'Prey' Developer Gives Mobile Gamers A Taste Of Survival Horror With 'Lost Within'

Human Head Studio's "Prey" did with "Doom 3's" id Tech 4 engine what "Portal" achieved with Valve's Source engine – it combined physics puzzles with the FPS genre. The game quickly earned a cult status in the annals of gaming for this reason. The developer, however, has been AWOL since after pushing out the game in 2006. After the tragic cancellation of "Prey 2," it seems the developer has been busy with a different platform altogether.

Human Head Studios recently launched a horror game called "Lost Within" for mobile devices, according to Eurogamer. Published by Amazon Game Studios, the horror title has gone for sale on Apple App Store for $7. In addition to compatibility with iPhone and iPad, the mobile horror game will be playable on Amazon's Fire phone and tablet. It must be noted that the game isn't available on the Google Play Store at the moment but only through the Amazon App store.

"We think that 'Lost Within' represents a game rarely seen on these platforms," wrote Human Head in an announcement through its Facebook page. "We put a ton of work into bringing you an experience that would look and feel like something you could play on PC or consoles but was tailor-made for touch input."

The developer makes a valid observation because survival horror games on the mobile platform are a rarity. "Lost Within" aims to fill this gap by focusing on an experience that emphasises on the stealth, resource management and crafting to heighten horror, as opposed to the garden variety of twitchy action games that populate smartphones and tablets.

Kotaku notes that "Lost Within" takes place in the Weatherby Asylum for the insane. The staple horror setting assumes its malevolence due to the mistreatment of the patients who were illegally experimented upon two decades ago. The horror credentials of the asylum are established when the asylum staffers start disappearing, which leads to the entire place being condemned.

The game puts the player in the shoes of a policeman trapped in the haunted institution just 24 hours before it is marked for demolition. However, the player isn't alone and the place is crawling with terrible entities from beyond. The prime goal of the game is dealing with a famous serial killer who has been menacing the asylum until now.

The announcement was accompanied by a launch trailer, which makes it evident that the game provides offensive options despite using stealth-based gameplay mechanics. In other words, "Lost Within" isn't like "Amnesia" or "Outlast," where the player can only hide or run away from enemies. The presence of weapons such as pipe bombs show that this game is more in line with survival horror games such as "Condemned," that force players to make flight or fight decisions.

In case you have any feedback or wish tip us off, the author can be contacted at nachiketpg13@hotmail.com

Lost Within Official Launch Trailer (credit: AmazonGame Studios)