Before diving into this week’s horrifying new episode, be sure to check out last week’s indie horror spotlight Horror Bytes!
Break out your favorite hoodie and warm pumpkin beverage because the spooky season is upon us! As the sun continually sets earlier and earlier, that urge to toss responsibilities to the wayside in favor of playing horror games intensifies. But as we’re just on the cusp of a hectic season of notable releases, it can be challenging to know where exactly to begin.
Answering that call is the latest hellish lo-fi incarnation from the mind of Jordan King and Torture Star Video, Night at the Gates of Hell. A combat-focused love letter to survival horror with the immaculate vibes of Lucio Fulci and Italian horror.
You play as Dave, a quiet man whose wife has died, who decides to venture out of his apartment building to face hordes of the undead in search of survivors.
What immediately distinguishes Night at the Gates of Hell from the endless hordes of zombie games is its particular brand of humor, horror, and world which oozes with dreamlike uncertainty. One minute you’re encountering an eclectic mix of oddball survivors, and the next, you’re being chased by a mob of zombie ballerina children.
It’s gleefully devilish stuff that manages to craft genuine tension and jump-out-of-your-seat moments, dismissing any claims that games utilizing a lo-fi PSX aesthetic can’t be as terrifying as their AAA counterparts.
So for this week’s episode, Neil and I dig further into the game’s cinema influence, balancing a humorous tone with terror and tension, as well as what the game gets so very right about classic survival horror. – Jay Krieger
Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast with new episodes every Monday on
iTunes/Apple, Sticher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Linktree for additional streaming services.
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The post Fulci-Flavored Survival Horror in ‘Night at the Gates of Hell’ [Safe Room Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.