Next Fest 26|3 Day 6

Given Halloween is in a week, I thought I'd try and do a horror-focused day. Not a genre I typically venture into much, but doesn't mean there aren't some interesting things to find even if they're hidden behind a whole other level of 'riddled with low effort gameplay'

Highlights: Shroud of Gloom, Remote Control

Shroud of Gloom

Shroud of Gloom on Steam

Shroud of Gloom is a point-and-click horror adventure. Investigate an old manor, gather items and clues to solve environmental puzzles and discover dark secrets. Can you uncover the mystery… and make it out alive?

STEAM

A point'n'click adventure where you're investigating a spooky mansion. It has light puzzles, even lighter jumpscares, and a very polished visual aesthetic: mostly a pixely black and white, with a touch of color on rare elements like the power light or a candleflame. Well made all throughout

Evil Moon: Unspoken

Evil Moon: Unspoken on Steam

Boomer Shooter Metroidvania. Nun with a gun. Because of the Malediction of the Moon, only devoted sisters with vows of silence can move freely in the city of Abbadox. So take up arms, Siléncia, and blast your way through these cobbled and winding streets!

STEAM

A boomer shooter metroidvania. You go around a city that fell under the Evil Moon's curse, with all sorts of monsters prowling the street, and you have to shoot them back to whatever hell they came from. I'm not really sure what the end goal is story-wise, and things (enemies especially) can be a bit basic, but I think the PS1 aesthetic is done well and feels fitting

Unsound Love

Unsound Love Demo on Steam

An open-world horror escape room where nothing is explained. You are born into a new world through the backseat of a wrecked car. Trapped in a time loop. Understand it — or stay trapped forever.

STEAM

A game that doesn't explain anything. Where you are, what you're doing, or even what's a friend and what's a monster.It is quite interesting in that regard, even if sometimes it's a bit too easy to die on accident. Then again, the premise is basically a time loop so experimenting is welcome even if it ends in death. In a way this is a weird open world escape room with just a light creepy aesthetic

The Hollowing

The Hollowing on Steam

You’ve taken a maintenance job, flying between the inter-settlement comms towers in the megastructure. Land, fix, on to the next job. What could go wrong? The Hollowing is a narrative first-person horror flight sim from the creator of Lorn’s Lure.

STEAM

A flight sim with a horror atmosphere as you go through the fog between massive megastructures on your maintenance duties. It's slow, but that works in grounding the immense scale of the structure you're in. Sadly a bit short, cutting off at the first real spooks, so it's hard to judge, other than the surprisingly good voice acting

Deadly Dimensions

Deadly Dimensions on Steam

A solo roguelite horror. Traverse multiple procedurally generated Dimensions of Earth and scavenge all of the Data you can possibly find from them to sell it to a faceless Corporate entity.

STEAM

A game I would most closely compare to Roblox Doors. You go into a room and into the next room, and so on on repeat, with occasional 'scary' things showing up. The atmosphere is almost there, but what's eerie quickly turns into simply empty/repetitive. There could be something solid here, but I think it needs some gameplay balancing first

The House Before

The House Before on Steam

You wake up as a House. Your bones are pipes and tunnels. Your organs are a labyrinth of caves. The House Before is a narrative body horror adventure where you play as a monstrous structure filled with strange creatures.

STEAM

The House Before puts you in the body(?) of a House, and it is up to you to figure out what you can do and how. Mechanically I'd describe it as a "point'n'click but for keyboards" while visually it's a mix of grainy video feeds and very colorful visuals that are between goopy and gorey. It's quite the contrasting aesthetic but the whole is surprisingly intriguing

REMOTE CONTROL

REMOTE CONTROL on Steam

An investigation into a derelict spaceship puts you in control of 6 humans. Type commands to control your subjects’ movement, uncovering secrets along the way. Manage risk, make moral decisions, and decide how disposable life really is.

STEAM

More of a psychological horror game where you take control of other people in order to explore a spaceship that went dark. Not only that, all the controlling is done by typing out commands like "turn right" or "use bandages". There are shortcuts to make typing faster, but you will have to do it, occasionally for longer stretches of text for harder actions. It is a very interesting way to do this sort of game already, and on top of that there are actually good systems, logs, and environments for you to explore