THE MAKING OF: NOCTURNE

IN THE KNOW

» PUBLISHER: GATHERING OF DEVELOPERS (NA)/TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE (EU)

» DEVELOPER: TERMINAL REALITY

» RELEASED: 1999

» PLATFORM: PC

» GENRE: ACTION HORROR

What happens if you combine the original Resident Evil with some old-timey pulp comics and the BPRD from Hellboy? Well, you’d probably end up with something similar to 1999’s Nocturne. Created by Terminal Reality, Nocturne is an action survival horror game that puts players in control of the Stranger, a gun-slinging, fedora-sporting man of mystery working for the secretive Spookhouse. Set up under the auspices of Theodore Roosevelt, this clandestine extra-governmental body exists solely to find, study and, where necessary, combat possible supernatural threats to America. Following the Stranger across several supernatural cases, Nocturne mixes classic survival horror gameplay with puzzles, platforming and a heavy dose of gore-laden action.

was Terminal Reality’s first survival horror game. The company had been formed in 1994 in Lewisville, Texas by co-founders Mark Randel and Brett Combs, and had focused on in 1996, a horror game seemed a natural choice. Mark turned to designer Drew Hayworth to flesh out the idea, who suggested a supernatural-themed game inspired by film noir, pulp novels and classic Golden Age movie monsters. Thus was born.