Horror and indie go hand-in-hand this the horror season and this Samhain offering comes fully stocked with a plethora of nightmares to dive into! Classics from Limbo to Little Nightmares are fan favourites, but for Halloween season this year, here are three retro throwbacks that may or may not have come across your journey into the unknown depths of eShop horror…!
SIGNALIS
Like diving back into a PS1 era survival horror with an amnesiac protagonist trying to piece together her fractured memory, only to climax in a twisty, ambiguous ending (of which there are multiple) that will have you replaying and scouring details for a more definitive answer! Signalis puts you in control of biosynthetic clone Elster, a ship technician Replika unit who awakens in the wreck of her crashed scout ship. Setting out in search of her ships human pilot in a post-apocalyptic, retrofuturist backdrop, core gameplay consists of a top-down, 2.5D shooter with puzzles varying from manipulating switches and dials to searching for specific frequencies in Elster’s radio. Resource management, item boxes and key items used to unlock sepcial doors follow the trend of Resident Evil and Silent Hill with safe rooms where players can save progress, destress and store items for future use. And yes, there are the usual ‘doors rusty, can’t open it’ thrown into the mix, just to keep things extra spooky.
Crow Country
Another retro throwback to bygone polygon days, Crow Country similarly sends your mind back to Resident Evil style survival horror as you, special agent Mara Forest, explore the abandoned titular Crow Country theme park near Atlanta, Georgia, set in 1990. On your journey to discover what happened to disappeared park founder, Edward Crow, the polygonal world throws nightmarish monsters, limited resources and cryptic puzzles in your way, with notes and diary entries scattered throughout the park to provide hints for puzzles and details that lead up to the events of the game. Safe rooms, as you will no doubt have come to expect, exist to allow players time to review notes and save, with two main game modes: Survival and Exploration, the latter of which removes enemies and turns Crow Country into an exploration game without the threat of untimely death.
Labyrinth Of The Demon King
War, disease and hordes of demons roam the earth in this nightmare vision of Feudal Japan, practically haemorrhaging at the edges with atmospheric horror presented in an Elder Scrolls FPS style with, you guessed it, good ol’ PS1 survival horror. And with a horrifyingly dense fog enveloping the gloomy Feudal past, to boot. As an Ashigaru (peasant infantry) of Takeda Nobumitsu, and sole survivor after the Takeda clan and its army were lead into a trap by the Demon King, you have taken it upon yourself to venture forth into the titular Labyrinth to avenge your fallen Lord and destroy the Demon King. Armed with katanas and hammers and a small assortment of ranged weapons with very limited ammo, not mention magic talismans, combat is simple by design with basic combos and charged attacks and kicks designed to break an enemy’s guard or stomp on demons to deliver the final kill. With a variety of horrors awaiting you in the dark corridors of a desolate, dimly lit to pitch black Japanese castle or foggy court yard, and a few tough bosses standing in your way, the inherent awkwardness of PS1 horror and FPS exists to heighten the stress of ambiguiety found through the exploration of this haunted castle and is determined to keep you on your toes… less you lose them and your head if you’re unprepared!
