* (Halloween countdown post #9)
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Mouthwashing (Steam)
‘If you want a game that’s so disturbing, that lets horror stew inside of you instead of trying to jumpscare you every five minutes— might I recommend Mouthwashing.’
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Amnesia: The Bunker (Steam)
‘I just started Amnesia: The Bunker recently and I can’t. The tension is too much. I haven’t even seen the monster yet, but the way they build fear is crazy. The resource managing just adds to it, too. I’m terrified of my generator running out of gas. It did once and I started hearing extremely strange sounds and I felt like I was gonna pass out.’
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Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (Playstation 3)
‘I was a fan of survival horror since I was 10 years old, but never got to play Fatal Frame until last week, when my dad’s cousin bought it on PSN. It was Fatal Frame 2 and it still is the scariest experience any work of art ever gave me.’
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The Mortuary Assistant (Playstation 5)
‘A lot of the scares in the game are very subtle with you just barely catching a glimpse of a shadowy silhouette or vaguely humanoid figure staring at you out of the corner of your eye. Moreover, the game is scary on a psychological level too with there being plenty of horrifying moments that involve the protagonist’s past and family members being distorted in truly unsettling ways. It is important to mention that the chance of many of these scares occurring is completely random which means that the game can consistently find new ways to scare you on repeat playthroughs as you try to unlock the many different endings.’
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At Dead Of Night (Steam)
‘Maya must escape a remote hotel run by a psychopath called Jimmy Hall by communicating with the ghosts of Jimmy’s victims, who materialise around the hotel and gradually reveal their story.’
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Visage (Xbox)
‘Visage drapes over you like some ghastly blanket, smothering you with unsettling ambiance and high-quality scares. Visage messed me up.’
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Solipsis (Steam)
‘I saw XXXXXXX appear for just a second, right after you XXXXXXX. I watched someone else’s playthrough and they didn’t encounter this. Also haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else.’
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Imscared (Steam)
‘Imscared is an indie meta horror game created by Ivan Zanotti’s MyMadnessWorks. To complete the game, the player finds themself having to outwit “White Face” and “HER,” beings with the ability to manipulate the player’s computer, like creating files or even crashing the game.’
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Shipwrecked 64 (Nintendo 64/Steam)
‘It’s a bit of a slow burn, but Shipwrecked 64 is definitely the scariest game I’ve played. It really takes its time, hours of “something feels off,” and waiting for the shoe to drop, except it doesn’t. Over and over again, the tension keeps ratcheting up until said shoe finally does drop, and FUCK. I legit jumped out of the chair.’
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Faint Call (Steam)
‘This is one of the most intense jumpscare games ive ever watched…literally almost threw my phone like 3 times!’
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Rule of Rose (Playstation 2)
‘Rule of Rose is a game with a reputation that precedes it. After unfair slander in the media, the game caused a moral panic across Europe, even going so far as being discussed in the European Parliament – all for content that isn’t even in the game.’
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Outlast 2 (Playstation 4)
‘The fact that you’re stranded in the desert and everyone is culty and Marta scares the ever living fuck out of me. But her music is probably my all time favourite. It just makes my hair stand on end. There was also a part in this game that scared me so bad I had to pause it and take a breather because it was just so unexpected lol.’
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Those Who Remain (Steam)
‘Those Who Remain is the scariest horror game I’ve played. Super disturbing and also has giant spiders that are… EJEJDJDKDHCJDKDALSHELADBEL so…. Also has a bunch of chase scenes and creepy ladies that look like the girl from the ring with bones snapping.’
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MADiSON (Playstation 5)
‘What would you do if you woke up locked in a dark room, with your hands covered in blood? Play as Luca, and endure the brute torture of MADiSON, a demon that has forced him to continue a gory ritual started decades ago, making him commit abominable acts.’
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Phasmophobia (Playstation 5)
‘Creeping my way through a dark estate having light bulbs explode and things thrown at me was spooky. Spending too long in the dark decreases your sanity, making it more likely a ghost will materialise and try to kill you, but you can escape the encounter by finding a hiding place.’
*
p.s. Hey. A friend of mine’s son is very into horror-themed video games. As the post title suggests, I asked him if he would give me a list of the scariest games he’s ever played, and he did, and, with his permission, I’ve turned that into a Halloween post. Ta da. ** jay, Hi, Jay. ‘Practicing Dying’ is really, really good. ‘Lies of P’: I’m off to see if I can find it and take a gander. Thanks! A counteractive very happy belated birthday salute! ‘Very very good’: I’ll take that to the bank. Do you know any of the ‘scary’ games up there? Seems like you might? Love in total return, me. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yeah, sorry to add to your tempting book skyscraper. You should see mine. I assume the designer is being kept away from us to protect his ego. But the poster is apparently finished for better or worse, and we’re going to be given a look at it today. Gulp. The teen experimental film screening was great. So exciting to see filmmakers that young who are very into experimenting wildly with film. Some really good ones, especially a crazy, sort of late Godardian film by a 16 year old boy that ended up deservedly winning the best film prize. It was very inspiring. Same weather here as of this moment. Love having found a film festival in Vienna and having submitted his film with hope in his heart, G. ** Sypha, I thought of you and your possible interest when I put that book in there. I quite liked it. Yes, finally a new book by you! It feels like it’s been many ages! Amazing! Everyone, the masterful fiction writer James Champagne, who goes by Sypha when he’s around here, has exciting news. Listen up and click where appropriate. James/Sypha: ‘my new (short) novel PULP FIN DE SIÈCLE has been published by the new Purple Bearded Uncle imprint as one of their launch titles. It might interest anyone who’s into the whole 19th-century French Decadence scene. This hardcover edition is limited to 75 copies, but is of high quality design’. Yay! ** Bill, The Doten is brilliant and hilarious. From what I saw on the news, it seems that SF did its part quite generously on Saturday. How was being inside it? ** Carsten, You’re a good man, sir. Hey, you never know about publishers’ willingness, but obviously good to feel cautious. The Coup: new to me. I’ll find them and also his film if that’s possible. I utterly agree with you re: where exciting films are most likely to spring from. I should do a post about poet/filmmakers. Instinct and memory tell me that there have been quite a number of them. ** Steeqhen, Oops, but hopefully you’re being uprighted as I type. I too have a great hunger to know as much as I can, and I guess this blog is a result. But I guess I’m pretty selective as a form of self-protection. Hence why I don’t watch television and quickly block out conspiracy theories, and so on. ** Steve, Hi. Weekend was good. Saw a great reading by Camille Roy, saw inspiring experimental films made by teenagers, did a couple of ‘RT’ interviews, ate Indian food. Not bad. Glad you had that great dinner. And you launched! Everyone, Steve’s awesome musical podcast/show has added its latest episode, and here he is with the scoop: ‘Shake the cockroaches off your hands with log xylophones, good songs from bad movies, and the noise of a recording studio! My new “Radio Not Radio” episode is up. This one features Cate Le Bon, Patti Smith, Simona, Infinite Coles, JADE, XG, Mula, PinkPantheress, Raissa, Romeo Poirier, Fieldwork, Tom Skinner, Webber/Morris Big Band, Charles Mingus, Rosa Ensemble, Cerys Hafana, Sirom, Nakibembe Embaire Group, Nala Sinephro, Deustche Wetarbeit, Arvin Dola, Kristin Pilon & Demdike Stare, Gridfailure, Hatis Noit, Nine Inch Nails and uncredited Vietnamese and Balinese musicians.’ A biker! Nice! I’m picturing that, and I’m liking what my mind’s eye creates. The only Williamsburg haunt I found just now with a quick search is The Haunted Mansion Williamsburg Hotel: ‘Step with caution into the house where madness takes place. This haunted house will leave you sleepless for days, but the night will be worth it!’ (Looks a little meh to me). ** darbz (¬ ´ཀ` )¬, And hello to you, my overseas buddy. That sounds so frustrating about the competency test. The wrong people are always in control. I join your friend in urging you to never inject Crack. There is literally no upside to that. The Drums … is that a band? I don’t know them/it obviously. Oh, wait, you hooked me up via YouTube. I’ll go listen it, etc. once I’m a post-p.s. free bird. Thanks, pal. ** _Black_Acrylic, It’s a good one: the Northall. I actually know Soft White Underbelly, but I haven’t looked at it in a while. Thanks for the nudge. ** Hugo, Sure, my pleasure, whatever you want to do. That is a very sad and disturbing story about the 13 yo. You’re right to be devastated by it, but try to learn something from it because, tragically, that’s all you can do now. So terrible. ** HaRpEr //, Phew, I’m glad he’s ok. I had a feeling he would be for some reason. Of course I know what you mean. Are you in a position or proximity to him that you could talk with him and give him support? It might make a real difference. Pilot Press is definitely up there among the best presses extant in my opinion too. I don’t know ‘The Cremator’, but it sounds like something I should be able to find. Thanks a bunch. ** Uday, Kevin had a very distinct voice. He said it was his Long Island accent, but there was much more going on than that. You probably have a quip that can reverse the guy’s possible misinterpretation? I would love a slightly odd post from you, you bet. Thank you for conceiving it. ** Right. You know what you’re in for already, so have at it in your inimitable styles, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hi!!
Did your friend’s son provide the descriptions for the games too? Some of them are so good, haha. Also, “Amnesia: The Bunker” and “The Mortuary Assistant” look really promising!
I’m a bit scared to ask at this point, but… how’s the poster?
Fuck yes, the experimental film event sounds amazing! What was its name? I’d like to look it up.
Ahhhh! My fingers are so, so, so, so ridiculously tightly crossed for the Viennese festival acceptance!! I’m trying (and probably failing) not to get overly excited, but… when will you know? And when’s the festival?
Love craving a pizza from his favorite place, but it’s in Hungary, Od.
Dennis: Oh, I want to read ‘Practicing Dying.’ Hey, remember the time we saw Lena Lovich at the Whisky? Pop Quiz: Name the artist who opened for her! Anyway, Lena Lovich opened for Devo and B-52s at the Bowl on Saturday and I’m still (pleasantly) exhausted… xo jack
I don’t really do video games but after seeing the tastes of this young guy I’m starting to get their appeal. Those Who Remain looks to be of particular interest.
I sprang for yet another Irvine Welsh audiobook from the Trainspotting universe, this time Dead Men’s Trousers with narration again by Tam Dean Burn. I gather that Renton is now an internationally successful DJ agent, which must be its own kind of Hell I suppose. Think I may have to knock this format on the head after this is done. Printed paper ain’t such a bad thing after all, right?
I haven’t played ANY of these (though I have played the first AMNESIA game . . . didn’t even know there WAS a fourth one in the series out), will have to investigate. Funnily enough, yesterday I started a playthrough of SYSTEM SHOCK 2, often considered one of the kings of survival horror games. I think this might be my 5th time playing the game, though the first time I’ve ever played the 25th anniversary edition (which came out earlier this year). Scariest game I ever played (to the extent I couldn’t even bring myself to complete it) is probably SCP: CONTAINMENT BREACH.
Thanks for the shout-out, Dennis. Yeah, publication-wise these last almost six years have been pretty barren, mostly just the odd chapbook and the occasional story in an anthology here and there, to the extent I was wondering if I would EVER have anything of substance released again. I’m hoping the hardcover edition sells out and that maybe it’ll inspire a more general paperback release at some future point. Now, I just need to find publishers for the COMETH DARKNESS (which has been in development hell for years) and PLEASANT TALES II collections. Actually, this French-Decadent thing was originally the opening story to COMETH DARKNESS, but as the years went by I kept adding new material to it, and it got so long that I decided to just remove it and make it a short novel in its own right (also, I decided that having such a long and fairly niche story open up COMETH maybe wasn’t the best idea ha ha).
Hey! Whoa, awesome taste from your friend’s son. Amnesia: the Bunker was so scary, haha. I played it the same way as your acquaintance, with very nervous management of my resources. Mortuary Assistant was awesome too, although more interesting than genuinely frightening. Rule of Rose is top notch too.
Speaking of frightening experiences, I had a pretty great one today. I’ve been pretty lethargic recently because of some anemia I’m recovering from, but I sort of stupidly tried to climb a huge touristic belltower near my house. I got to the top pretty much without any symptoms, but at the top I almost slipped over the side from a sudden attack of light-headedness. Super scary, but kind of exciting in a roller-coastery way.
Anyway, thanks for the belated birthday wishes. I’ll carry them with me for the next 360-ish days, until I have use of them. Hope your festival acceptance went as it should, see ya!
Re. sending my new homeless pal to the Buddhists: well, I genuinely believe in spiritual healing & I’m living proof that it works. It’s what helped me beat both depression & addiction. What saved my life were the teachings of various pagan traditions, but Buddhism was certainly in the mix—especially the Tibetan branch, which never shed its shamanic roots.
Mentioning The Coup to you coupled with the No Kings events made me listen to them again over the weekend & they’re really sharp a lot of the time. And as Steve mentioned, Boots Riley tricking Amazon into paying for his series is one hell of a coup in & of itself.
Poet-filmmakers: off the top of my head I can think of Pasolini, Kiarostami, Cocteau. I’m sure there’s more. The most poetic filmmakers in my eyes never wrote any poetry, at least to my knowledge: Souleymane Cissé, Bruce Baillie, Claire Denis. Jarmusch has, but according to him it’s not very good (which is why he hired Ron Padgett for “Paterson”). I did make some notes for a film project & even wrote out some scenes, but I’ve honestly lost the drive for it. Maybe it’ll come back to me, but right now it’s not something I’m passionate about.
Before I forget: did you hear back from your BlazeVox author friend?
Hey Dennis!
Mouthwashing! I’d have to join your friend’s son in highly recommending that game, the storytelling was completely top notch, and I was invested the whole way through. I’m curious, have you ever worked on any video games, as far as story/writing goes? If not, that’d be really cool to see happen, somehow, haha. I’d really like to try to get to Twin Cities Fear Fest, based out of the Mall Of America, but I doubt it will happen this year. I was very skeptical of a mall-based haunt, but everyone I know who’s been has had nothing but good things to say about it. Looks cool.
Not much new for me. My neighbors set up a really cool DIY yard haunt with several different areas and “rooms”, which def made me think of Room Temperature. I saw my first ever Swans concert in Omaha a few weeks back. I dragged my mom to that show and introduced her to Michael Gira afterwards, who was very sweet. I was in awe that he can still deliver an intense 2.5 hour performance at his age. Apparently they’ll be taking a more minimal, stripped down approach to their songs after this tour is over. They get mentioned in your book Closer, have you ever gotten the chance to see them live?
Enjoying your Halloween series! Take care.
Also, while we’re on the subject of horror games, I have to recommend Still Wakes The Deep. It’s basically John Carpenter’s The Thing on a North Sea oil rig, but the creature design/body horror is pretty fantastic for anyone who’s into that.
Amazingggg list. I’ll really have to check some of these out. It’s so awesome that he’s playing horror games at 13, I never would’ve mustered the courage. And, Amnesia The Bunker really is so scary. So is the first Amnesia, too, wonder if he’s played that.
Anyways, hi, how are you doing? How was (is?) the tour?
I met Kyler James in the park the other week and we ended up talking about you because you blurbed his book. He was doing tarot readings and the price was truly competitive. He basically told me that my life was going to get insanely good, so that was nice too. Was kind of funny to just suddenly, almost on accident, know the same guy. I don’t know, not that crazy of a coincidence since he’s out there a lot, but it is one, so that’s cool.
I thought I’d share this publication I’m a little involved in cause maybe you’d be interested, it’s a bunch of people but one of them is Nora Wright, who I guess you know. It’s called sentenced, I’ll post the link. Anyways, it’s fun to work on! We were saying we were Muu Muu House and we’re still saying Tao Lin is our editor in chief. https://sentencedlit.com/index.html
Anyways, again, how are you?
Hey there Dennis! Convenient time to catch up given the topic of today’s post. I don’t think I’ve heard too much about Visage except that it was talked about in “lets player” circles a couple of years back. I’ll have to keep it in mind! It was lovely to see Rule of Rose on the list. By great surprise I was able to secure a physical copy of the game last year. It was a strange occurrence. Supposedly there were a couple of abandoned Italian copies found in a storage facility. They were put up and soon authenticated. I have an interest in obtaining PS2 horror titles physically when I can, so it was a treat to be able to experience that game on my console. It’s a beautiful story. The specifics of how it play with the form of a fairy tale have resonated with some thoughts I’ve had about writing something along a similar line. It’s an idea that’s floated in my head for a while. Just haven’t explored it too deeply. Imscared is a game that I was trying to explain to someone recently. I forgot the specifics, but I remember we were talking about our concerns with how certain games don’t push themselves to actively deconstruct their experience. Think of something like Eternal Darkness. I’m quite drawn to those sorts of games.
I’m now in my week off from my studies! Between this time, we’re encouraged to keep up with independent reading and writing. Something will come of it so when it does, I’ll be sure to share something with you here.
Lately I’ve been spending more time within my online circles. I’m excited by the prospect of getting out of my town for the new year. Hugo wants to organise something local to him, so it may be that I see Belgium for the first time right as the year closes out. I’m curious as to who will end up joining in on this changes. Fluctuations have occurred across my friend groups, so it’s nice to see how well tied things are currently. I mentioned I had a particularly frustrating time during the summer, but I feel grounded in contrast to that time. If things were ideal in my mind, I would to meet as many of my long-distance acquaintances as possible. There’s a kind of encouragement I feel knowing that they do live far away. The space present there motivates me to want to cross those bridges. Perhaps we’ll see what will come in the future.
Take care! Look forward to commenting here again on a regular basis : )
*Poof*LOL this post is my favorite who is allowing this child to play these! LOL he’s gonna be so cool when all of this is retro media! Good parents! Anyways omfg was school canceled for awhile and WHat drugs!? All my teachers were nice and just treated me like an adult and passively enforced my arrogance haha but no drugs and nothing extreme or interesting happened during any of my schooling! So that teacher does sound cool RIP. The narrative is soooooo in motion and one page was pre written by me in the past it’s like the most important page in the book the rest is trash still! But anyways I was lucky enough oh ive mentioned him before Kevin me and camp boy all over each other gay boys blah. Anyways it was a pure really romantic and natural sort of love so quite literally leaving him I the dark due to my natural avoidance leaning nature at the time it wasn’t till reading that page I mentioned and saying to the ether and Kevin and myself for what had to transpire to teach me some quantum lesson thats been kicking at my ego for decades. Long story short open honesty mushy gushy lovey lovey sorta messy sometimes polished lethal smarts and always sexy is the way forward. Also writing I can anyone or anything like I wrote it and write myself into or out of any problem in my head and I’m team me forever so its just up forever haha. Ahhh can you see how I really am now I think I’m shining what color would the fire be…ttylxoxobrb
Preparing for my colonoscopy tomorrow, I’m in the midst of chugging water after downing my first bottle of laxative. (I have to drink the second bottle in a few hours.) This evening is not gonna be fun.
I’ll google that haunt in Williamsburg.
On the street last year, someone yelled out that I look like Brian Dennehy, so the costume options for fat, bearded middle-aged men are limited.