Westworld’s newest park is for the ‘true connoisseur of gore’

Westworld’s second season will allow guests to explore a second world teased at the end of the first season, and this one will be far more violent.

Shogun World, a revamped version of Samurai World from Michael Crichton’s original 1973 movie, is being described as a place where guests can indulge in their “fantasies with the slash of a katana.” A brief description that appeared on Delos’ “Experience” website, a marketing-stunt-turned-ARG for the show, appears below.

“For those for whom Westworld is not enough, the true connoisseur of gore can indulge their fantasies with the slash of a katana,” the description reads. “Modeled after Japan’s Edo period, Shogun World offers a chance for guests to embrace their inner warrior, in a landscape of highest beauty and darkest horror. Let your true self take shape in the land where self-discovery is an art form.”

Well then. Westworld, the original park that we were introduced to in the show’s first season, seemed to be violent enough, but it looks like things are about to take a darker turn. We saw glimpses of the new park in a recent trailer for Westworld released by HBO. Just like every other aspect of Westworld marketing, a secret code hidden within the trailer led to a URL, which played an even more disturbing trailer once people visited the site. As we pointed out previously:

One particular scene shows James Delos, the company’s founder, cutting his face up while wearing an impish, creepy grin. Another scene seems to show a Westworld guest being hanged, while another scene alludes to Dolores, one of the show’s most popular and rebellious hosts, leading the charge in his murder.

It appears we’re in for a gory affair this season as the hosts prepare for their day of reckoning, taking back Westworld from the very people who enslaved them.

Westworld returns to HBO on April 22 at 9 p.m. ET.