IDOLxISxDEAD
At this year’s annual PAX West show in Seattle, the lineup for horror-related content was in rare form, with one of the strongest showings of any year so far, where we got to play nearly twenty unreleased horror titles, from big to small, and got to chat with developers and publishers about nitty gritty details on their upcoming projects.
In no particular order, we’ll start with the games we were able to check out and our overall impressions, beginning with a highly-anticipated title from some early Silent Hill and Siren alumni, Slitterhead.
Slitterhead
With several Silent Hill veterans working on the project, this one had been on our radar for a while, but finally getting some time to play for ourselves gave a more clear impression of how the game is shaping up, compared to the recent trailers that had been released. The game focuses on the body-swapping mechanics that are featured in most of the footage, but after getting to play it, there’s a ton of other elements that come into play and manage to all blend in a satisfying way, which I was not expecting.
Aside from the body-swapping, you’ll also encounter more horror chase segments, the return of Sightjacking from the Siren series (it’s even called that by name,) and Souls-like combat encounters, all coming together with a mysterious narrative that keeps you wanting to know more. The combat mechanics took a little time to get used to, and there’s a lot to learn, but it all fell into place by the end of my thirty minutes with the game, and I’m personally anticipating this one when it releases on November 8th.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
Next up is getting full access to the preview build for the remaster of the original classic Dead Rising, which was an absolute blast. The game looks fantastic and plays/runs better than ever before, with a whole suite of updated features and quality of life improvements that make the experience better across the board, without changing the core or tone of the game. We asked a lot of questions to the folks at Capcom who have had more time to dive into the builds and who are privy to some yet-to-be-released info about the game to dig deep into what we can expect from this release.
Improvements like extra save slots and the ability to save in different modes, the ability to fast-forward in-game time at certain points, ability to skip survivor conversations, lots of new costumes and magazines in game (including some Resident Evil crossover outfits,) improved survivor AI, revamped visuals from the ground up, new voice acting, and several other features all make this a package that fans of Dead Rising won’t want to miss when it drops in a few weeks.
Clock Tower: Rewind
Getting hands-on time with the new remastered and translated version of the Super Famicom classic was pretty exciting for me, as I’ve been a fan of the game since the 1990s and have been dying to see how they’re updating this release. I was definitely not disappointed, as this package presents two different versions of the original game, where you can play it just as it was on the original Super Famicom release, plus the Rewind mode, which adds back in all of the new content that was put in for the PS1 release titled The First Fear, as well as a few quality of life improvements and some save state features.
Since I’ve played the original game’s different versions many times over, I also took some of my time with Rewind to look into the new bonus features added for this remaster, outside of the normal game, and there’s a treasure trove of fantastic extra content included here. The extras run the gamut from the gorgeous new opening animation that was created for the game, which includes a new theme song sung by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, plus a lot of other great features like a long interview with the director, Hifumi Kono, motion comic adaptations (and translations) of the original prologue manga released for the game in 1995, a playable copy of the store kisok demo that was available around the time of release, and several other very nice features to round out the extras.
Fans of the game will be very happy with the amount of care and content included with this release when it releases later this year (dates will vary per region.)
Corpse Party II: Darkness Distortion
Corpse Party II is an official new chapter in the series, and only the third game in the long-running series to be rendered in full 3D, which is a nice direction, since many of the titles are either visual novels or 2D RPG-style games with no real survival horror mechanics.
In my time with the game, I was thrust into exploring an abandoned hospital with a group of young girls who start being haunted by strange sounds, phone calls, and dead bodies appearing around them, all featuring the typical gross-out body horror that the series is known for. The story also attempts to bring live streamer culture into the mix, with one of the characters being a streamer herself, and acting appropriately absurd in the name of “getting content,” which the game also pokes fun at in its own way, amidst the slow-paced horror exploration.
I’m glad there’s another 3D entry in the series coming, since 2016’s Blood Drive and it’s pseudo-sequel, Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient (different from this CPII) were a nice change for the series, and this one looked to be potentially more fleshed-out than the others, so we’ll be keeping an eye out, as it’s set for release by the end of 2024, without a final date set as of now.
WayForward’s RetroRealms: Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead
After years of already working on this project, it was announced just a two weeks ago that the Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead franchises would be getting brand new, new retro-inspired video games, created by the masters at WayForward, and they’ll be releasing this October 18th. The initial trailers left me having lots of unanswered questions and uncertainty of how these games would actually play and how they’d tie into their respective series’ histories. All of those questions and more were answered when I got a full hour to sit down with the folks at Boss Team Games and WayForward to play and discuss the games, the movies, and everything in between, and I’ve come away from the experience fully convinced that these games will be a blast for classic 2D action fans who also love these horror franchises.
Even though they are releasing as separate games, the option to purchase them together is available, and owning both games opens up tons of new gameplay options and content in each game, including being able to use characters from one franchise in the other’s game, including unique dialogue and story to go with those crossover options. As far as the gameplay, these played closely to the early Castlevania games, with more of a focus on action versus exploration, even though there are unique collectibles in each stage for each character, but there’s no open world-style backtracking like the later post-SOTN Castlevania games or Simon’s Quest. The controls felt snappy and tight across the board, and each character felt unique to one another, including having unique sub-weapons and abilities for each, and it made for a great approach to doing these horror crossovers in a way that feels like some care was put into the experience.
The story for each game is unique, and RetroRealms is essentially an over-arching side-narrative universe that doesn’t directly tie into the canon of the films or TV series, but rather serves as a place for all these characters to come together in fun ways, but that steers clear of meddling with any particular established storylines in any egregious way. There was a lot of talk between us and some hints that there’s some other future games planned for the RetroRealms universe that will also all tie back into these first two games, and they’re in the works of figuring out which horror icons they’ll be able to give a similar treatment to next.
Color me excited for the start of a new franchise that’s showing love for some of our favorite horror worlds in a new and fresh way without the expectation of a modern, more realistic take on the IPs, and I’ve got confidence that any fans of 2D side-scrollers who are also horror fans will get a huge kick out of these games. We’ll be doing a full review when the games launch this October, so keep an eye out for more coverage as the release date gets closer.
Ender Magnolia
Next up is Ender Magnolia, the sequel to Ender Lilies, which ended up being one of my favorite Metroidvania style games of the last several years, so to say I was excited to try out the most recent build of its follow-up would be an understatement. Though the game has been out in Early Access on Steam for a few months, the build we got access to was further along than what’s publicly available right now.
The time I got to spend with Ender Magnolia introduced me to some of the differences that make it stand out from its predecessor, including some changes in the general aesthetic and setting it takes place in, with a much less medieval feel, and something that approaches a little more modern, steampunk-ish vibe overall. The changes were a little strange at first, but soon the gameplay and the gorgeous visuals started to remind me of why I like this series so much.
I found myself wanting to play more as I was exploring the world that the game offered and started learning new systems and gameplay elements, and it made for a great experience that left me wanting to play the final version once the developers are confident enough to launch the full release.
Little Nightmares III
Getting time for some hands-on with Little Nightmares III was a treat, especially since the game is now being developed by a favorite of ours, SuperMassive Games (Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology) and what I got to play did not disappoint, especially the new co-op features that allow you to play with other players online to have a unique experience similar to the Dark Pictures games’ online modes.
The aesthetics and gameplay feel right in line with what we’ve come to expect from the previous Little Nightmares games, where the dark fairy-tale setting allows for some unique puzzle-platformer gameplay, and it’s a style that I am always up to play more of, as long as the standard of quality stays up to what the previous games were able to accomplish. I’m excited to see the further updates that come as the development presses on towards its release next year, and I can’t wait to try it out when it releases.
The Killing Antidote
Made by a small team of two people, The Killing Antidote is a game that’s close to the Resident Evil remakes in structure and aesthetics, but the environment/sound design works even better in some ways, and the gameplay has a great balance of resource management and combat, where melee combat is very useful and a viable option to avoid using ammo for guns, but it comes with its own risks. Some elements of this very early version of the game feel better tuned for hardcore horror fans than even what the RE remakes were able to accomplish, which is quite impressive coming from such a small team.
There’s an element of character cosmetics customization that’s never quite been a thing in the RE games, and something you don’t see too often in survival horror games, for those who are into those elements. I was able to play an early build of the game for around an hour, and if the rest of the game continues to shape up similarly to what I was able to play, this will definitely be one to watch out for if you’re a fan of indie takes on the Resident Evil remake style. They’re planning to launch into early access this October, and you can wishlist and follow the game on Steam right now, and even try out an early build for yourself.
The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest
Made as a homage/parody of the early Castlevania games, especially Simon’s Quest, this is a fun attempt to re-create the experience of those original NES games. It’s also a bit meta and tongue-in-cheek overall, and plays much like its inspiration. It’s very close to something like the Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon games, in a good way.
There’s nothing that will reinvent the wheel here, as is intended, but it’s an admirable attempt to call back to Simon’s Quest in a way that shows love and care, but also doesn’t take itself entirely seriously. You can keep an eye out and wishlist on Steam if retro Castlevania nods are your thing as we near the 2025 release window.
Mouthwashing
As we reported a few weeks ago, the upcoming narrative horror title with PS1-style aesthetics called Mouthwashing is due out in a few weeks, and I got a chance to play through about thirty minutes of the game, and this is shaping up to be a unique horror title with a strong focus on narrative and puzzles, with an emphasis on themes like mental health, addiction, fear, and several other topics that feel deeper than what you might expect from a retro-aesthetic game at first.
The story follows a group of workers on a crashed space ship that’s meant to look like a vacation amusement park, but the dark fate that seems to be awaiting all of them as they lose hope for rescue ends up in a spiral into madness, with a slow-burn narrative structure. Just playing the beginning of the game that I got to experience already showed signs of being a great narrative-focused title and we’ll have more coverage of it as we near the release date on September 26th.
Threshold
I had a chance to play around a half hour of a near-final build for Threshold, which is a first-person PS1 aesthetic horror game where you play as a character starting their first day at a fairly mysterious job at a train station on top of a mountain with very little oxygen. Constantly having to refill your oxygen while you explore the strange and dark workplace environment and solving mysteries as you explore makes for an interesting gameplay loop that promises to get much more frightening as you keep playing.
You can try out an early prologue demo of the game and wishlist now on Steam if you’re into slow-burn narrative mysteries with light survival mechanics.
GHOSTS
GHOSTS is a neat FMV game that’s similar to something like Night Trap or Double Switch back in the 90s, but with a modern twist, where you play as the producer of a live streaming horror show, and you’re tasked with watching the monitors on a video production console that shows all the different cameras set up around the “haunted” house that the stars of the show are exploring.
Strange things start to happen inside the house and within your production space, and since the game will feature some monster designs from Siren Head creator, Trevor Henderson, you can expect some creepy fun once things go haywire. This felt like a fun modern update to that classic style FMV manipulation game, and I’m excited to see more of this as production continues towards a release date next year. You can check out the recent trailer here to get a glimpse of the game’s style and see if it’s one you want to follow for yourself.
Homura Hime
Homura Hime is an upcoming indie hack-and-slack title that feels like a cross between Devil May Cry and OneeChanbara, with lots of fast-paced demon-hunting action and a much more fun combat system than I was expecting from such a small game like this. The enemies range from Japanese folklore Yokai to zombies and demons or malformed creatures of many types, and the gameplay has a very solid combat system with a focus on timing your parry/deflect moves correctly. I had a blast playing through what it had to offer and can’t wait to dive deeper into this combat system.
You can view more info and wishlist the game now on Steam in anticipation for its 2025 release date if this is the type of game that grabs your attention.
Don’t Be Afraid II
A sequel to 2020’s first-person horror narrative game, Don’t Be Afraid, this one looks to continue the tradition of a dark horror narrative featuring the viewpoint of children thrust into traumatic situations. We got to play a short demo that showcased gameplay that was pretty similar to the original, showing lots of exploration and creepy hallways with a little puzzle solving.
You can follow and wishlist on Steam as the development progresses if you’re a fan of the first game or enjoy your first-person narrative horror experiences.
Brokenlore: Unfollow
Brokenlore: Unfollow is the first game in a planned trilogy, from the Japanese Serafini Productions, and this one uses a first-person horror narrative to tackle subjects like depression, eating disorders, and the effects of social media on mental health, with the narrative being one of the most stand-out elements here. It ends up feeling a bit like Silent Hill: The Short Message, with the narrative being broken up by some tense chase sequences and puzzle solving.
You can wishlist on Steam to follow the game and even play an early demo for yourself to see if the Brokenlore series might be your cup of tea.
That’s everything from PAX West that we covered. Aside from all the great games featured here, there were even more horror games at the show than we had time to play for ourselves, including a new build of Heartworm, >one way, Niraiya of.., and Regular Home Renovation Simulator that we’ll be catching up on soon.
Stay tuned for more coverage of these games here at Rely On Horror. We hope you found some new games to be on the lookout for over the next year or so!
