Before listening to this week’s episode covering Paratopic, be sure to check out last month’s edition of The Inventory: Safe Room’s Review show!

I will always cherish our (now) weekly segment Horror Bytes for broadening my horror palette. The experimental nature of bite-sized slices of horror allows for truly original experiences within the horror space. Abstract concepts, bizarre aesthetics, and even a few unique scares along the way have made me seek out games that I maybe wouldn’t have just a few years prior. 

Horror Bytes has also helped me to change my stance on shorter games. Previously, I could get on a board with a game that was a few hours long (Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch), but an experience that was a mere 40 minutes would have been a much tougher sell for me. And yet, finally playing Arbitrary Metric’s Paratopic further reinforced my feeling that an experience is just that, an experience, regardless of its length. 

In less time than a TV show episode,  Paratopic can immerse the player into not one, not two, but three storylines intertwined within a nightmarish world engulfed in mystery. And in this week’s episode, Neil and I do our best to unpack Paratopic’s unique approach to anthology storytelling, its nightmarish world building, and just how unimportant the length of a game is to provide a memorable experience. – Jay Krieger

Also, this week’s Horror Bytes sees us play two entries from Ludum Dare 53, the indie game jam event. This edition’s keyword was ‘delivery’ and we picked two entirely different games in FMV/Flash hybrid DE/LIVER and the postapocalyptic Drone Delivery Despair. – Neil Bolt

Safe Room is a horror video game discussion podcast with new episodes every Monday (and Horror Bytes episodes on Thursday) on iTunes/Apple, Sticher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Linktree for additional streaming services. 

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Safe Room | Neil | Jay