Orange County | |
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![]() Title screen for the itch.io version | |
Developer(s) | Nicholas Brancaccio, Rachel Hwang, Nick Grayson |
Platform(s) | Windows |
Release | 31 July 2019 |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Orange County is a 2019 horror video game developed by pastasfuture, the professional name of independent developer Nicholas Brancaccio. The game is a first-person horror game in which the player avoids traffic whilst riding a skateboard. The game was developed in several months in 2019 for the Haunted PS1 Summer Spooks game jam, hosted by Irish independent developer Breogán Hackett. [1] On 6 February 2020, an update to Orange County was released as part of the horror game compilation Haunted PS1 Demo Disc , also published by Hackett. [2] The game received praise for its unusual fusion of the skateboarding and horror genres.
Orange County is a skateboarding game in which the player navigates a procedurally-generated endless landscape by skateboard, avoiding hazards such as traffic and buildings. The player is able to walk or skate at a faster pace, but is vulnerable to falling off if they collide with a hazard. As the game progresses, the density of traffic increases.One of these is a police vehicle that attempts to pursue the player and knock them over. The game is open-ended and the player is left to explore the environment whilst attempting to avoid hazards. [1]
Orange County received positive attention, with praise directed to its unusual interpretation of the skateboarding game genre. Writing for PC Gamer , Tom Sykes stated "when you're out in the open, skating around the creepily empty streets of what seems to be a futuristic dystopia, Orange County feels pretty great...there's something wonderful to the feeling of skateboarding in first-person." [3] Calum Fraser of Alpha Beta Gamer stated that the initial release of the game was " a very barebones experience, but it’s got a great aesthetic and a fun fusion of skateboarding and horror," citing a desire to see more features in the full release of the game. [4] Patricia Hernandez of Polygon cited Orange Country as an example of how the games on the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc were "anything but typical" with "refreshing" takes on genre games. [5] Andrew Murray of Rely on Horror praised the game for its "terrifying atmosphere" and the design of its "sinister and endless landscape". [6]