Tag: horror

#WeeklyGameMusic: Lone Survivor (Lone Survivor)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

It’s been a couple of weeks now since you’ve locked down in your own apartment. How long can you go like this? To ease your mind, you turn on your favorite music collection, “#WeeklyGameMusic.” Superflat Games’ melancholic theme song for their game, Lone Survivor, plays. A fitting theme by composer and game designer, Jasper Byrne.

As you settle down, you think to yourself, where does it all begin? It started with a contagious infection. At first, it was just on the news. But you then hear a friend of a friend catch it. Then your neighbors. And now it’s just you. You, a lone man with a surgeon mask on at all times so as to not catch the virus. All of your friends, now violent monsters…

You snap yourself out. No! Focus on surviving through this terrifying apocalypse! What do I need to do? Well, obviously, you need to collect some food. With monsters infesting your neighborhood, that’ll mean stealthily crawling through every nook and cranny to find what limited resources you can find. Fortunately, you have a pistol to incapacitate the monsters. It’s not much, since you’re a bit short on bullets…and said monsters are probably your friends…and you’ll probably lose your sanity shooting them…but it should help.

Well, you have to start somewhere. Saving at the bed all day isn’t going to get you anywhere. Time to open the door, to the sanity-slipping outside world…

Lone Survivor is available on PC and Mac via Steam. It’s also downloadable on Playstation 3, 4, Vita, and Wii U.

Leave a Comment on #WeeklyGameMusic: Lone Survivor (Lone Survivor) | Categories: #WeeklyGameMusic

#WeeklyGameMusic: Miller House (The Witch’s House)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

#WeeklyGameMusic: New week, new music.

What better way to start a romantic month with an RPGMaker horror game? Accelerated heart rate is easily mistaken for love and all that. Anyway, this week’s music is a free music called Miller House, composed by Presence of Music.  It’s used effectively during a shocking plot twist from a Japanese horror game called The Witch’s House. A twist so good, it makes every M. Night Shyamalan plot-line boring.

The plot of The Witch’s House is deceptively simple. A young blond-haired girl named Viola wakes up in an opening of a forest, and finds herself stuck in a very unfortunate situation.  The forest itself is too thick to pass through, and the passage that it creates only leads to one of two dead ends. One end is blocked by an enchanted and stubborn set of rose bushes that can’t be cut by a machete; the other leads directly to a haunted house. Without much else to do (and being encouraged by a creepy, talking black cat), Viola dives right into the house.

It’s worth noting that for most first-time players, the house will kill Viola within the second room she enters. Yup, it’s that kind of game. As a defenseless girl, Viola will very frequently get hanged, poisoned, crushed, decapitated, eaten, fall, and other wonderful ways to die in this surprisingly detailed game. This game relies on a trial-and-death mechanic to solve every puzzle, although the majority of the puzzles do provide cryptic hints. Similar to other RPGMaker horror games, The Witch’s House also has a few chase moments that, due to its rarity, is shockingly effective at making the player’s hair stand on its ends. It’s rare to find a game that utilizes jump scares well, yet still feel fair and possible to beat. Just be prepared for all the blood and gore: this game does not compromise.

The Witch’s House is a freeware PC game originally developed in Japanese by Fummy (ふみー). An English translation of it exists as a free download at:
http://www.vgperson.com/games/witchhouse.htm

Leave a Comment on #WeeklyGameMusic: Miller House (The Witch’s House) | Categories: #WeeklyGameMusic

Weekly Game Music: Last Movement (Enemy Zero)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new music.  I just realized haven’t introduced any music from horror games (unless Killer7 counts as a horror game), so here’s our first one from the famed British movie composer, Michael Nyman.  Last Movement is a simple composition that gives you a sense of drifting away.  A fitting music to the Sci-Fi horror game, Enemy Zero, that is also set in a place all too easy to get lost in: space.

Enemy Zero is part of an odd game series, collectively called D, where the only thing recurring between each game are the characters.  Not even their memory or personality carries over to their sequel.  The player takes the role of Laura Lewis, a pilot of AKI spaceship, who is quite unfortunately affected by amnesia after waking up from a malfunctioned cryogenic sleep.  The cause of the rude awakening turns out to be an invasion of carnivorous aliens who are invisible.  Equipped with a device that alarms its bearer of the approaching enemies, and an unwieldy laser pistol, Laura makes a desperate escape from the slaughter house the spaceship is becoming.

Much like Killer7, Enemy Zero requires the use of sound to detect the location of the enemies.  The story-heavy game uses a Doom-like first-person perspective.  When you hear an enemy approaching, you have to charge your pistol before firing at the right moment.  The frustrating controls adds to the surprise horror of hearing an alien screeching at you as it pounces.  Coupled with the dark and claustrophobic maze-like hallways, Enemy Zero does everything to make you feel uncomfortable.

Enemy Zero was released on Sega Saturn in 1997.  It was later ported to the PC in 1998.
[social_share/]

Leave a Comment on Weekly Game Music: Last Movement (Enemy Zero) | Categories: #WeeklyGameMusic