Video Games
Experience Surreal Dread With ‘Chronotopophobia’
Chronotopophobia may not be a real word, but that’s what indie dev Hideous Cave Goblin is calling their game. Available on itch.io, the word means “fear over time and place”, which makes sense once you delve into this minimalist browser game.
Chronotopophobia is a minimalist title with monochromatic backgrounds and minimalist pixel art. But it’s detailed enough that you can make out what’s there. To compliment this, the audio fills in the visual gaps.
It all feeds into this surreal feeling you get while playing. It’s very David Lynch with a touch of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. The story has your character being confronted with an omnipotent narrator, who chastises you for wasting time on things like social media, when you could be doing something more “productive”. Your goal, it seems, is to get out of this time-space of dread.
The game is about a half-hour long, but definitely something to check out if you did surreal horror.
Video Games
Critical Reflex Debuts ‘Grobnopolis | Last Days’ Gameplay Trailer, ‘Sated’ Playtest Signups [Video]
Critical Reflex has followed up the April reveal of Bananadevjeff’s Grobnopolis | Last Days with a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming narrative horror adventure, as well as announcing signups for the first playtest for their recently-announced roguelike horror cooking game, SATED.
For those who missed it, Grobnopolis | Last Days continues and expands the story of Bananadevjeff’s itch.io hit Funeralopolis, and casts players as an apartment block caretaker in 1983 Huta-Grobno. You find fragile comfort in keeping things running smoothly while the city curdles into panic. When the locals begin to whisper of a thick “Soup” overtaking the streets and the local ecclesiastical order tightens its grip on your community, you must piece together what’s happening through newspapers, uneasy conversations, and a homemade radio. Though you may find in this slow, oppressive atmospheric horror experience that curiosity is both compass and curse.
Meanwhile, SATED is a cooking roguelike from developer Forest Reges, where you descend into a dripping megastructure to cook increasingly grotesque delicacies for ever-hungrier monsters. Your only tool is a sentient, cursed fridge that works like a deranged slot machine. Spin for twitching ingredients, bet everything and pray the customer leaves satisfied…or become the meal yourself.
As mentioned, you can sign up for the upcoming playtest via the official Steam page. Just click the “Request Access” button and wait.