We haven’t played it yet, but we look forward to, because Papa Sangre for iOS devices has one of the most intriguing central conceits of any app we’ve seen to date: it’s a video game with no video.
The plot? You’re dead. “You’re in Papa Sangre’s palace. His palace is in an afterlife that takes the form of a malevolent, unpredictable carnival: imagine a Mexican graveyard on the Day of the Dead — with the lights off… All you know is someone is in grave danger and desperately needs your help. Can you save them and make your escape or will you be trapped in the blackness forever?”
Papa Sangre is a game done entirely in audio made by an award-winning team of game designers, musicians and sound designers. According to them, “We’ve created an entire world using the first ever real-time 3D audio engine implemented on a handheld device. Which was BLOODY HARD.” I bet.
You can check out some of the sound design in the video embedded above, although as Papa Sangre suggests, it’s best enjoyed with headphones.
Papa Sangre is available for every device from the iPhone 3GS and above. It’s a tad expensive at $6.99, but I can’t wait to lock myself into a dark room with my headphones tonight and give this one a try.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
