vice-like grip. The last player left standing must avoid attracting the attention of an even more dangerous entity – one that pursues its prey relentlessly – one that can’t be seen with open eyes…

Player characters will be customizable with a variety of powers and equipment loadouts. Every member of the group will play a distinct role and utilize devices like drones or deployable traps to outwit their foes and gather evidence of their crimes. When the mission is complete, players will head back to the hideout, where they can level up and acquire new abilities for use on future outings.

“In The Blackout Club, the horror genre comes home,” said Jordan Thomas, Co-Founder, Question LLC. “Our story is about vulnerable heroes — for whom co-op gameplay is a matter of survival — who unite to save their friends. We love expressive systems, where you shape the game experience as you see fit, often versus a whole ecosystem of intelligent threats. And now, they’re right next door – in a familiar, modern town, where the monster wears a human face. We can’t wait for you to meet it.”

The Blackout Club releases in Q1 2019.

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