After all that, the Abandoned reveal app is totally empty

By Jordan Gerblick
published

You might say it looks... abandoned

Abandoned
(Image credit: Blue Box Games)

At long last, Blue Box Games released its highly anticipated Abandoned reveal app on PS5, and... well, there's nothing there.

For some context, the Abandoned app was supposed to be the thing that would finally give us some much, much-needed answers about just what the heck is going on at Blue Box Games. Despite the studio's denial that it has anything to do with Kojima or Silent Hill, it's hard to ignore the many subtle hints to the contrary. Many hoped the app would either dispel the rumors definitively or, better yet, shock the world with the reveal of a brand new Silent Hill game from Kojima and Co. But no, it's just a bunch of empty boxes.

After downloading the roughly 5GB app, you'll be greeted by a language selection screen followed by a disclaimer that says there won't be any playable content; just demos of upcoming trailers running on PS5. "All content is rendered in 3D images and therefore not a high quality video," the disclaimer reads. It's a bit curious then that Blue Box had billed the app as a way to experience Abandoned's "high-end graphics" in "real time."

After that, you're brought to a menu screen that lets you watch the "introduction," which turned out to be just a clip from a previously released trailer. Three other boxes lie under the Trailers submenu, but each one is blank and captioned with, "Available soon!" Underneath the Trailers section are the Gameplay Demos, and yup, you guessed it, there's nothing there either. 

At the end of the introduction, we're told a playable prologue is on the way, and a pop-up box says the cinematic reveal and gameplay demo are coming "soon," but for now, literally nothing here is new. Naturally, folks are perplexed.

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We'll reserve judgment until we see more from Abandoned, but for now it's hard not to feel a tad deflated. For something that was delayed multiple times due to technical challenges, it's reasonable to expect some substance, or at least something that isn't essentially a blank template for future reveals.

Nothing to see here, folks, go play something from our list of the best horror games ever.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.