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Your Guide to the Indie Horror Games of 2015

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We’re in the midst of another golden age of survival horror, folks. The proof doesn’t just lie with the sheer number of horror games that are on the way, but also in the overall quality of the games being released. I’ve spent more time playing indie games in 2014 than I ever have before, because indie devs finally have easy access to the tools and platforms, like Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight, that make it easier than ever to make games and find an audience for them.

As great as this year has been for fans of the horror genre, I have the feeling it will pale in comparison to what’s in store for us in 2015. We’ve already covered the AAA releases that are on the way, and today we’re going to dive into the indies.

Ashen Rift (PC)

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After a brief hiatus, Ashen Rift has returned to Kickstarter in the hopes of raising enough money to finish what looks like an incredibly promising horror game. Set in a post-apocalyptic world that’s been overrun by monsters, the game follows a man and his dog as they struggle to survive.

Asylum (PC)

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I can’t wait until Asylum finally arrives and I’m able to take it off all of these “upcoming games” lists. Its been in development for a long time, but recent looks at the current state of the game lead me to believe it isn’t that far off. It’s an ambitious title and one of the few adventure games we have to look forward to right now. I have the feeling the wait will be well worth it.

Caffeine (PC, PS4)

As intrigued as I am by the game’s plot, which follows a child who finds himself trapped on a synthetic caffeine mining vessel with some sort of dark presence, I’m not convinced Caffeine will see the light of day. Its developer has tried and failed to crowdfund it three separate times now, leaving its fate in the air for now. It’s too bad, because this game is gorgeous.

The Flock (PC)

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Asymmetrical multiplayer has become an increasingly prevalent feature, especially in horror games. Evolve, Damned, Last Year and The Flock may be signs that this kind of multiplayer has a future in horror, where classic competitive modes have failed (Dead Space 2, Condemned 2: Bloodshot). The Flock revolves around a war between Carriers of light and the Flock, which hunt them. The world already has me hooked, it’s up to the developer to make sure the game is balanced and, even more importantly, fun.

Fran Bow (PC)

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Fran Bow is another horror point-and-click adventure game, like Asylum, though that’s where the similarities end. It has a quirky charm about it that I find really enticing, especially when the game reveals its darker side through the pills young Fran takes. Doing so gives her a temporary look at a gruesome version of the world around her. Switching between the two worlds is fun, but it’ll also be necessary if you’re going to solve its puzzles.

Grave (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Grave, a surreal horror game that, unless I’m mistaken, could be the first of its kind. This is a very strange horror game that’s still very much an enigma to me even after playing both of its demos. Light and dark play an important role in the gameplay, as light is your only weapon against the creatures who inhabit its eerie world.

The Hum (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

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Aliens freak a lot of people out, yet for some reason, horror game developers haven’t exploited that universal fear that all humans have of being abducted in the middle of the night for a quick probing session. The Hum is the first game to try and make aliens scary, and judging by the footage we’ve seen of it so far, they’re on the right track.

Kholat (PC)

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Based on the mysterious disappearances of nine hikers at the base of the base of Siberia’s “Death Mountain” in 1959, Kholat wants to turn a story that’s baffled scientists and unnerved the rest of us into a horror game. It’s a tragic story, but it also happens to be perfect for a video game inspired by it. The circumstanced in which those hikers were found were admittedly horrific, and since their recovery more than half a century ago folks far smarter than I have tried really hard to come up with answers. Perhaps Kholat will provide them.

Last Year (PC)

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The latest addition to the burgeoning sect of asymmetrical multiplayer games is something called Last Year. It pits a group of teens against a masked murderer. The teens must work together to survive, but that won’t be easy when the killer can come from anywhere. I’ve already decided I’m going to be Nick, the nerd, when I play this game. Then I’ll get ridiculously good at the game, impressing all of nerd kind enough that they crown me the Nerd King. But before I can realize that dream, the game needs to raise some money first.

Lethe (PC)

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Lethe is a physics puzzle-heavy first person horror game that follows Robert Dawn, a journalist on a mission to find the truth. His search takes him to an isolated island, and before he can use his journalist powers to uncover its dark secrets, he gets infected by a substance that gifts his hand with psychokinetic powers. It’s an attractive game, and one I’d very much like to get my hands on.

Monstrum (PC)

Like Grave, I’ve already spent a fair amount of time with Monstrum and I’m happy to say I’m nothing but impressed. Massive ships with labyrinthine interiors ruin what little sense of direction I possess, and because the locations of precious items are different every time you play, there’s a decent replay factor here as well as a healthy amount of scares.

Narcosis (PC)

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From a ship lost at sea, we plunge to the murky depths of the ocean below. I still don’t have a clue as to what it is that poses a threat to the diver in Narcosis, you know, other than the definite possibility that Jaws will eat you. That’s assuming asphyxiation doesn’t claim you first when your limited supply of oxygen runs out. I’m sure there’s a more spine-tingling horror waiting for us in this game, but for now, I’ll worry about Jaws.

Outlast 2 (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

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So the talented folks at Red Barrels are working on a sequel to Outlast. I’m not sure what else I can say about it, other than maybe we should all consider saving up for a Depends run once we know when to expect it.

Paranormal: The Town (PC)

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Paranormal: The Town has been awfully quiet lately, but I imagine that’s because the developer behind it is busy working on remaking the original. If you haven’t played Paranormal yet, it’s basically Paranormal Activity: The Game, only it takes way less time for things to get interesting. The Town will take the randomized haunts that made the first to memorable out of the confined quarters of an artist’s apartment and bring them to a small town.

Quadrant (PC)

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In Quadrant, we get to step into the boots of a member of a bio-hazardous waste removal crew that’s been sent into a NASA lab that’s been quarantined when a mysterious substance — possibly alien! — leaks out. Because it’s a horror game, your coworkers get murdered, likely in excruciating ways, by what looks like a giant spider. I say kill it with fire and demand your hazard pay.

ROAM (PC)

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I love me some State of Decay, but it never gave me all of the tools I wanted in a game like that. I want to build bases, fortify them, gather resources to survive, and kick heaps of rotten zombie ass in the process. ROAM is a surprisingly ambitious survival game that offers exactly that, with an emphasis on building kickass anti-zombie fortresses. I’m all in.

Routine (PC)

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I’m never been big into roguelike games, mostly because I’m terrible at them, but I’ll be making an exception for Routine. Ever since we were given our first glimpse of it two years ago, I’ve been practically foaming at the mouth to get my hands on it. It looks terrifying, and it’s also the type of game that doesn’t waste time holding your hand. It won’t be easy surviving against whatever horrors are lurking on that abandoned lunar base, but if Dark Souls has taught me anything, it’s that a difficult game only makes the experience more rewarding.

Scorn (PC)

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Like so many before it, Scorn is a horror game that’s currently looking to find success on Kickstarter. It’s a horror adventure game that takes place in a “nightmarish universe” with a narrative that’s been made to give players the freedom to “give their own interpretation of the events, themes and their role in this universe through exploration and interaction with the game world.”

Stasis (PC)

If Dead Space experimented with a 2D style, it’d look something like Stasis. This game doesn’t just want to deliver an exciting story, it also has the lofty goal of blending AAA graphics with classic, point and click gameplay. It’s also worth noting that Stasis is being scored by Fallout series composer Mark Morgan, so you can be sure it’ll sound great.

Summer Camp (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

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It took awhile to happen, but the slasher genre that so many of us have enjoyed in movies is finally gaining traction in video games. This year has seen the reveals of four slasher games — Last Year, Until Dawn, Summer Camp and Splatter Camp — and there’s a good chance we’ll see most, or possibly even all, of these games release in 2015. We don’t know much about this game yet, but the title alone should offer enough of a hint as to what Summer Camp will be about. Horny teens, a masked killer, fun in the sun cut tragically short by murder and mayhem, etc.

Splatter Camp (PC)

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From the maker of Babysitter Bloodbath (formerly Halloween) comes another Friday the 13th inspired horror game about teens meeting an early end at the hands of a bad, bad man. If it’s anything like the developer’s past work, expect an awesome old school VHS aesthetic.

U55 – End of the Line (PC)

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Subways are inherently creepy places, and I’m not just saying that because of the rat people who call those tunnels their home. U55 – End of the Line wants to remind us of this fact by cranking up the scare factor to 11 as it follows some poor soul who somehow managed to find themselves lost, alone and hunted in the underground.

YTSub

Gamer, writer, terrible dancer, longtime toast enthusiast. Legend has it Adam was born with a controller in one hand and the Kraken's left eye in the other. Legends are often wrong.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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