In the eclectic realm of ghost-chasing aficionados and those versed in demonology, Ed and Lorraine Warren’s narrative was a tale that many whispered about. Known, yet enigmatic. Then, lo and behold, 2013 rolled around, and James Wan released his cinematic sensation – The Conjuring. It wasn’t merely an adaptation; it was an eruption. The film didn’t just “tell” their story. Instead, it thrust it quite dramatically into the spotlight. It unfurled layer by nuanced layer, the eerie, spine-tingling world that the Warrens navigated daily. From creepy dolls to demonic possession, the couple have seen it all in the Conjuring universe. It’s safe to say then that The Conjuring has become a modern classic for horror fans — a tale so haunting, so riveting, that its labyrinthine reach has spun into multiple sequels. Given its illustrious legacy in the world of horror, isn’t it high time we entertained the idea of a video game adaptation of The Conjuring?
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For horror movie fans, there comes a time when just seeing jumpscare after jumpscare just stops being entertaining. Sure, it’s great to see the creepy setpieces and follow along with the macabre stories, but surely, there must be more to the works of the Warrens than what we’ve seen in the films, right? That’s precisely why a video game adaptation of the Conjuring series would make perfect sense – especially now.
With the upcoming release of The Conjuring: Last Rites and The Nun II haunting the box office, fans of The Conjuring are living the dream. Even after three mainline entries, the series is still going strong with new stories and creepier locales. Still, if there’s something we’ve learned from video games like Visage and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, it is that you can always get creepier.
When you think about the way the Warrens lead their investigations, it sounds like the perfect formula for a paranormal investigation Conjuring video game. Think about a spookier L.A. Noire – one where you’d have to interview witnesses to assess the kind of supernatural threat you’re dealing with, if any.
One thing that is more famous than the story of the Warrens is The Warrens’ Occult Museum. In this building, the demonologist duo would store the haunted artefacts they acquired throughout their travels. And for a long time, the museum was off-limits to the rest of the world.
Many ghosthunter enthusiasts and those who attempt to study the afterlife would have killed for the opportunity to visit the museum of occult artefacts that the Warrens had curated. Many horror fanatics who fell in love with their fascinating stories would have done the same just to have a novel experience in the universe that has been created to discover what it was to be in the shoes of a Warren during that time.
So what if you could have the best of both worlds with an immersive mystery video game? Without further ado, here is an idea for The Conjuring game based on the fictionalised version of the Warren Occult Museum and images created with AI.
[Please note that this concept is entirely fictional and does not in any way, shape, or form reflect on the experiences of the Warrens other than telling a new and unique story given context by the many amazing and terrifying stories they told.]
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Story
While the story of the Warrens has been explored in the many The Conjuring universe movies and its spinoffs (The Nun franchise and the Annabelle franchise), the story has always focused on the Warrens going out and helping others, and how their work as demonologists affects them. What if the roles were reversed, and they were the ones needing the help?
In this game concept, we get to look a little closer to home. Judy Warren (depicted by Sterling Jerins in the films), the daughter of Ed and Lorraine, would be the main character of The Conjuring Game.
While Ed and Lorraine have done their best to keep Judy out of harm’s way, when the demonic attacks that they were helping people try to escape started to become more frequent and start to affect their family, the Warrens realised that they needed to prepare Judy and equip her for the world that they are living in, one where demonic and ghostly activity is a reality that they have to deal with. Although reluctant at first, the Warrens start to teach Judy how to protect herself from a young age.
Years later, when Judy becomes a young adult, she has a fallout with her mother and father because she has her own ideas for what she wants for her future — wanting to leave the world of the occult behind her and have a somewhat everyday life. As an intelligent young woman, she wants to study more than just demonology, and she decides to go her own way.
Not even a year later, Judy receives an urgent letter from her father, urging her to come home because of an imminent threat that he and Lorraine are concerned about. Although Judy has no desire to be sucked back into the world of demons and spirits, she decides to go and see her family anyway, worried about how frantic her father’s letter seemed.
When she returns to the home, her parents are nowhere in sight. What has happened to Ed and Lorraine Warren? Is this a mystery that Judy can solve?
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Gameplay
The concept for this horror mystery game is that the many spirits and entities attached to the occult items and artefacts that the Warrens have collected throughout the years have started to manifest in terrifying ways. What was once a safe home has become a chilling and terrifying portal into another world.
Gamers will explore the world from the perspective of Judy, who, despite not wanting the knowledge imparted to her by her parents, is a skilled demonologist. Faced with the choice of using the knowledge that has been taught to her or possibly never seeing her parents again, Judy swallows her pride and dives into this mystery.
Each artefact in the Warren Museum has a chilling story of how it came to be and why it should never be out in the world, and through demonic and spiritual manifestation, each artefact has created its own terrifying pocket dimension that will suck players in. Players must use Judy’s skills to figure out how to deal with the entity that governs that little universe, follow the clues left behind by her parents and solve puzzles to progress.
The gameplay style for this Conjuring game will include mechanics like clue finding and puzzle solving while allowing players to choose between two ways of playing the game: Fight or Flight.
By choosing to fight the entities head-on, Judy will build her skills in spiritual combat, gaining more knowledge on how to destroy the entity if possible or contain it as a last resort. On the other hand, if the player chooses the flight route, Judy will build her skills in stealth, learning new ways to use her knowledge and abilities as a demonologist to cause diversions and distractions so that Judy can sneak around the enemies she is facing and seal that pocket dimension once she has all the clues that she needs.
Through choices made throughout the game, not only will Judy build different skills that will lead to different forms of gameplay, but she will also have access to different options. If Judy chooses to fight, she will be brave; if she chooses flight, she will be cunning. Each choice also has an impact on the ending.
Judy will have to do all this while managing her fear and paranoia. If she is a fighter and brave, she could build skills in recovering after facing the entities head-on. At the same time, if she was cunning, she might lack those skills while acting to avoid the entities altogether with her stealth and cunning. Avoiding fear would be staying in the light, not staring into the darkness for too long, and not looking at the entity for too long.
At the end of this Conjuring game, there will be four possible endings. The first ending is the “Happy” ending — if Judy finds enough clues, manages to seal/destroy enough spirits, manages her fear and paranoia well, and finds both her parents, she will be able to get both Ed and Lorraine Warren out of the pocket dimensions that they are trapped in, reuniting the family in the real world.
Alternatively, other ways to end the game would be with the majority of the same conditions but only finding enough clues to find one of her parents. The other would be left behind and sealed in that dimension forever.
If Judy isn’t able to manage her fear and paranoia, there is a chance that she could manage to save her parents but be too far gone to escape, choosing to sacrifice herself so that she can seal the portal forever, saving the mortal realm from the horrors of the pocket dimensions created in The Warren Occult Museum.
Worst of all, if Judy is entirely claimed by the darkness before she can help either of her parents escape, all three of them will be trapped in that realm, left to wander and experience the horrors of that entity until their spirits wither away.
In conclusion, it would be pretty awesome to experience an interactive video game set in The Conjuring universe, no matter what story played out, whether it was one based on the real stories of the Warrens or one that was entirely fictional, like The Nun or this video game concept.
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Why We Need The Conjuring Game
The Conjuring movies have tons of lore hidden behind every character and cursed object. Sure, we know Annabelle all too well, but what about the dozens of other artefacts left on display in the Warrens’ museum? What are their stories? That’s the sort of thing that you just can’t tell in movies – there’s just no way that you can make over a dozen films starring the same actors and covering all the lore there is to cover in a universe as dense as The Conjuring‘s.
A game would please fans of the films who want to know more about the Warrens, sure, but it would also take the thrills to the next level. Seeing Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga face to face against unspeakable abominations is cool and all, but what about actually facing these apparitions head-on? That’s the sort of experience you can only get from The Conjuring game – no matter how intense or well-directed a movie can be.
While the buzz surrounding first-person horror adventures has sort of fizzled out in recent years, horror games – like their movie counterparts – are always in vogue. We’re in dire need of a new name to enter the market of iconic horror franchises in gaming – what with Silent Hill and Resident Evil both relying on remakes of their most successful entries instead of innovating with new stories. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Resident Evil Village, but there’s a limit to how many times a person can play Resident Evil 4 before it becomes more like a job rather than a pastime.
Fans know the kind of games Warner Bros. releases – Shadow of Mordor is an absolute blast, for example. Now, imagine they do the same for The Conjuring franchise, coming up with an open-ended horror survival adventure with all the lore of the Warrens and the haunting visuals of the movies. That’s the kind of franchise horror gaming needs, and it can’t come soon enough!
Do you want to play a horror game based on The Conjuring franchise?
How The Conjuring Could Become the Most Frightening Video Game Ever Written by Megan Oosthuizen for Fortress of Solitude
