The Lost Tapes of Roland Childs is Rise of Nightmares in free-comic-book form

Sega has posted a free download of The Lost Tapes of Roland Childs, a short horror comic written to tie in with its adult-oriented Kinect title, Rise of Nightmares. The story, straight out of vintage horror, is penned by Hulk/2000 AD writer Al Ewing and drawn by Hand Knit Heroes artist Marc Olivent. Rise of Nightmares players will recognize the title: Childs' tapes appear in-game as collectible backstory items. But now you can read their story without playing the game, simply by downloading the comic.

Rise of Nightmares has been on shelves for a month now, and we... well, we didn't love it. So let's dwell on the positive: this comic is short, gory and first-rate. It tells the story of a protagonist stuck in a confused and horrific existence halfway between man and machine, flailing against illusory enemies in the vain hope of negotiating another minute's survival or sanity. Which, come to think of it, is actually pretty much what playing Rise of Nightmares is like – has the strip persuaded you to give the game another chance?

Oct 3, 2011