The Flock is vicious. One moment you're a member of a pack of monsters leaping out of the darkness to tear your prey to shreds, the next you're alone – your only defense a flashlight that burns out if you don't keep moving. This king of the hill horror game has a lot in common with games like Left 4 Dead or Evolve, but it takes the hunter-and-hunted dynamic to a new level with slick asymmetric design and some of the most polished movement I've seen. It's definitely vicious, occasionally terrifying, and quite fun.

The Flock is the first commercial release from Dutch studio Vogelsap – a team of students that began the game as a second-year project – and it's already winning accolades. I got the chance to see what all the fuss was about at the Indie Megabooth at GDC in San Francisco. It's a simple enough concept: five players spawn as monsters – the titular "flock" – trying to pick up an artifact called "the orb." Whoever picks up the glowing orb becomes a humanoid character and begins racking up victory points while the other players try kill the orb carrier, grabbing the orb for themselves. The first to fill up their bar of victory points wins the match.From the orb-carrier's perspective, The Flock is a horror game. Your only defense from the four monsters hunting you is an adjustable beam of light that incinerates anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in its path while moving. Staying in the same place for too long makes the beam die out, leaving you vulnerable until you can get to a new location to recharge the light. The orb carrier has to keep moving, unsure what's waiting around the next corner or creeping up from behind.Playing as the flock is a game of stealth. You're fast, agile, and the movement feels incredible. You bank around turns as you sprint, and the animation and camera work so well together that you can almost feel each muscle flexing as you chase down your prey. Your attack is a powerful leap that sends you hurtling into your victim, and it's insanely satisfying when you get it right. The flock can create a decoy statue that they can teleport back to, which adds a lot of tactical depth. With the number of statues already scattered around each map an adrenaline-addled orb carrier can easily mistake a map feature for an enemy or think a player waiting in ambush is just a decoration.Vogelsap game designer Jeroen van Hasselt says there are a few other features that could be added before the game releases later this year. One allows the flock to taunt – emitting a devilish scream that disorients the orb carrier and alerts the rest of the flock to your location. If another monster answers the taunt, then the two players will become "enraged" and gain sight of each other. This will be particularly important in the late game when a player is about to win, since Vogelsap plans to add a sudden-death feature for this circumstance. When this occurs the flock will stop respawning, making it a now-or-never rush to seize the orb and stave off defeat for a little while longer.Visually, The Flock has a unique future-gothic style that plays well with its excellent use of the Unity engine's lighting effects. The maps are beautifully creepy, adding a lot to the atmosphere of the game. You can actually see quite a long way, but everything is dark and hazy enough to give a claustrophobic feel to any area that doesn't have the orb's light cast on it. The hollow sounds of the flock's feet as they race across rusted iron add to the feeling of the chase, and as the orb carrier the game's music grows in intensity as the flock gets closer.There are a few problems at this stage. The movement is so good that as the flock it was off-putting to have your sprint broken by catching a corner, or to find a ledge is just a bit out of range for a jump. Another concern is that at the moment there's only one game mode, and just three maps. This could probably be fixed after launch, but in the meantime I wonder just how long the game would be able to hold an audience's attention. The content is fantastic, and benefits from its simplicity, but even so I'd like to see more if Vogelsap can deliver it without sacrificing quality.The Flock is due out later this year, so the team still has some time for additional polish. Even now, though, it's pretty impressive. Its smart asymmetrical design is novel but accessible while remaining challenging. It's not as pretty nor as action-packed as its AAA rival Evolve, but its atmospheric sound and visuals help it deliver a multiplayer horror experience that's genuinely frightening. The Flock is definitely vicious, but it's also fun.

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