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Abandoned’s mysterious PS5 app is live and players are baffled

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A long-delayed app for the upcoming PS5 exclusive Abandoned is now live. The mysterious “real time experience” app only contains a short teaser trailer for the game, which has left curious fans even more confused.

Abandoned has a complicated history. The game was first announced through a PlayStation blog post, showing off the game’s environments. Following the post, some fans began spinning a conspiracy theory that the project was actually a new game from Hideo Kojima. That morphed into an unfounded, but widespread rumor that Abandoned was actually a Silent Hill revival. While developer Blue Box Game Studios attempted to distance itself from those rumors, gamers kept drawing connections and convincing themselves that the indie was a publicity stunt.

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During the height of the speculation, Blue Box announced that it would reveal more about the game through a dedicated PS5 app. It was heavily delayed, fueling more rumors, but was scheduled to launch earlier this week. Last-minute bugs pushed the app’s launch to today. PS5 owners can now download the app and enter it, though it requires a 5GB update to download.

The Abandoned thing is live and yeah this seems about right https://t.co/EJxPuecLKJ

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) August 13, 2021

The actual content of the app makes matters even more confusing. Upon opening it, users will see a list of boxes indicating future trailers and demos that will be housed within the app. However, the only one that’s currently available is an introductory teaser video. It features a roughly two-second teaser shot of somewhat walking on a wooden floor (which the developer had already shared on Twitter), followed by some text noting that a demo and trailer are coming soon.

For fans who were hoping the app would finally put months of speculation to bed, one way or another, the app is just another bizarre piece of the saga. It gives no new details about the project or really even shows what it actually looks like. There’s also the fact that the update to see the trailer takes upwards of 10 minutes to download, despite the fact that the teaser is only around 30 seconds long.

The app will, presumably, shed some more light on the game eventually. At the moment, however, players are expressing confusion and frustration across social media. All signs point towards Abandoned having no connection to Silent Hill, though there are more legitimate revival rumors for the franchise.

Giovanni Colantonio
As a veteran of the industry who first began writing about games professionally as a teenager, Giovanni brings a wealth of…
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