Note: This article has spoilers for INSIDE.
The gaming industry is weird. I think everyone knows that by now, and I’m rarely surprised by any news that reaches my inbox. However, even by the industry’s own baffling standards, I wasn’t prepared to learn that INSIDE developer Playdead had teamed up with iam8bit and Abyss Creations for a special Collector’s Edition of one of the best games in recent memory.
It makes sense that Playdead would team up with iam8bit, as the company has become the go-to source for high quality gaming merch, but the other factor in this equation is much more puzzling. If you’re unfamiliar with Abyss Creations, they create a series of life-like sex dolls called RealDolls. Basically, if you can’t get enough of the uncanny valley effect from a David Cage game, you go to them for the real thing (or at least the closest to real that a sex doll can get).
Details are currently scarce on what exactly the Collector’s Edition will include. Aside from knowing that people will get the game, all the information we have is that it comes in a box that “will weigh a surprising amount,” and that this is a RealDoll product. It’s a potentially terrifying prospect for anyone that has played INSIDE because what if they’re gonna make that thing into a sex toy?
Near the end of INSIDE, players go from playing a boy into a strange blob filled with body parts. It’s one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever seen in gaming, and I’m absolutely terrified that the mad lads over at Abyss Creations are going to bring it to life. Is the sex doll company too busy wondering if they could create the blob that they never asked themselves if they should?
Of course, I don’t think they’ll actually make it compatible for sex. I don’t want to assume anyone’s kinks, but I’d like to guess that there’s not much of a market for body part blobs. Then again, who really knows. I’ve spent many years on the internet, and I’ve seen some weird stuff.
That mystery is part of the allure of this product. It could definitely be a messed up sex doll, but nobody will know until after they fork over $375 for it. That absolutely owns, and I totally want whatever INSIDE creation that RealDoll creates.
Perhaps this creation will be what solidifies games as an art form. As my colleague Anthony Nash suggested, maybe this will be what members of the ESA give to President Trump when they hold their meeting this week. Could the strange monstrosity within INSIDE bring the gaming community together? I hope so.
