Haunted House Immersion Terrifies Influencers Ahead of 'Alone in the Dark' Game Launch

Global video games publisher THQ Nordic invited some of the world’s most famous content creators, like PewDiePie, Gnu and Rubius, to take on the iconic horror game Alone in the Dark in-real-life. Content creators were dared to wander alone in the shadows, invited to immerse themselves in an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime haunted house experience, mirroring the game's chilling terrors. Armed only with a flashlight and their wits, they sought to test their courage in the heart of darkness.

Founded in 2011, THQ Nordic is famous for producing fan favourite games such as Darksiders, Destroy All Humans and Biomutant. On 20th March, THQ Nordic is releasing ‘Alone in the Dark’, a reimagination of the eponymous survival single player horror game made in 1992. Set in the gothic American south, gamers play as Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood to uncover the terrors of Derceto Manor. Film actors David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow) and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) bring to life the protagonist characters with their voices, appearances and acting skills.

Ahead of the game’s release THQ Nordic, in partnership with Havas Entertainment and Realm Pictures, converted a mansion on the private D’Oyly Carte Island into a ‘haunted house’ inspired by Alone in the Dark’s terrifying dilapidated Derceto Manor. For the invite-only immersive experience, THQ Nordic sent hand-crafted Alone in the Dark themed Puzzle Boxes out across the globe to 20 of the world’s biggest gaming and consumer influencers and press, including Rubius, DAZ, Dawko, AngryJoeShow, MissMikkaa, AnnieFuchsia and PlayStation Access.

Each puzzle box was opened during a coordinated live-stream campaign on 3rd March. After solving the puzzles on stream, the box revealed an invitation and directions to the Haunted House on the D’Oyly Carte Island. On arrival on the northern shore of the Thames, they board a ferry that drops them off on the island where it’s made clear that they need to defeat the evil inside the Haunted House to find a way off the island. The influencers will then encounter dozens of scares, tricks, illusions and puzzles to solve as they journey through.

Each walkthrough will be captured by CCTV and GoPro footage from which a hero edit will be constructed to publish on YouTube, driving fandom ahead of the game’s launch. They’ll then post the created content to their own channels with a combined hundreds of millions of subscribers across channels such as Twitch, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram and with 360+ million reach across YouTube alone.

The digital campaign will run for four-weeks around the game’s launch. There will be OOH posters featuring our two protagonists, partnerships with endemic gaming publishers (IGN, Future, Publisher Collective) and contextually relevant, horror and entertainment media outlets (Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek) and a bespoke podcast episode on the popular horror podcast, SCP Archives, as well as a sophisticated programmatic digital campaign to drive reach.

In partnership with Havas Entertainment, THQ Nordic engaged Realm Pictures, who converted a mansion on the private D’Oyly Carte Island into a ‘haunted house’

Sven Dwulecki, head of marketing, THQ Nordic, said, “This activation needed to be more than just takeovers; it had to be the cornerstone of the entire campaign. That’s why we set out to create an activation that would match the star-studded Hollywood talent featured in the game. This is one of the most ambitious gaming marketing launches we’ve ever created.”

Ashley Bolt, managing partner (gaming), Havas Entertainment, said, “This strategic partnership creates a never-before-seen experience in the competitive gaming space that ignites a frenzy of anticipation for the launch of an iconic game, Alone in the Dark. This was a huge project, spanning almost two years of graft and collaboration across both agency, marketing, PR, influencer and creative production teams working in unity.”

David M Reynolds, creative director, Realm Pictures, said, "Every time we have done a 'real life game' like this, the player has always had a screen and a keyboard to hide behind - but for a survival horror experience like this that wasn't going to work. We realised that, this time, we needed to physically bring players into the game space so that we could slowly peel away every layer of psychological security they had, and give them the scare of their lives."