Station Survival
- Brand
- The Thing
- Year
- 2011
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
Objective
Universal Pictures needed a way to get genre fans invested in The Thing before its late-October 2011 release, right in the Halloween window. Rather than rely on the trailer alone, the studio's agency built a browser game that let fans live through the film's premise themselves.
Solution
You start on the isolated Thule research station after a distress signal, controlling the action in first person. You walk the corridors, piece together what happened to the crew from the environment around you, and arm yourself with whatever you find — an axe, a .44 Magnum, an FAL rifle, an M79 grenade launcher, and a flamethrower. The flamethrower is your real answer to the creature, just like in the film, and you'll need it when the thing finally corners you. The session is short: explore, survive a few encounters, and reach a closing confrontation that plays out like the movie's climax before the credits roll.
- 1
The player loads the game directly in the browser on the agency's website, with no registration or client install required; downloadable Windows and Mac builds are offered alongside it for players whose browsers struggle to run it.
- 2
The setup: an isolated Norwegian outpost in Antarctica has sent an emergency distress signal, and the player's objective is to reach the base, search it, and piece together what happened there.
- 3
The player explores the station Thule from a first-person perspective, moving through the base's corridors and rooms and across its snow-covered exterior.
- 4
A persistent HUD tracks the character's health and current weapon, letting the player monitor ammo and condition while exploring the base.
- 5
The player arms up and switches among five weapons: a hand axe, a .44 Magnum revolver, an FAL STG-58 automatic rifle, an M79 grenade launcher, and an M2A1-7 flamethrower.
- 6
In combat against the creature, the flamethrower is the primary tool since its fire does not harm the player, allowing close-range burning; the grenade launcher requires more caution, as it is the only weapon in the game that can damage the player.
- 7
A cutscene shows the unnamed protagonist holding the flamethrower before the session culminates in a fight against the main antagonist, ending the playthrough.
- 8
If the browser version runs poorly, the player can lower the graphics quality settings in the launch window, as the developer noted the game is demanding on hardware.
