Gruesome Games - 5 Homebrew Horrors!

 

For this first batch of Gruesome Games this year, I thought I'd look at some of the newer stuff available on old systems from some homebrew developers! There's a lot of great stuff still being put out by passionate people who want to see new releases on their favourite old computers and consoles, and so to make sure, create it with their own brains and fingers!

Here then are just five of the many Homebrew Horrors that are available to scratch that spooky game itch!

Halloweenie (C64) :

In this short, but very, very tricky 'runner' style game by The Reaper UK , you control a girl who has lost all her friends to various enemies, including a very familiar-looking hockey masked slasher, and so she has to try and run as the screen scrolls from right to left and escape to safety!

Various baddies and traps will attempt to stop our heroine's escape, and just one hit from any of them will spell the end of her pony-tailed pixels! So you must scurry around the screen, avoiding knives, cannonballs, bats, axes, spikes....anything the masked menace who is also chasing you can find to try and hault your progress!

Created with help from the Shoot-em-up Construction Kit by Sensible Sotware, and a few others credited on the game's itch.io page, the game has a simple set-up, but a fun one, and although you'll be tearing your hair out every time you die, you'll still find yourself going back for 'one more go' at escape.

 The graphics are cute and suitably spooky, and there's some nice music courtesy of  Andrew 'Merman' Fisher to bop along to as well!

Grab a  C64 emulator, and you can find this game by clicking here which will take you to it's itch.io page, and then you can find out if you have what it takes to successfully escape the killer's clutches before Halloween!

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Hermano (Gameboy) :

Poor Mano is missing his sadly deceased sibling, Nano, and so decides to visit his grave during the Day of the Dead. During this festival, it is said that the gates of the underworld open, allowing friends and relatives to reconnect with their departed loved ones.

Unfortunately, when the aforementioned gates open, they also unleash hundreds of lost souls, demons and monsters into the world, and one such particular nasty decides to snatch Mano just as Nano is about to re-emerge from his soily sleep, and carry him off to hell! Now you, as Nano, will have to search 6 levels of platform madness for keys to open the doors that will lead you back to your brother!

Created by Pat Morita Team for the Gameboy Competition 2023, this is a groovy little platformer that they hope to release as a more fleshed out physical release soon! Nano uses his head to bash the enemies in a style that brought back memories of Decap Attack, although Nano keeps a better grip of his bonce than Chuck did in his game...

The game can be tricky at first as you get to grips with it, but always seems fair, and there are plenty of health pickups to keep you going against the creepily-cute enemies. The bombs they randomly drop will help you clear some of the other obstacles in your way too, so hopefully it won't be too long before Nano gets to finally reconnect with his Hermano!

I've been having fun with this, and it's well worth checking out if you either have a flash cart for use on an actual Gameboy, or if you just want to use an emulator. Either way it can be found by clicking here....

I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with their modified 'finished' version soon too, so remember to keep an eye out for that if you want a proper boxed copy!

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Cursed Demons Of Wallachia (Los demonios de Valaquia) (ZX Spectrum) :

I'm always happy when I get to run around as Van Helsing and in this offering from Furillo Productions inspired by Hammer's Dracula films, that's exactly what we get to do! Old Abraham is determined to rid Drac's castle of all the horrible succubi and demons that roam the halls, and then escape before fang-face himself returns to discover his fiendish friends' fates!

To defeat the vampires, Van Helsing must first find wooden stakes that are littered around the place, and then take them to the coffins that hide the sleeping succubi. Cloves of garlic must also be found to help ward off the enemies, of which there are many, and these demons must also be killed by stomping on their heads as you progress over the platforms. Sometimes when you return to a spot that previously held a stake or a clove of garlic, a crucifix will appear, and this will restore one of your 15 lives.

Once you've collected 18 cloves, killed 18 vampires and defeated the 87 (yes, 87!) demons, you must find the bridge at the other side of the castle and make your escape!

The colourful graphics are great, and while there's a tune on the intro screen, there's only sound effects in the game and these are pretty basic.....although the scream noise that comes from the vampires when you dispose of them is pretty cool! There is one other tune that plays when you finally die though, and that is also accompanied by a visit from your arch nemesis!

It's a whole lot of fun, and if you find it all a bit too easy there's a harder version available in the downloads where you only get five lives! It's also available in English, Spanish and Portugese! Definitely worth checking this out though, and like the others you can find it over at itchi.io by clicking here.....

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Ghostly Manor (MSX 2+) :

Trifle, this game's purple-haired princess protagonist, has only gone and got herself lost in a spooky old haunted mansion! Luckily, all of the spooks in this particular place are all friendly and don't want to actually hurt her, but they can't stop themselves straying into her path as they are confined to their wanderings, and so this scares poor Trifle and makes her lose her bravery. One too many scares and she won't be able to proceed....

She is able to produce blocks with magical power though, and these will help her reach the keys she needs to open the many doors barring her way. she can also crack any blocks she's below with her head too, which also helps. But these fragile blocks can also be broken by the spooks, so she'll have to keep an eye on what they're up to as well!

The cute graphics and jolly music helps this Solomon's Key / Spherical style puzzle-platformer from 9958 Crew feel a bit more upbeat than most spooky games, and once you get into the swing of it you'll be breezing through a lot of the levels, which almost lulls you into a false sense of security until you come up against a slightly trickier one again! It's an enjoyable little game though and is recommended if you're looking for some puzzley fun!

You can find it by clicking here........

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Shadow Hunter (Amstrad CPC) : 

Ghostly pests have invaded the Sandy Candy sweet factory, and so young Jack Slimer, Ghost Hunter extraordinare, has been hired to get rid of the ghastly ghouls! 32 levels over 4 floors must be cleared of the paranormal pests before Jack can call it a day and put his feet up back home with a nice cup-a-soup!

And so you as Jack, must jump around the platforms blasting the ghosts with your totally-not-Egon-Spengler-designed Proton blaster, and once they've all been collected, activate the totally-nothing-at-all-to-do-with-Ghostbusters type trap and proceed to the next area.

Levers must be pulled in some sections to allow access to other platforms, and occasional spinning blades or lava pools will also need to be avoided. There's also a timer ticking down that means you won't want to spend too long thinking about things....

Another fun game with nice graphics and some jolly tunes then, and another one that I recommend you give a go if you're looking for something to play this spooky season! Mananuk have done a great job with this, and you can find it here where you'll also find links to an actual physical copy for your Amstrad collection too!

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So there you go! Five groovy gruesome games to get you started on your Halloween gaming sessions! Keep an eye out for more later in the month, but in the meantime, don't forget to take a look at what the other Cryptkeepers, like Action Figure Barbecue, are up to for the Countdown to Halloween! You can find a list of all the participants by clicking the badge below, which will take you to the Countdown Hub!