It’s in Spanish. It succeeded in making me nervous and actually fearing for my PC’s life, by judicious use of:
Good graphics
Good and effective sound effects
Really well designed realtime effects, like a proximity sensor in the status bar and the Xenoform moving in real-time
Some “unsafe” rooms
Sensible geography
And most important of all:
A complete lack of jumpscares, coupled with you always having the chance to save yourself at the last minute.
Seriously. I know it’s in Spanish, so not everyone can enjoy it, but it’s well worth playing if you can. It’s not the full-on horror experience of Anchorhead, all alone, or possibly even Babel - but damn, it’s effective! And seriously well done.
That was probably just a braino but I’m amused no one noticed: The Warbler’s Nest is an Inform 7 game, not Twine.
And I also agree that it’s weird to see people call it horror, though I can sorta see why.
Were any IFComp 2015 games horror? Taghairm is the obvious candidate, but I suspect CMG would not consider it horror… I think a case could be made for The Sueño too. And possibly Capsule II?
Also, if I was the host of Ravenous Monsters Horror Webzine (which I’m not) and I interviewed Chandler Groover (which I didn’t, but the webzine did), and he said ‘Well, I don’t consider my game to be horror,’ (that’s not what he said) – I would have immediately screamed ‘GET OFF MY INTERNET’ and thrown Chandler Groover out of Ravenous Monsters Horror Webzine.
With The Sueno, it’s very much in Silent Hill-like territory in the second half, which easily qualifies it as horror. In the video store (RIP) it would be in thriller / horror.
Darkiss is horror but it’s not frightening. It’s very self-aware and over the top. Brain Guzzlers is a parody of B-movie horror (which is already a parody of itself).
Heh. I have difficulties calling Darkiss horror, although all the trappings are certainly there. “Light Horror”, anyone? “Pulp Horror”? Garçon, we need new labels over here!
