No amount of pixel counts, frames per second, new graphical enhancements, whathaveyou, will ever make me not immediately feel at home when looking at a PS1 horror game.
For those of us who grew up on PS1 era horror, the blocky, gritty, and often vague imagery of those old games can often feel maybe a little scarier than something with the full might of modern game design behind it. Maybe it’s just nostalgia talking, but even when I see something new using the retro look (like the utterly terrifying Power Drill Massacre) I almost immediately feel way more on edge than I would otherwise. One fan, 98Demake on YouTube, who specializes in reimagining modern gaming hits as if they had hit the market back then has given the same treatment to this year’s horror hit, Resident Evil 7.
The “gameplay” footage shown is actually just a piece of animation made to look like gameplay built in Blender – although the creator really outdoes themselves with some amazingly period-accurate box art. Honestly, I like it so much I might make a version to put in the case of my Xbox One copy. Check out the animation below. While short, and simple, it really does feel like how RE7 might’ve looked if somehow gaming never evolved past 1998.