Spielberg made me afraid to go into the water, Hitchcock made me afraid to stand underneath the water and now I’m worried that Caffeine is going to make me afraid to add delicious coffee to the water. It’s a terrible state of affairs when a man can’t swim, wash or stay awake and focused for more than ten minutes, but that is the future I face. Caffeine has an odd plot: “You awaken aboard a caffeine mining space station to find yourself, a young boy seemingly all alone. The only thing you know for sure? Something bad has transpired here…” I’ve been to many abandoned space stations and it’s inevitable that bad things have either happened or are about to happen. But a caffeine mining station? That’s new. The trailer is a masterclass of audio design and reminds me of Moon’s environmental excellence.

The two videos below demonstrate the importance of sound to horror. The first is a trailer with a lovely bit of music playing over it. Eerie perhaps, but not alarming.



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And this one is a trouser-dampener, showing many of the same environments but as they will appear in-game, with a player wandering through. The music has been replaced by startling sounds.



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A first-person horror adventure then, I’m guessing, although we’ll probably have to wait for the upcoming demo to find out how much running away is involved. The lone developer responsible is already taking Paypal donations but plans to launch a full crowdfunding campaign through either Indiegogo or Kickstarter sometime after the demo has been released to the public.

As for the caffeine? A response on the IndieDB page informs us that it will be integral.

I’m still changing around the story at this point and want the coffee to be well woven into it

Incidentally, if you didn’t watch the Jaws video linked in the first paragraph, you really should. It’s a recording of the Universal Studios tour and I’ve never heard a tour guide sound so bored by the ‘death’ of a colleague.

“There are sharks here. I don’t know why.”