Descriptions disappear and reappear based on your character’s increased questioning so that you aren’t sure whether it’s your own memory or your character’s playing tricks on you. As you play games with your friend, the triumphant cry of Mario or the Legend of Zelda’s success jingle take on a sinister edge while your friend avoids giving answers about what exactly is going on. Sparse in visuals, this narrative adventure paints a horrifying picture with text and sound. We’re not spoiling anything here, but suffice to say such gracious gifts may not be so selfless after all. Didn’t your friend have a brother? When exactly did she move to this big, beautiful house? And how come there aren’t any pictures of this uncle anywhere to be seen? But the night quickly falls apart at the seams, as half-forgotten memories bubble to the surface. Set at an unassuming sleepover, you play a young girl enamoured by her friend’s extensive collection of rare and unseen video game paraphernalia, all from – you guessed it – a mysterious uncle. While visual novels may not be everyone’s taste, if ever there was one to make an exception for, it’s The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo. Plus, school after hours has always been one of the creepiest things known to man – just check out our list of Back To School Indie Games. And all the while, terrifying music and the occasional cackling of the demonic “lingered” ensure you’re constantly on edge even when you think you’ve found a safe haven. Dice turn into teeth when you roll them, a biology lab transforms into a demonic puppet theatre from hell, and the past and present intertwine in maddening spirals until they distort all sense of exactly where and when you are. Part 2D puzzler, part survival horror, Detention keeps you questioning your understanding constantly throughout the experience. It’s this intertwined cultural terror that makes Detention one of the most disturbing indie games out there. Scraps of paper and journals found throughout the levels paint a picture of life before everything turned sinister they talk of informants and fear-laced meetings in secret, and a people every bit as scared for their safety amid a paranoid government as they are of the paranormal. To get out alive, they have to face their inner demons as well as the ones now haunting the halls. You take control of a pair of high school students who find themselves alone in their school just as the building descends into otherworldly chaos. Set in 1960s Taiwan, the threat of punishment under the nation’s martial law haunts the characters as much as the game’s vengeful spirits.
While it certainly borrows some atmospheric cues from the classic horror series, this game forges a new path for the genre with its settings and cultural trappings. With its tattered, decrepit hallways and bathrooms clotted red with rust and blood, Detention is sure to remind players of the iconic town of Silent Hill. The result is disorientating – and it’s in this space of confused anxiety that these games thrive. People and objects don’t behave as they should, as we expect them to, and environments change from day to night, location to location, faster than should ever be possible. To disturb means to foster anxiety, and these games never quite let you get comfortable, lulling you into a false sense of safety before throwing everything into confusion once more. They play off your expectations of how a game should work, making you question your memory, your perception, your very sense of reality. The games listed here frighten players in an entirely different way. Sure, there’s Five Nights at Freddy’s or Bendy and the Ink Machine, but what about players who want a good fright without the tense, heart-pounding expectation of something jumping out from around a corner? What about the disturbing indie games that manage to terrify without cheap tricks? When you think of indie horror games, a few titles with cult followings immediately jump to mind.
0 kommentar(er)
