‘Playstation 1 graphics are the equivalent to David Cronenberg’s body horror films’
Puppet combo is reviving a dying genre, and creating the playable slasher movie experience for gamers young and old
I was born in 1988 in a small town called Brownsville, Texas. I didn’t grow up in the ’80s, but at a very young age my grandmother would take me to the local video rental store called All Star Video. I would always go straight to the horror section as I was fascinated and spooked by horror VHS art of the 80s. I was about 8 years old and picked up my first horror title called “Chopping Mall.” The cover was an illustration of a robot hand holding fresh-cut body parts in a shopping bag. It was gross, bloody, gory and schlocky. For me though, it was mesmerizing and spellbinding.
This was my introduction to horror. Thank you, Grandma.
I remember going to my local Toys R Us with my childhood friend. He picked out two games, Silent Hill 2 and Grand Theft Auto 3. We took the games to the cash register and attempted to buy them, but to no avail due to our age. Luckily my friend’s dad was patiently waiting in his red van smoking a cigarette, and without a care in the world he was happy to purchase these M-rated games for us.
I suggested we play Silent hill 2, because I had know idea what the game was about and I had no interest in playing GTA. We popped in the disc and turned on my huge CRT TV with a broken default brightness set to almost zero. The game loaded and we saw a man looking into a mirror pawing at his face and reading a letter from his deceased wife to meet him in Silent Hill. The tone of the game put us in a trance. The man named James was running in a very dense fog; suddenly a static radio sound is heard from the distance, and amid the fog a creature appeared. After the appearance of the monster, my friend ran to the console and immediately shut it off, and months later he admitted that he was too frightened to finish the game. I gladly took it off his hands.
Murder House takes you back to this time. A time when you were you in your room alone at night, playing a scary game with a Playstation controller in your trembling, sweaty hands, turning your head to see if the boogeyman peered out your closed closet door (in this case a terrifying murderous Easter Bunny) and hoping you would survive another night. Players, you are in for the most terrifying Easter egg-hunt game you’ll ever play.
Puppet Combo’s Murder House is a love letter to the slasher genre and survival horror games of the ’90s. The production value for this game is stellar while still maintaining that lo-fi Playstation aesthetic his games are known for.
However, unlike his older games, a lot more quality control went into the build of this game. The use of voice acting (and quite good I might add) and the sound design is a lot more controlled (don’t worry folks, you won’t be throwing your headphones across the room with blood dripping down your ears). The graphics still have his signature style, yet look polished. And let’s not forget about tank controls too. The soundtrack by Clement Panchout & MXXN in my opinion is their best yet, particularly track 7 titled “The Arrival” (currently on repeat while writing). I don’t particularly care for the filters he provides for his games, but I actually left the CRT filter on, as it was easy on my eyes and I enjoyed the grainy look.
The player plays from the third person, and puts you in the player of Emma, an intern for a television station who is documenting a story at the house of the notorious Easter Ripper. Little do they know that they are not the only ones in the house. Emma and her crew slowly come to find out what horrors took place in the house, and end up fighting to survive the night. Oh, and did I mention Puppet Combo sprinkles in a little humor? It’s actually pretty funny — a good ingredient to add when trying to tell a scary story. I also love the name “Easter Ripper.” I can easily see this slasher in the B-horror aisle at Blockbuster.
“Murder House is Babysitter Bloodbath 2.0 in a lot of ways, improving the design, polishing, and taking it to the next levels. It’s also a big step in finally creating a playable slasher movie”
— Puppet Combo
Murder House made me feel scared. As a seasoned horror gamer, I am not so desensitized to the genre; like my pain tolerance, my fear level is at an all-time low. A good question that I ask myself is: “What scares you?”
Here’s a quick comparison, in my opinion the game Outlast is terrifying. I had to play that game from start to finish with a friend holding my hand while I was holding the controller. Two very different games.
Why were they scary? Outlast scared me because it stressed me out as a player. Too much stress as a matter of fact. I’m not saying Outlast is a bad game, but can you give me a break? One thing I appreciate is when developers keep the player in mind, and consider these stress factors, and know when to give the player relief. A good example is the save rooms in Resident Evil.
Murder house on the other hand is a slow burn and did not stress me out. What did scare in Murder House is the fear of something we can’t understand. Put it this way: Playstation 1 graphics are the equivalent to David Cronenberg’s body horror films.
During the early 90s gaming was going through a transition, a leap from 16 bit to 32 bit and beyond. At the time playing games such as Silent hill or Resident Evil was cutting edge. It didn’t need to look realistic, it was doing its job already and painted a picture for the player to embody a character and survive the night.
Lets fast forward to now. We now know what realism in games can look like. So how do we view and play low-fidelity games of the ’90s now without nostalgia? A gamer can ask, “why would I want to play that? The graphics suck” and another can say “looking at these graphics brings chills down my spine, because it is something my mind can’t comprehend.”
What is most feared? The unknown. When you play and view these polygon graphics, you are trying to paint a picture in your head. “I think it’s a face?, I think those are eyes, I think those are ears, that looks like a mouth and I think that’s a bunny running towards me with a sickle.”
In the end it’s just polygons.
Yes there are jump scares, high-pitch noises, blood, gore, isolation and even some influence of psychedelia in Murder House. There are even dark themes that Puppet Combo makes the player face that I will not spoil, but believe me, it was jaw-dropping. Not only does he have the players experience those themes, but he is purposely choosing this aesthetic because it is what scares him and I feel that from the inside, and you know what, it scares me too.
If you go to itch.io there are so many indie developers using this Playstation 1 aesthetic and I am here for it. So, what makes Puppet Combo stand out, or to relay his quote, how is he creating the slasher movie experience in gaming? He is reviving a dying art form from film and bringing it to a media not only for nostalgic gamers who can feel rejuvenated by playing these slasher movie experiences, but also to gamers of a new generation who can experience the horror they did not grow up with.
Murder house is available on Steam
Check out all of Puppet Combos work on Patreon
Bandcamp to Clement Panchout & MXXN
Edited by my good friend Ian McGibboney
