Halloween is one of the few yearly holidays that has so many different mediums you can enjoy about it. Sure, you have those cheesy, Hallmark Christmas movies, but there aren’t nearly as many Christmas-themed games as there are horror ones. Well, sometimes the two intersect. This year, I wanted to plow through five indie demos that deserve the spotlight when you decide to open up Steam during Halloween.
KAL
People who have already played the demo for KAL have commended it for being incredibly similar to the gameplay loop within PT, another popular horror demo. The game takes you all the way to 1948 on Reunion Island, and traps you in a time loop that forces you to relive a story of nightmares and suffering. The demo goes through a few gameplay loops, which have you entering different hallways and rooms in the mansion to collect objects and discover aspects of the story that you’re likely not ready to know. Players have also agreed that the game does a great job staying faithful to the lore of Reunion Island.
Side Effects
Side Effects is a gross, turn-based game that sees two test subjects taking random pills and seeing who can last the longest before ingesting the killing pill. With six different pill types to test, you’ll be subjected to rounds of experimentation to see if maybe the odds can shift in your favor. Maybe a mouth clamp or an unknown vaccine is the difference between dying and outliving the patient across from you. The demo gives you a good look at all this gameplay and makes for great replayability.
Shroud of Gloom
I’ve never played another game like Shroud of Gloom. It’s a point-and-click adventure that is illuminated only by the glow of your flickering flashlight. In the demo, you’ll explore a dark mansion and discover hidden secrets and tough puzzles that help you realize that you aren’t alone. In the background of each terrifying click, sounds help amplify the terror, especially since you never really know what is lurking around the next corner. The demo is about 30 minutes long and makes me so incredibly excited for what is to come in the final release.
Saint of Chains
There’s PS2 first-person psychological horror, and then there’s Saint of Chains. In dark, murky rooms with limited lighting, you’ll find horrors beyond your imagination and puzzles with solutions only the occult can solve. The art direction mimics some of the classics like Silent Hill 3 and Cry of Fear, with dark, muddled textures. Best of all, your journey is plagued with silence, as every fight is loud, calling on nearby monsters and enemies to your location. Of course, you can shoot them down, but ammunition is incredibly scarce and, even then, is it really worth it? The demo for Saint of Chains is about an hour long and really helps you experience what is to come.
Final Sentence
Alright, I left Final Sentence for last because it is one of the most diabolical things I have ever seen as a writer. It is quite literally a battle royale typing game where you and a room of other players are forced to be fast and be accurate, lest you want a bullet to the head. Rooms can have anywhere between 40 to 100 players, but you are also able to battle it out against your friends in private rooms. Additionally, you can see the scores of everyone you are with in real-time, letting you see who is failing and who is succeeding, boosting the stakes even higher.
