The mark of a great horror movie is in constructing rigidity, then releasing it at simply the proper second, and for simply the correct quantity of time. The Glass Staircase is a vaguely “PS2-styled” chiller from prolific low-fi horror developer Puppet Combo that demonstrates this effectively. While it’s a bit tough across the edges, there’s a really effectively paced, roughly film-length little bit of spooking available. Released over the weekend, I performed by means of it on a darkish and (sadly not) stormy Sunday night time, and gladly suggest it. Below, the trailer, which maybe provides away a bit an excessive amount of.
While most horror games eschew the legal guidelines of movie and dive straight into the motion, your entire first half of The Glass Staircase is devoted to setting the scene. Playing as a sequence of younger girls in some method of early early 1900s mansion turned therapy facility, you’ll wander round, do chores assigned to you by a voice over the tannoy, and construct up your consciousness that one thing could be very flawed. But like all good movie, all you’re allowed to do is wallow within the rigidity, realizing that one thing horrible goes to occur, however you don’t know the place or when.
While the remainder of the game is a bit more action-oriented, there are few obligatory fights, and also you’re typically finest off simply considering in your toes. I gained’t spoil it additional, as half the enjoyable is in seeing what’s lurking across the subsequent nook. I’ll say that it does so much with an clearly shoestring finances. While the environments are detailed, complicated and have some well-picked digicam angles (you’ll be able to select whether or not or to not use ‘tank’ controls), the character fashions are easy and have few animations. As with many elderly horror classics, it’s what’s in your individual head that’s the scary half.
While Puppet Combo payments the game as PS2-style, I couldn’t assist however really feel that the game is extra within the vein of unique previous DOS-era Alone In The Dark, or maybe extra on par with early PS1 games in its type. If you don’t just like the grainy look and chunky pixels, there’s some recourse – a current replace consists of an ‘HD remaster’ mode, which clears up all of the intentional post-processing grunge. There’s additionally a built-in cheat mode to skip elements in order for you. See the update page here for particulars.
The Glass Staircase is out now on Itch for $5.95. You can discover Puppet Combo’s different games, with titles like “The Power Drill Massacre” and “Babysitter Bloodbath” on their official page.
