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For Snowflake Challenge #10 -
Indie horror games worth your time to play, watch as an LP or see a video essay about. They are all very unique projects, some of them solo passion projects. Some of them have cult or fandom followings.
I did the new type of spoiler cut for the MyHouse.WAD spoilers, so you can click on this post without seeing any spoilers. The non-spoilery cuts will expand, but the one spoiler cut will not expand unless you specifically click on it.
* Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion - Don't worry, it doesn't actually rely on jump scares. I think the name puts people off that would enjoy the game. If you have any interest in this cute-horror game I highly recommend not reading anything about it, just either abuse steam's refund policy to effectively get a chance to demo the start or watch the first 20 minutes of a Let's Play to get the vibe. Here is the trailer, the trailer does have some flickering images and some of the monsters induce flickering elements in the environment.
It's a challenge to get through 1,000 rooms of her mansion and there are different creatures stalking you. There is an endless runner version just because of how the layers of puzzles just work and people just get into the flow. So gameplay, top notch if this is your style.
But also, lore! The original game didn't have much of an ending, but since it took off due to good mechanics they did DLCs with the full story. So, to do the whole thing you need to play the base game, Karamari Hospital and Spooky's Dollhouse in that order. Full story, multiple endings, tons of lore, etc. It's the full package.
* World of Horror - Initially made pixel by pixel by a solo dev. It's like if someone made a Junji Ito manga into a video games in 1997, and that manga was based on Lovecraft. The UI and how... unevolved the combat is makes it feel like a 1997 DOS game. It really feels like lost media, but it's not. Trailer, this trailer is for the launch on Switch but I played on PC. It's also on PS.
I love it, but it's not for everyone. If you do an image search for the game you can see how effective pixel art can be for doing body horror. Most of my time in the game was during a point in early access when saves didn't work, which would normally piss me off but it suited the vibes.
* Inscryption - One of my favorite gaming experiences ever. This game is to blame for most of my indie game purchases because I've been chasing another Inscryption, and there isn't one. Trailer
Here is a very weird way to sell the game: It's the only Daniel Mullins game that I find fun to play. Daniel Mullins has a cult following for his games, even though playing some of them is hell. The basic gameplay loop for Inscryption was up as a browser game for a year so it got polished to a fine sheen before release. It's... sort of card game based with FMV elements, ARG elements and deep lore. I love it.
* MyHouse.WAD - Someday I will stop talking about this, but not this day. I would drop this from the list because I am sure my followers have *heard* me talk about it, but just in case anyone drops in from Snowflake...
It's a fan made Doom map/story, think of it like a stand alone DLC. There are amazing videos covering every aspect. This PowerPak video is amazing, perfect if you know nothing about Doom and want a way to see the content in context with really good explanations. It's also best if you don't know where it's going. My problem for like a year now is... if I spoil it people will know why I am so into this and recc it so much, but also the experience of seeing it unfold is great. I love that I went into that PowerPak video totally cold.
But, if you are the sort who prefers spoilers...
The fan made game was posted used an old forum account. OP claims that it was an old, unfinished project by a friend of his who pass. He says he finished it and is publishing it to deal with his loss. If you unlock all the information you realize the both the poster and the friend are a gay couple who passed on the same day, but their obituaries don't mention each other. They were mostly closeted in life, one was probably a late bloomer, and their parents tried to erase who they were in death. The Doom fan game is about their lives. It's a gay love story about reaching across and leaving a mark on the world that people tried to erase them from.
I don't see the story as a tragedy. They found each other, and while their families sucked, one of them reached beyond the veil to share that they had struggles, but they got past those struggles and had love and joy in their lives. I love it. 10/10. One of the best pieces of gaming content ever made. The unfiction elements, playing with player expectations, deep knowledge of coding, map design, Doom, etc. It's a masterpiece.
For bonus content, read gamer bros trying to make up theories that this massively popular map isn't gay... their logic always falls apart. Even if both guys are the same person somehow, they still had a husband. Attempts to read it as straight keep circling back around to gay.
* Sunless Things - Sunless Seas and Sunless Skies are video games in the Fallen London world setting. Both are creepy and atmospheric and are great for getting lost in for long periods of time.
Seas came first and I like the stories and vibes more, but Skies has much better graphics and more polished gameplay. I'd actually recc starting with Sunless Skies first if you are new because some of the Seas mechanics are frustrating and maybe best left to doing a deeper dive.
There is also the original Fallen London game, a free text based game that has been running since 2009. I don't know how often it's updated these days, but some people have played this continuously for a decade, I played it for about two years ages ago. Poking around it looks like the game does have some monetization like paid DLC, but I don't know the details. Fallen London is popular in a lot of fandom spaces, so if you just want to poke at a horror game that's been around a lot and references in fandom spaces, it's worth a look.
They also did a dating sim called Mask of the Rose that I was super hyped for, but they fundamentally didn't know how to make that sort of game. Some fans love it, especially after a big patch they did. It is not for me. I'll still go back and play it at some point. The setting and story are great, but the gameplay was bad so they patched it... gutting the gameplay.
Sunless Seas trailer
Sunless Skies trailer
* Black Tabby Games Special Mention
My favorite game is Scarlet Hollow, but only 4/7 chapters are out, so it doesn't go on the list for now. However, the same devs did Slay The Princess. They did Slay The Princess as a side-project because they'd hit a ceiling on how many people would buy Scarlet Hollow in early access and when they had chances to promote the game, they weren't getting sales. So, they decided to do a project limited in scope so they also had a complete game to sell. Slay The Princess has been a huge hit. Fans love it, players love it, streamers and video essayists love it, etc. I even saw it in one of those 2023 fandom growth charts that was floating around, but I forget which one. It's just not for me. But, if you want to play a fully hand drawn game that is a critical darling it's a good pick.
Black Tabby Games is a two person team, so they can't really scale production. Right now Todd is finishing some additional content for Princess and Abby is working on Scarlet Hollow Chapter 5. Chapter 5 is in production, but it's a whiles out.
Slay The Princess trailer - Note: the game has accessibility features allowing you to turn off visual effects like that shimmery boil effect, and you can have a dyslexia friendly font, etc.
And if you are curious, here is the Scarlet Hollow trailer.
Indie horror games worth your time to play, watch as an LP or see a video essay about. They are all very unique projects, some of them solo passion projects. Some of them have cult or fandom followings.
I did the new type of spoiler cut for the MyHouse.WAD spoilers, so you can click on this post without seeing any spoilers. The non-spoilery cuts will expand, but the one spoiler cut will not expand unless you specifically click on it.
* Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion - Don't worry, it doesn't actually rely on jump scares. I think the name puts people off that would enjoy the game. If you have any interest in this cute-horror game I highly recommend not reading anything about it, just either abuse steam's refund policy to effectively get a chance to demo the start or watch the first 20 minutes of a Let's Play to get the vibe. Here is the trailer, the trailer does have some flickering images and some of the monsters induce flickering elements in the environment.
It's a challenge to get through 1,000 rooms of her mansion and there are different creatures stalking you. There is an endless runner version just because of how the layers of puzzles just work and people just get into the flow. So gameplay, top notch if this is your style.
But also, lore! The original game didn't have much of an ending, but since it took off due to good mechanics they did DLCs with the full story. So, to do the whole thing you need to play the base game, Karamari Hospital and Spooky's Dollhouse in that order. Full story, multiple endings, tons of lore, etc. It's the full package.
* World of Horror - Initially made pixel by pixel by a solo dev. It's like if someone made a Junji Ito manga into a video games in 1997, and that manga was based on Lovecraft. The UI and how... unevolved the combat is makes it feel like a 1997 DOS game. It really feels like lost media, but it's not. Trailer, this trailer is for the launch on Switch but I played on PC. It's also on PS.
I love it, but it's not for everyone. If you do an image search for the game you can see how effective pixel art can be for doing body horror. Most of my time in the game was during a point in early access when saves didn't work, which would normally piss me off but it suited the vibes.
* Inscryption - One of my favorite gaming experiences ever. This game is to blame for most of my indie game purchases because I've been chasing another Inscryption, and there isn't one. Trailer
Here is a very weird way to sell the game: It's the only Daniel Mullins game that I find fun to play. Daniel Mullins has a cult following for his games, even though playing some of them is hell. The basic gameplay loop for Inscryption was up as a browser game for a year so it got polished to a fine sheen before release. It's... sort of card game based with FMV elements, ARG elements and deep lore. I love it.
* MyHouse.WAD - Someday I will stop talking about this, but not this day. I would drop this from the list because I am sure my followers have *heard* me talk about it, but just in case anyone drops in from Snowflake...
It's a fan made Doom map/story, think of it like a stand alone DLC. There are amazing videos covering every aspect. This PowerPak video is amazing, perfect if you know nothing about Doom and want a way to see the content in context with really good explanations. It's also best if you don't know where it's going. My problem for like a year now is... if I spoil it people will know why I am so into this and recc it so much, but also the experience of seeing it unfold is great. I love that I went into that PowerPak video totally cold.
But, if you are the sort who prefers spoilers...
This one cut does have spoilers, major spoilers, endgame spoilers, etc
The fan made game was posted used an old forum account. OP claims that it was an old, unfinished project by a friend of his who pass. He says he finished it and is publishing it to deal with his loss. If you unlock all the information you realize the both the poster and the friend are a gay couple who passed on the same day, but their obituaries don't mention each other. They were mostly closeted in life, one was probably a late bloomer, and their parents tried to erase who they were in death. The Doom fan game is about their lives. It's a gay love story about reaching across and leaving a mark on the world that people tried to erase them from.
I don't see the story as a tragedy. They found each other, and while their families sucked, one of them reached beyond the veil to share that they had struggles, but they got past those struggles and had love and joy in their lives. I love it. 10/10. One of the best pieces of gaming content ever made. The unfiction elements, playing with player expectations, deep knowledge of coding, map design, Doom, etc. It's a masterpiece.
For bonus content, read gamer bros trying to make up theories that this massively popular map isn't gay... their logic always falls apart. Even if both guys are the same person somehow, they still had a husband. Attempts to read it as straight keep circling back around to gay.
* Sunless Things - Sunless Seas and Sunless Skies are video games in the Fallen London world setting. Both are creepy and atmospheric and are great for getting lost in for long periods of time.
Seas came first and I like the stories and vibes more, but Skies has much better graphics and more polished gameplay. I'd actually recc starting with Sunless Skies first if you are new because some of the Seas mechanics are frustrating and maybe best left to doing a deeper dive.
There is also the original Fallen London game, a free text based game that has been running since 2009. I don't know how often it's updated these days, but some people have played this continuously for a decade, I played it for about two years ages ago. Poking around it looks like the game does have some monetization like paid DLC, but I don't know the details. Fallen London is popular in a lot of fandom spaces, so if you just want to poke at a horror game that's been around a lot and references in fandom spaces, it's worth a look.
They also did a dating sim called Mask of the Rose that I was super hyped for, but they fundamentally didn't know how to make that sort of game. Some fans love it, especially after a big patch they did. It is not for me. I'll still go back and play it at some point. The setting and story are great, but the gameplay was bad so they patched it... gutting the gameplay.
Sunless Seas trailer
Sunless Skies trailer
* Black Tabby Games Special Mention
My favorite game is Scarlet Hollow, but only 4/7 chapters are out, so it doesn't go on the list for now. However, the same devs did Slay The Princess. They did Slay The Princess as a side-project because they'd hit a ceiling on how many people would buy Scarlet Hollow in early access and when they had chances to promote the game, they weren't getting sales. So, they decided to do a project limited in scope so they also had a complete game to sell. Slay The Princess has been a huge hit. Fans love it, players love it, streamers and video essayists love it, etc. I even saw it in one of those 2023 fandom growth charts that was floating around, but I forget which one. It's just not for me. But, if you want to play a fully hand drawn game that is a critical darling it's a good pick.
Black Tabby Games is a two person team, so they can't really scale production. Right now Todd is finishing some additional content for Princess and Abby is working on Scarlet Hollow Chapter 5. Chapter 5 is in production, but it's a whiles out.
Slay The Princess trailer - Note: the game has accessibility features allowing you to turn off visual effects like that shimmery boil effect, and you can have a dyslexia friendly font, etc.
And if you are curious, here is the Scarlet Hollow trailer.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-21 12:20 am (UTC)From:Mild spoilers? I suppose??
It actually was one of the things that finally got me to buy House of Leaves. Actually reading it in another story however...! XD (One day! Once my backlog of books lets up a little bit!)
It's always so cool to see stories shown in that sort of format where at first it doesn't even seem like a story at all! Just a cool little project! What a neat thing! :D
no subject
Date: 2024-01-21 11:32 am (UTC)From:spoiler title
Same, I've been keeping an eye out for a used copy of House of Leaves. I hope to pick it up sometime.