Now that we’re far enough from the 32-bit console era (Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn), there’s now an appreciation to its style of muddied, pixelated, low-poly graphics. And how it adds quite the ambience for a horror game.
One-person Indie developer Headware Games is doing just that with its latest game, Chasing Static. As revealed at the Game Dev Direct last weekend, the game is bringing its unapologetically PS1-style horror game to modern consoles and PC.
In Chasing Static, you play as Chris Selwood, whose travelling through rural Northern Wales after his father’s funeral. A stop to grab a coffee turns bloody and now he has to use strange technology to listen to signals, explore a now-abandoned town and uncover a decade-long government conspiracy.
“The PlayStation era had so many great horror games that made an impact on me and gave me nightmares for years,” said Nathan Hamley, Founder, Headware Games. “Chasing Static is my attempt to pay homage to those classics and that visual style while scarring a whole new generation with ideas I’ve had percolating for a while.”
These signals not only show you puzzle solutions but also listen in to conversations of the past.
If a first-person horror game with a PS1-style graphics is something intriguing to you, you might want to check it out. From the trailer, there’s no jump scares or gore. But there’s definitely an eerie, creepy atmosphere it has going on.
There’s a limited-time demo of Chasing Static you can try out for free here.
Chasing Static will be out in Q3 2021 for the PS4, PS5, PC (Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Swtch.