Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Would David Fincher’s Se7en be any better if the revelation at the end was that the box contained a pile of indie games for almost no money at all? It would certainly be less psychologically damaging to Brad Pitt to discover the Lovecraft inspired platformer Eversion in there instead of (a box of fluffy kittens for sale – spoiler ed). And while he lived happily ever after he could think back to that lovely day when he and Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey all hung out in a dusty field playing indie games. That’s the power of cheap indie games, people: they make you forget someone killed loads of people in really horrible ways.
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If you ask me, we’re in a new golden age for horror games. Between heavy hitters like Dead Space and less costly efforts like Lone Survivor, Amnesia, Slender, and Asylum, we’ve got enough things going bump in the night that I’m surprised they haven’t stepped on each others’ toes and ended up in some cringe-worthy slapstick shenanigans yet. But that’s sort of the problem, as well: it’s just the same thematic beats, time and time again. Haunted houses, dark rooms, spooky forests, the undead, etc. But as human beings, we fear the unknown. We fear difference. Weird shit. So then, who better to design a truly bizarre take on horror than the folks who brought us the equally-bizarre-but-for-entirely-different reasons Vidiot Game? And thus, The 4th Wall was born. This game is basically brilliant. After the break, I will tell you why.

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