There’s Nothing Scarier Than Horror Games With Crude PlayStation 1 Graphics
Credit to Author: Patrick Klepek| Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2020 21:10:00 +0000
For a long time, it seemed like you couldn’t blink without seeing a new game with a throwback pixel aesthetic. That made sense 10 years ago, as children of the 70s and 80s started making the games that inspired them to start developing games in the first place. And while there are still plenty of pixel-y games, it made sense the march of time would move aesthetic nostalgia in another direction: the 90s and the world of early 3D games.
This helps explain one of the coolest things I saw on the Internet yesterday, a trailer for a collection of throwback horror games from a community that’s called “The Haunted PS1.”
“Roused by the crackle of static, a lingering sense of dread crawls across the floor,” reads the description for Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020. “You sit alone in your room. A dimly lit memory repeats in your head. 17 demos too horrible to describe keep you from your bed. Each one is a personally crafted nightmare. You've tried to tell others, no one understands.”
Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020 is a collection of 17 experiences meant to evoke the era of the the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill, when horror started growing its own identity in the medium. It was a time of rudimentary sounds and visuals—an important part of the horror experience—but one in which the limitations allowed imaginations to run wild.
These are not games meant to run on an actual PlayStation 1—they’re on modern engines.
You can see a sample of a bunch of the games on the “demo disc” here:
I know what I’m going to be doing on the next dark and stormy night.
Follow Patrick on Twitter. His email is patrick.klepek@vice.com, and available privately on Signal (224-707-1561).
This article originally appeared on VICE US.