Ghosts in the Computer – EEK3 Highlights
Is there a reason my disc drive keeps groaning at me and asking for more souls? Retro-modern ghouls HauntedPS1 brought forward from the undulating fog a whole slew of spooky trailers for up-and-coming indie horror tiles with their EEK3 showcase this past Friday. Settle into your coffins, and let the gentle rattling of bones whisk you away…
Echostasis
Sure, we’ve all heard of vaporwave and retrowave, but how about some [ECHOWAVE]? The trailer for Echostasis by Enigma Studio feels like a static-laden dream-slime oozing straight out of your busted basement VHS. Are you truly sure you want to make your dreams a reality? With cutting edge technology, you can enter the chamber, and dive deep into the murk of your dream
Echostasis refers to the in-game condition caused by prolonged or faulty dream-exposure in the CHAMBER, a technological device that generates custom virtual realities. In the prologue you step into the shoes of a head developer of “Echo” technology, who scrambles to find text-based clues to input into the system that is under cyber attack like a ticking time-bomb. Wade consciously between your own computer-corrupted fantasy and reality, and please don’t follow any hauntingly familiar women into the static and shade
To check out Echostasis, watch the trailer, and dive into the demo yourself, click here.
Sorry, We’re Closed
“Your mind, a vessel for my world to bleed into.” À la Mode’s debut game Sorry, We’re Closed brought the posh cyber-noir style into occult reality with their esoteric launch trailer. Peak into the bustling last catastrophic days of main character Michelle while you question your way down to the root of your own curse.
The trailer was nothing short of heart-thumping modern psychic flair. Engraving its intriguing visuals even with little words directly onto our third eye like a neon-stained tarot card found folded into your knife holster. Slink into conversations with enigmatic demons, chimeras, and other mysterious residents with orphic freedom as you investigate deeper into the demonic world of your own demise.
To follow the development of Sorry, We’re Closed, you can keep up with À la Mode’s Twitter, or their website here.
Still Ridge
With its interesting looping hallway-style evoking the infamous PT, the Still Ridge Playable Teaser by Jaybee of MEGAWARP originally featured on the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2021 gave us a small taste of the bigger picture that visited us this EEK3. Surreal landscapes of barely-real pixels, and puzzling déjà vu twist and turn.
Main character Omar, a dream therapist, travels to West Virginia where he’s pulled like a Lynchian siren to investigate a murder witnessed in his own dreams. Realities meld into slowly crumbling visions. Tossing, turning, looping familiarity. Your desire to genuinely help the dream victim leads you down the obscure shrouded tunnel of the quiet town of Still Ridge.
Check out the Eek3 teaser here, and wishlist the game on Steam here.
HitFlesh!
Ah, the hundreds, more likely thousands of hours spent staying up collecting the heavy armor loot you didn’t need and grinding for levels with dry eyes until 3 AM. Ever wish that pet MMO of yours was more haunted? HitFlesh! by Virtual Archaeologist aims to give you that atmosphere.
Your heart races with power-leveling anticipation as the once-abandoned MMORPG HitFlesh! curiously resurrects its cozy medieval-fantasy servers. But how was it brought back to life so suddenly? Were other players… Keeping it alive? Red-tinged torture dungeons are engorged with the decrepit bodies of other player models, as gothic zones flood with eldritch virtual entities. Load yourself into the grotesque game-chat, and explore a narrative experience of closeted secrecy.
Watch the Eek3 trailer for Hitflesh! here.
Plead with the Elder Gods
Old gods sleep across grim tarns of snow, knowledge frozen at their feet. A divine pilgrimage of grim gifts buried deep within the rocky frore. Speak your words, traveling vessel, and call upon any ancient spirit who will listen. demand their cosmic ears. Plead with the Elder Gods crafted by Potentially Odd presents us with a harrowing journey of occult fantasy and metroidvania platforming.
But what more can the gods possibly give? Based on their short previous game, Plead with the Mountain God, slash your way through leech and cavern, as occult divinity is graced upon your abilities with carnal satiation. The heartless must fall by your sword if your pilgrimage is to be complete. Use your esoteric knowledge to transform your very body to aid you on your precariously pagan journey. Certainly, nothing horrible could come from getting the attention of four eternal entities, right?
If you’d like to plead with your own elder gods, click here to view the Eek3 trailer, and here to wishlist on Steam.
Apolysis
Flesh rots at dawn, flesh transforms at dusk… Shed the husk of self and become whole again. Apolysis created in part by Valerie Dusk & Valerie ‘Dawn’ Paris wriggles like blight-tainted maggots down your spine with its esoteric and macabrely salacious trailer. With a demo also featured in HPS1’s 2021 demo disc, this atmospheric self-reflection leaves an evocatively rusty mark. It certainly left an imprint on my squishy brain.
Industrial ghosts that remain in the innards of an abandoned factory lure you with their horrific cacophony of clanking metal, a putrid siren-shell. Enough to melt your spine into ouroboros itself. Transform husks of yourself across corroded cogs and tainted rebar. Pull apart the sword-sewn pieces of the body that once was. Is metamorphosis what you’ve truly been looking for?
You can see more of the game on its itch.io page here.
EEK3 was brimming to its skullcap with chilling creativity and eerie excitement. Each trailer was packed with radical uniqueness that’ll keep us up at night, waiting for more. You can also check out our efforts to try and purchase a haunted video game console to play these games on.
