Every horror fan knows the rule: just when you think the monster is dead, they always come back. The game Paranormal Activity: Threshold is no exception, with the canceled movie spin-off getting a new lease of life as Playable Archive, which is released today, for free, on Steam.
It's your classic tale of a young couple simply trying to do some renovations on their home, and ending up paying the price for tampering with a strange object they came across during their remodel. The story is told through found footage and ticks all the spooky boxes with rituals, strange symbols, and shaky camera footage with an ominous entity just out of shot.
The original Paranormal Activity project was killed earlier this year by Paramount, but developer Brian Clarke, who made the jump scare joy The Mortuary Assistant worked with publisher DreadXP to resurrect a new version of the game available to horror fans.
"I have to admit, I was feeling burnt out, and I imagined the project would simply sit on a shelf forever. A forgotten relic of development that sat in darkness while I built up a plan for a new project," Clarke said in a Steam post. "DreadXP reached out to me and floated the idea of maybe releasing what I had. It felt like a good way of laying the project to rest instead of remaining a lingering ghost. So, I worked to adjust the project where needed and polished up the edges to release the work I had done. I’m sad to say that a good deal of work was still left on the cutting room floor, but I’m proud of what I am able to share and that it is going to see the light of day in some form."
The game has no save system and needs to be played in one sitting, according to the Steam listing, so be prepared to lock in.
If you're sad about the Paranormal Activity part of it, don't worry; you only have to wait until next year for a new Paranormal Activity movie from James Wan.