It has been several years since Frictional Games, which has delivered the "Penumbra" trilogy, "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" and "Soma" over the past decade, revealed that its next "terrifying" game was in full production, and still nothing We still don't know anything about it. That may be about to change, however, as Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently noticed that Frictional's website has been updated and a link to the "Next Frictional Game" has been added. More importantly, the nextfrictionalgame.com website is also working differently now.

What is interesting about this site is that Friction has maintained it for over a decade, updating it very slowly to promote ongoing projects. For example, in September 2008 (via Internet Archive), the site teased a sequel to Penumbra: "Set in the late 18th century, players explore the eerie environment of an old castle. It's a journey through the horrors and disturbing sights built up over centuries of decay."

That became the spectacularly scary "Amnesia: The Dark Descent," as it is now known; the second "Amnesia," "A Machine for Pigs" and "Soma," developed by Chinese Room, received similar treatment.

For the past four years, the site has displayed only a single line of text on a black background, "Next project not yet announced." At some point between November 28 and today, however, that changed. The text disappeared, and in its place pulsed... Something is being displayed. Is it a small ball of electricity, or a sensory bellybutton lint? Or a stalker anomaly! Honestly, I have no idea. But it's ominous, that's for sure.

The usual page sources don't reveal the secret, but that's okay, because the important thing at this early stage is that things are happening. Friction's game is terrible (in a good way) and frankly not fun to play, but at the same time I can't stop playing it, and while I hope not, I'm very excited to see what comes out next.

Yeah, it's weird, but that's the way it is, as evidenced by my review of "The Dark Descent": "It was utterly, panic-inducingly terrifying . I almost cried a little when it was over."