Editorials
How a Love of Horror Shapes Comedic Roguelike ‘Phantom Halls’ Into a Celebration of the Genre
Before you even know what Phantom Halls is about, it manages to catch your attention with a mere glance at it. The papercraft visual style is certainly a unique selling point for this horror-comedy roguelike. When you delve deeper than that, however, there’s a clear ardor for the horror genre.
You’re tasked with controlling a squad of characters inside a procedurally-generated 2D mansion, and naturally, this is no walking tour. There’s something strange going on here, and your squad must take on a variety of ghouls n’ ghosts as they move around the creaking halls. There are different missions for each character and they lean into the goofier side of horror
You control your entire squad as one entity, using different keys for each of their actions. There’s gunplay, but the more satisfying side to combat is the crunchy melee that allows for some fine brain-bashing. The weapon and item drops are randomized too, so plenty of scope for experimentation in your skull-smashing-related activities.
Phantom Halls looks suitably spooky, as you guide your intrepid squad of ghoul killers through dimly-lit areas, relying heavily on a flashlight to spot the evil that lurks in the shadows, but there are many homages to horror. Not just its heroes, villains, and trendsetters, but also its faults and tropes too. Phantom Halls manages to be a celebration of the silly, the spooky, and the scary sides of the genre.
Developer Incedium is hardly shy about these influences. The game’s creative director (and founder of Incedium) Llexi Leon is clear about where Phantom Halls‘ genesis lies.
”Phantom Halls really draws on all forms of B-movie horror and celebrates the visceral gore and outlandish creatures of the genre in a comical way, whilst also tipping our hat to the narrative staples of the genre and building on those concepts to create unique gameplay mechanics and character abilities,” Leon told Bloody Disgusting.
It’s hard to deny that. Phantom Halls feels like a game made by horror fans who are able to poke fun at the shortcomings and narrative crutches of the genre whilst displaying genuine affection for it.
”The whole game was built around horror movie tropes as the primary objectives. I think the often ridiculous yet comfortingly familiar scenarios for the dozens of missions will give players a good laugh if they’ve spent as much time watching horror and listening to heavy metal as we have.”
Notably, this adoration played a big part in Incedium securing a rather lucrative license for a film that is a firm favorite of the development team as a whole, and a splendid fit for the haunted house comedy horror of Phantom Halls, Evil Dead 2.
”We’re all huge Evil Dead fans and so the officially sanctioned Ash content – drawing from our collective favourite, Evil Dead 2 – is very prominent in the game.” Says Leon.
Yes, Ash himself is a downloadable character for Phantom Halls, made up in the game’s delightful papercraft form. There’s also Evil Dead-themed missions, including a battle against Evil Ash, and the iconic cabin also joins the party. The Sam Raimi classic’s inclusion is a beacon of Incedium’s love for comedic horror in particular, but while the focus is on B-Movies and low-budget classics, the focus isn’t narrowed to just that, as Leon goes on to explain.
”There’s many far more subtle nods and references to the genre throughout, whether it’s the clowns, zombies, killer dolls, or risen gargoyles. There’s a host of undead monsters to face in the mansion that draws inspiration from iconic movies and staples of horror literature like The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, Frankenstein, and Dracula, all reimagined through our satirical papercraft lens.”
Leon also cites the King of the B-Movie himself, Roger Corman, as an inspiration. So much so that his name pops up a fair bit in Phantom Halls. ”There’s a few tributes to Roger Corman in the game world of Phantom Halls – as he’s arguably the godfather of the B-movie, we had to bring him into the mix, with Corman Valley High being the school where the kids ‘occult studies club’ is formed, and the Corman Valley Crabs being referenced as the cheerleaders squad – a nod to ‘Attack of the Crab Monsters’ for the real B-movie buffs out there!”
Phantom Halls has steadily been growing since its Early Access launch last year into the horror love-in you see today and the future could well be brighter still, with bucketloads of potential for themed tie-in content and plain expansion into more homages. It’s one thing to make a good horror game that nods to its influences, but to make one that’s funny as well is an admirable feat.
Phantom Halls is out now on Steam Early Access and has its full release on October 31st.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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