Holla ballers! As June crept up on us like a thief in an alley, it is time to look back at the terror that was Horror May!
Mike had some games he was really chewing at the bit to play, and thankfully we got that opportunity! The first game on that list was a newly released game that had been getting quite a bit of attention. It wasn’t what we originally expected, but Mike still really enjoyed playing Returnal.
It wasn’t a horror in that it jump-scared you out of your seat, but the creatures we came across were certainly unsettling, and the concept of looping back to the planet we found ourselves stranded on when you die is… well that’s slightly spooky. Returnal is certainly a game you can keep coming back to.
Following Returnal we were very fortunate and excited to receive an Early Review key for Resident Evil: Village! This was probably the game we were collectively all looking forward to and we had high hopes.
The horror in RE: Village was certainly there, and the Doll-Maker will be giving us nightmares for years. Breaking apart crumbling walls to defeat the creepy daughters of the rather statuesque Lady Dimitrescu, desperately fighting off enormous Werewolves, and going back to our friend The Duke to sell the crystalized remains of the lords of the village, Resident Evil: Village certainly didn’t skimp on the action, horror, or story.
A game we were also very hyped to play was Little Nightmares 2! We played the original one and absolutely adored it. The mix of creepy-cute characters and artstyle and some truly terrifying creatures in Little Nightmares made it one of Mike’s favourite games, and we hoped the second offering was going to live up to its predecessor.
We would not be disappointed. Little Nightmares 2 was a fantastic game, the atmosphere and creepy characters were dialed up to 11, and the story told without any kind of voiced dialogue never failed to impress us. Solving puzzles, running for our lives through giraffe-necked teachers who wanted to gobble you up, and then reuniting with a familiar character… we couldn’t look away.
Close behind Little Nightmares 2 we took a look at a game that we had played in its Early Access: Visage. Mike had already played 2 chapters of this in Early Access, but he didn’t really remember any of it and there were changes made in the full release.
Visage was a good game that had a good mix of atmosphere, jump-scares, and an interesting, and rather disturbing, story that follows some wildly different characters.
Our penultimate game was another new game: The Medium. The story that unfolded in this game was dark. Creepily and disconcertingly dark.
The premise of the game being one where we can interact with a world that others couldn’t was intriguing and it really did play out well. Having the screen split between these two simultaneous planes of reality was a little odd at first, but we quickly got the hang of things and were anxiously making our way through this nightmarish game.
The horror in The Medium again wasn’t one based on jump-scares or horrific mutilation, it was a slow burn of anxiety-inducing atmosphere, and the terrifying knowledge that we were being hunted. A worthy addition to any horror fan’s Library.
Our last offering for Horror May came right at the end of the month with a brand-new Indie game. Strangeland is a point-and-click game with plenty to offer. We found ourselves in a carnival that we definitely wouldn’t bring the family to, with a blonde woman continually throwing herself down a well to her suicide. Upon inspecting the well a little too closely Mike also discovered that our character too was bound to this strange land and our death offered no reprieve from the strange and creepy beings of the Carnival.
There were creepy mermaids, heckling crows, a trio of ladies dressed in oversized mens masks, and a many armed and many legged atrocity we will never forget. We loved it so much we even carried on after Horror May and played some other games by the developer: Primordia and The Cat Lady.
We spooked ourselves silly and gave all you lovely ballers plenty of nightmare fuel, and with that Horror May draws to a close. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. All the vods for the games we played can be watched on our Twitch channel or on our Stream Highlights channel, where you can spot some clips from the game’s we’ve played too!
Until next time, Ballers!
