The Itch.io Chronicles - Haunted PS1: Part 1

To preface this, I’m a massive coward. Horror isn’t something I’m particularly good at dealing with, but by that same token, when it’s done right, horror is one of my favourite genres. When this is combined with one of my favourite consoles, the PlayStation, we get the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc; a compilation of short demos all stylised around PlayStation games. In this series, I’ll be going through all of the demos from the three demo discs, and discussing my thoughts and feelings about them. Starting with the original, Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020 was released on Itch.io with 17 demos.

Sauna 2000

 Sauna 2000 is… odd. It’s a game which absolutely revels in the weird and the uncertain. Described in-game as “Sauna Warming Simulator. Feel Finland. Finland Feels You.” At first glance, it’s exactly as described: the player character is simply a Finnish man who wants to warm his sauna before sunset. The visuals are impressive, combining the traditional PlayStation low-poly style with some incredibly trippy VHS-themed visuals. The game doesn’t try to be blatantly terrifying, instead opting to be strange and unsettling through

the use of sound design and some minor fourth wall-breaking interactions towards the end. Sauna 2000 was a fantastic little game and a perfect introduction to this compilation.

Killer Bees

Killer Bees is up next and was disappointing... The description states: “The found footage from the “Killer Bees” case has been leaked online. You can witness what the officials hid for all these years. Strictly 18+”. This title was absolutely incredible at building up tension… and absolutely awful at any actual payoff. The gameplay follows a mysterious character exploring a seemingly abandoned building, occasionally being attacked by swarms of bees, which were the only enemy I faced during my time with this game, minimising my fear. Certain pathways to progression were also locked behind killing waves of bees, which just seemed to spawn inside me, and no defensive options led to me feeling like I couldn’t avoid damage.

Neko Yume

Neko Yume…

I just needed to take a moment. Neko Yume is one of the strangest games I have ever had my hands on. Described as “Neko Yume is an ambient exploration game in which you traverse a cat-filled dream world”. This title quite obviously takes heavy inspiration from LSD: Dream Emulator, a cult classic PlayStation title where the player wanders around a very strange dream world. It’s hard to really say anything about these two games, the similarities are obvious but as for actual content, I can’t notice any distinct themes or real information. Definitely a title worth checking out, but one of the stranger games I’ve played as of late.

Until Biglight

Until Biglight was definitely one of the more interesting titles of this first batch, but also one of the shorter ones. Following a mouse lacking the “chedda” to pay the rent, our protagonist eventually gets wrapped up in a society-wide controversy. Until Biglight is described as “A narrative adventure about mice, fat cats and the never-ending quest for chedda”. The full version was sadly cancelled, so not much more can really be said, especially considering the demo had only a small amount of content to establish the story.

So far, I’ve had a great experience with these games, a nice amount of variety. While Killer Bees was a weaker entry, it was still quite the spooky experience early on. I will be looking at Filthbreed, Erasure, Dread Delusion, and In Somnio in the next part, and hopefully may get past some of my fear.