Carnival Massacre is a short but well made survival horror game inspired by titles such as Silent Hill, Alisa, and Heartworm. You play as Harley, who is searching for her missing sister Chloe in an abandoned carnival. It may not be the best game of 2025, but I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to cover it, especially as I worry it might be overlooked by survival horror fans. There have also been some unfounded plagiarism claims, which I address below. I also think Carnival Massacre could be an excellent introduction to the survival horror genre. I often see people ask, “I’m new to survival horror, what game should I start with?” Until now, I have struggled to give a clear answer. Heartworm is a good option, but it differs slightly from classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill because your primary tool is a camera rather than a traditional weapon. If you’d rather see Carnival Massacre in action, watch the video version of this review below! Carnival Massacre also features a camera, but here it is used to stun enemies. This is honestly one of the best avoidance mechanics I have seen in a survival horror game. It feels quite ingenious. There are also a few traditional weapons to use, including a shotgun, handgun, sniper rifle, and flamethrower Combat is not particularly difficult and can often be avoided altogether. There is a stalker enemy that cannot be killed, which adds some tension, but even this enemy is not too hard to evade. The puzzles are reasonably straightforward. You still need to think about them, but they are never so frustrating that they would put a new player off. Overall, there is nothing here that players should find overwhelmingly difficult. If someone does get completely stuck, survival horror may simply not be the genre for them. Before I talk more about the gameplay, I also want to address the plagiarism claims that have been made about the game. Alisa Controversy One of the main and most serious claims about Carnival Massacre is that it supposedly stole assets from Alisa. To be clear, there is no evidence that this happened. Casper Croes himself confirmed this in his Discord group, stating: “Just finished Carnival Massacre, definitely no assets stolen.” He added that “only ideas were somewhat taken over,” referring in particular to the way enemies in Carnival Massacre drop coins which can then be spent on resources or used to save the game. In Alisa, enemies drop tooth wheels which serve a similar purpose. Casper also pointed out that you could argue Resident Evil 4 did this first, with enemies dropping gold. I would also note that the save system is reminiscent of the ink ribbons in the early Resident Evil games. Another claim is that the menus in Carnival Massacre were copied from Alisa. When you place them side by side, the similarities are minimal. The main overlap is in the Alisa shop menu, where red curtains are used. However, red curtains are a common visual motif, and it is not as though Alisa owns the copyright to that idea. If we followed the logic that Carnival Massacre “stole” its red curtains from Alisa, we could just as easily say that Alisa “stole” the framed item displays and font style from Alone in the Dark, which would clearly be unreasonable. Many games share similar menu designs, simply because they draw from the same visual traditions. A related but less serious claim is that Carnival Massacre has been heavily influenced by Alisa. This is true to an extent, but influence is not the same thing as plagiarism. There are countless examples of indie games being openly inspired by earlier titles. In this case, it is simply an indie developer influenced by another indie developer, rather than by a major studio. It is also worth looking at the technical side of the asset theft accusation. Alisa uses pre-rendered backgrounds, which means the 3D assets are not stored in the game files in the same way they would be in a fully 3D game. What you see in-game is an image of the 3D model, rather than the model itself, so these assets cannot simply be ripped out and reused. While 3D character models do exist within the game files, even Casper has said that Carnival Massacre did not copy Alisa. All creative works are influenced by something. Alisa itself was inspired by Alice (1988), the surreal revision of Alice in Wonderland by Jan Švankmajer. Carnival Massacre would not be the game it is today without Alisa, but Alisa would not be what it is without Resident Evil, and Resident Evil owes a great deal to Alone in the Dark (1992). Survival horror continues to evolve because each new game builds on what came before. Demo VS Final Game When I first played the demo of Carnival Massacre my main concern was it would be way too easy to be a true survival horror, ammo was everywhere so there was no real need or reason to avoid the enemes. I was glad to see in the full game the ammo was easily halfed compared to the demo and instead of the ammo the player was given a camera that was probably inspired by Heartworm as mentioned earlier. In the demo, the route to the carnival takes you through a tunnel and then along a long road, where you spend around two minutes walking with very little to see or do. This slows the opening considerably. In the final game, the tunnel is blocked off and you instead follow a path through the forest. This more scenic route is clearly inspired by Heartworm and is a welcome improvement over the demo. It better explains how Harley gains access to the now closed carnival and significantly improves the overall pacing. Another feature I really appreciated was the in-game notepad. I often find it frustrating when a survival horror game expects you to search for a pen

Dead Format is a very unique and well-crafted survival horror that simultaneously retains many core components of the genre, while also creatively bending the rules. It is a unique experience with some meta overtones, combining Survival Horror with Analog Horror in a similar vein to last year’s Among Ashes. It is very fun, but there are a couple places where there is room for improvement. You begin the game by breaking into your brother’s apartment after he had gone missing. You find some mysterious notes and a birthday present – a video tape in GHL format, which is basically VHS but with haunting properties. You pop it into the VCR and suddenly the front door transports you into the universe of the film. You then proceed to find other films, and go back and forth between them solving puzzles, facing enemies, and trying to untangle your brother’s disappearance. The game features a limited inventory, some very solid puzzles, a mixture of both classic Resident Evil combat with a Tyrant-style stalker enemy, lots of backtracking to explore previous areas, optional secrets, and some really cool atmospheres. Every film has a Live Action sequence that you can actually watch on the television before entering its universe, and these are GREAT. This includes: very convincing German Expressionist horror, The Evil Dead type practical effects, a 80’s bright and colorful slasher film… and each world also has a type of filter to make you feel part of that era. The gameplay has a good balance between puzzles, exploration, and combat – though the combat is not really a highlight. There are way too many resources for a very small number of enemies, so I never felt that true scarcity-worry that you expect in this genre. The stalker enemy is very intimidating though, and the game does deliver some very tense encounters despite the imbalance of the combat. The level design is well-built, but there is no map. For the most part, the areas are manageable enough to navigate, but there are definitely times where a map would have enhanced the experience. The puzzles are about 50% simple inventory interactions, but the rest are very clever and unique. The game took me around 8 hours to finish, so I do wish the game was a bit longer and had more films to explore. The ending was also a little abrupt, though I did find a couple things that seem to indicate replayability and perhaps alternate endings. That said, I absolutely recommend this game if you enjoy first person survival horror / survival horror adjacent games like Among Ashes, Resident Evil 7, or Routine. Dead Format is definitely one of the better horror games I’ve played this year. You can buy or wishlist Dead Format on Steam now: steampowered.com/app/3399290/Dead_Format

Disclaimer: I received a free review key for A.I.L.A from the publisher. This does not affect my opinions, all thoughts and impressions in this review are my own. A.I.L.A is not a typical survival horror experience, and the developers are upfront about that. The Steam description makes it clear that the game blends multiple horror subgenres, including survival horror, psychological horror, and action horror. It draws from all corners of the horror genre to create something that feels familiar yet unpredictable. Fans of Resident Evil will immediately notice the countless references hidden throughout its levels. However, it is not just Easter eggs. A.I.L.A also borrows from the core gameplay loop of Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark: explore, solve puzzles, fight, repeat. The hub-and-spoke level design reinforces that classic structure, while the constant shifts in tone and setting keep it from feeling derivative. There is plenty of variety too, with environments ranging from a derelict farmhouse to a pirate’s ghost ship, each offering a distinct atmosphere that prevents the experience from becoming stale. If you’d rather see A.I.L.A in action, watch the video version of this review below! If you are here to find out whether A.I.L.A is worth playing, let me save you some time: Yes! I went in with no expectations, having never played Pulsatrix Studios’ earlier title Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel. Although it took a little time for the game to grow on me, once it did, I could not put it down. In the end, A.I.L.A worked for me because it delivered a completely different kind of horror experience that I did not realise I was missing. The Meta World of A.I.L.A In A.I.L.A, you step into the role of Samuel, a beta tester for a VR project that shares the same title. The experience often felt surreal to me, as I was reviewing a game built around the idea of reviewing a game. Even the process of installing the in-game system is carried out manually, and this idea becomes much more intricate during a later puzzle, the whole game is very meta. Your main hub area is Samuel’s apartment, which might sound like an unexciting location, but there is always something new happening. The space is detailed and changes a lot through the game. The apartment sequences reminded me of Silent Hill 4: The Room, as well as the film 1408, with their sense of being trapped in a room you can’t escape. A large part of the game’s appeal comes from never knowing where you will end up next. Each scenario is set in a different location or time period, and the shifts are dramatic enough that you can never be certain what might be waiting behind the next door. The Many Doors of A.I.L.A There is something iconic about the door animations in the early Resident Evil games, which is why our logo features a red door. You never quite knew what was waiting on the other side which added to the tension that defined classic survival horror. In many ways, A.I.L.A could almost be described as a door-opening simulator, although I am fairly sure that is not an actual genre. In the early Resident Evil titles, the loading screens created a real sense of anticipation, and Pulsatrix Studios has taken that concept and reimagined it in a modern way. In the first area, for example, you must navigate a maze of countless doors, never knowing what you will step into next. Rooms can change after you leave them, and sometimes even the moment you turn your back, objects shift or rearrange themselves, keeping you constantly on edge. Mannequins and other objects shift whenever you turn your back on them, creating a constant sense of uncertainty. Not knowing what might be behind you, or what might be waiting through the next door, is when the horror is at its strongest. These moments work because the unknown is always more frightening than what is in front of you. In a later level, you find yourself in a Resident Evil 7 style farmhouse, fighting aliens. These encounters lean far more towards action horror than psychological horror. The change of pace does help to keep things lively, but the alien enemies are among the weakest enemies in the game (there are much better enemy types later). They are more irritating than frightening, and once the action takes over, some of the tension disappears. When you understand exactly what you are dealing with, the fear of the unknown is lost. Although I was not a fan of the alien enemies, I did enjoy the level itself, particularly the visuals of the farmhouse. In fact, the graphical presentation throughout the entire game is impressive, although I will touch more on that later. What made the farmhouse especially engaging was its puzzles. The whole location feels like a large, interconnected puzzle box waiting to be solved, and that sense of discovery is what kept me playing. Puzzle Solving A large portion of your time will be spent solving puzzles, and for me they are pitched at just the right level of difficulty. They are not so easy that they become dull, yet not so challenging that you feel the need to look up the solutions online. There were moments when I was close to giving up, but whenever I stopped and searched a little longer, the clue I needed was usually nearby and often in the very room I was standing in. If you approach the game in the same way you would an early Resident Evil title, you will be fine. By that I mean you should search everything and read every clue. Searching highly detailed environments is one of the reasons I love survival horror games. I recently reviewed Tormented Souls 2, and one of my favourite aspects of that game was exploring its environments. However, when you explore in third-person with a fixed camera that is quite far back, it can be difficult

Greek Tragedy is another Halloween release: a fixed-camera PSX horror game that kind of slipped under the radar. Amidst the release of absolute classics this month – Tormented Souls 2, Flesh Made Fear, and Echoes of the Living – it didn’t really get much notice. Well, now that I have finished it (with 3 of the endings), I can’t really say it is competitive with these other titles – especially not as a survival horror game.  It certainly shares some of the hallmark traits of the genre; there are fixed cameras, puzzles, and a sense of vulnerability. But it also subverts so many others, to a point where I don’t even know how to classify it. No map, no inventory management, shoddy combat, linear level design, and an absolutely bizarre plot.  The combat is somewhat similar to the developer selewi’s games – which DO feel like survival horror despite only having a singular unbeatable stalker enemy. Here, you only have a taser gun that merely momentarily pauses the hooded enemies that relentlessly chase you. This flimsy combat system makes the enemies feel more like a nuisance than intimidating.  The real gameplay here is the puzzles, but unfortunately they are a pretty mixed bag. There are a few that were interesting and clever, but there are many others that are either too simple, bizarrely constructed (in a bad way), or just slightly glorified keys. The overall atmosphere is also a mixed bag; while the art style itself is quite charming, the actual content of the college campus, the characters, the vague fraternity/cult story – I just don’t really understand what the atmosphere is supposed to be.  The game took about 2 hours to finish, and it left me feeling a bit… empty. I don’t really understand what the vision was for the developer, on both a mechanical gameplay level or the content and story. Some puzzle fans may enjoy moments of the game, but I really cannot recommend it for classic survival horror fans. Greek Tragedy is available for Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch

Disclaimer: I received a free review key for Tormented Souls 2 from the publisher. This does not affect my opinions, all thoughts and impressions in this review are my own. The Chilean development team Dual Effect have a deep understanding of the survival horror genre. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent half their time developing Tormented Souls 2 and the other half reverse-engineering the code of classic survival horrors to understand what truly makes them work. It is easy to label Tormented Souls 2 as just another Residet Evil and Silent Hill like game, but it is far more than that. There have been plenty of excellent indie survival horror games these past couple of years – Heartworm, Post trauma, Hollowbody, Alisa, The Mute House, The Fear Business – the list goes on and on. While all of these titles are well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre, none of them quite capture the rich visual atmosphere and unforgiving gameplay of Resident Evil Remake and Resident Evil Zero quite like Tormented Souls 2. Playing Tormented Souls 2 feels like stepping into a world where Capcom never shifted the genre with Resident Evil 4, a world where the classic survival horror style that peaked with Resident Evil Zero continued to evolve instead of giving way to action horror. It’s a world in which fixed camera angles, tank controls, and carefully rationed resources never went out of fashion. Survival horror in this reality continued to refine its focus on rich atmosphere, sound design, puzzle-solving and a sense of vulnerability – instead of transforming into years of fast-paced action horror, quick-time events and mandatory enemies that drop resources.  Dual Effect lean into that vision completely. The game invites you to slow down, to absorb every tiny detail and search every room for any scrap of ammo or health you can find. The environments feel like cut content from an unreleased Resident Evil spin-off, with just as much depth – if not more. They are so detailed that they make you want to take your time in every room, simply to soak in the atmosphere. Playing Tormented Souls 2 reminds me what made the genre special in the first place: the constant tension between curiosity and fear, the satisfaction of solving a puzzle, and the constant fear that an enemy might be just around the corner. Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon It should go without saying, but everything has remained as it was in the original game. For many developers, there is a temptation to “fix” the biggest complaints users had with the first title. I am very happy to report that Dual Effect did not cave to this pressure, nor did they seek to cash in by appealing to a wider audience by making the game easier or more “user-friendly”. They set out to deliver a true survival horror experience, and they stayed the course. Health is a resourceAmmo is a resource Saving is a resource   I can’t overstate how important it is that these mechanics remain untouched. The whole time I was playing, I found myself asking questions like: “Should I save now or wait a little longer? Could I run past these enemies and save these shotgun bullets for the boss? Should I heal now or wait for one more hit?” This kind of decision-making simply doesn’t occur in action-horror games like Dead Space or Resident Evil 4. and it creates a completely different experience – one I have been searching for since the original Tormented Souls. The combat is a puzzle  In true survival horror games, you quickly begin to realize that the combat itself is a puzzle. For example, when I reached the first boss in the Convent (the game’s opening area), I only had two shotgun bullets, one healing item, and a few nails. I quickly realised that I did not possess the resources required to defeat the boss unless I used the hammer (which we can confirm – is possible!). This meant I had to load an older save and run past a bunch of enemies in order to solve the “puzzle” of reaching the boss with more health and ammo.  Darkness / Lighter One of the most unique and important “enemies” in the series is darkness itself. If you stand too long in any shadowy areas, you will die instantly. The only way to counter this is by using a dimly lit lighter. But here’s the dilemma: when you’re holding the lighter, you can’t use your weapons or defend yourself in any way – all you can do is run. This leads to some of the most tense enemy encounters I’ve experienced in any horror game, where you have to run and find a candelabra offering small islands of safety to fight from. Survival horror has always been about playing as a vulnerable character who can barely defend themselves, and I can’t think of another series that commits to that vulnerability quite like Tormented Souls. Taking away your ability to fight in the darkness makes these games truly unique. Camera angles Can I just take a moment to appreciate the camera work in Tormented Souls 2? This kind of detail often goes underappreciated, but it deserves recognition. Take this example in the video below – the way the camera snakes through narrow corridors and then follows you seamlessly down the elevator feels almost like the developers are showing off. Achieving that sense of fluid motion and atmosphere takes real precision, and throughout the entire game the camerawork is consistently excellent. Problems / bugs  For our review, myself and Pixel Crypt played an early build of the game, and it’s important that we remain fair by mentioning a few bugs we encountered. The tank controls occasionally stick when entering or exiting menus (although the modern controls are unaffected). We also experienced a few crashes, although it’s difficult to say whether these were caused by hardware issues or software bugs. In a