Reanimal, Tarsier Studios’s latest near-wordless video game, shows players a hellscape steeped in fascism where five children journey into the maws of death. On the surface, it is about a boy finding his beloved sibling amongst the wreckage and reuniting them with friends. Yet, nothing is what it appears as these masked travelers traverse realms of watery nightmares.

Blatty’s success with The Exorcist III (1990) comes not from his directorial skills—his inexperience can be fairly obvious at times—but rather from his talent as a writer.