One of the great things about horror is there is a never ending well of inspiration to pull from. For a deep cut example, in 2012 there was a brutal low-budget horror film called Found. I won’t get too much into Found in this article, but within Found there was a “lost” video nasty film from 1978 called Headless. The creators of Found actually ended up creating the film Headless in 2015 through Kickstarter funding and actually marketed the film as the newly unearthed video nasty from the late 1970’s.
The reason I bring this up is because it can happen in gaming as well. Old school survival horror games find a new audience all the time. With games like Tormented Souls and Crow Country, developers are not only inspired by old Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. But they even made their games look like PS1 or early PS2 games. Complete with low-res poly graphics, tank controls, and static camera angles.
In July of last year another throwback horror game was released for PC called Heartworm. Developed by Vincent Adinolfi and released by DreadXP. The game has all the old school fixins you’d expect from 1990’s and early 2000’s horror games. The main menu for the game even has the year 1998 on it as if its a lost horror game of that era.
From the press release:
“Sam, fueled by her obsession with the deaths of those close to her, researches ways to contact the dead. She stumbles down a dark internet path, finding a message board with users discussing a house in the mountains that supposedly has some connection to the afterlife. However, no one who has visited the house has ever returned. Left with seemingly no other option as her obsession consumes her, Sam seeks out the house to find out for herself – no matter the consequence.
Heartworm is a game about the memories we keep and the ones we wish we could forget. It marries cinematic fixed camera survival-horror with low-rez, retro 3d graphics, a surreal suburban setting, and a chilling original soundtrack. These features combine with an emotional and psychologically-focused narrative to compose a nostalgia-charged love letter to late 90s genre progenitors Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Dino Crisis.”
Heartworm was just recently released on consoles finally and our friends in DreadXP were kind enough to send us over a key for the Nintendo Switch 2. And we are definitely excited to go into another haunted house that’s dripping with blood. Anything that calls back to PS1 Resident Evil, PS1 Silent Hill and even Fatal Frame we all about here at Truly Disturbing. So, keep an eye out for our review coming soon.
Watch the Trailer
Heartworm is out now for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.