An enjoyable and hefty modern remake of a spooky Atari classic
Atari’s 1981 Haunted House could be considered one of the earliest progenitors of survival horror games. It was blocky, sparse, and yet somehow provided a level of tension and nervousness that got us to grip our sweaty 2600 joysticks a little too tightly. As a kid under 5 who was playing it in his youth, the game was often downright terrifying; the monsters chased us!
It was also difficult as all heck, and usually left us giving up after getting just the first piece of the urn. To this day I still have never completed it. Oh well! The remake of the game included in 2022’s Atari50 collection was fine, trying to capture that weird vibe of the original, but it ultimately felt like it was holding a little too close to the source material to actually be its own thing. Cut to 2023 and the publisher has now released a full, actual remake of the game, and it follows a much better direction.
For one, it’s visually designed to be more like a dungeon crawler, closer to the original’s intent. The hand-drawn art is possibly what the original’s designers had in their heads when developing the classic. It’s vibrant, focusing on accentuating the light and shadows of the mysterious mansion that we find ourselves in. This aesthetic also lets us see traps, unique enemies (one is a nose!) and treasure chests (because… uh… videogames). With the goal of finding our missing friends and uncle, being able to actually see the mansion is important, obviously.
This time around the game has some rogue-like tendencies built in, which means that even though the mansion itself isn’t huge there are multiple playthroughs recommended, helping us to find more and more of our friends, upgrade our equipment, and explore more of the location.
All of that works together to create a game that’s really not all that challenging. In fact, it’s squarely aimed at the preteen kids that are already growing up around more playful versions of the horror genre, and are understanding of how mobile and adventure games work. That said, it still manages to be a fun, lighthearted experience, especially when playing WITH someone of that age range. We’re firmly in Spooky Season, and this latest spin on Haunted House is a solid addition to the rotation of things to do, see, and experience during this time of year.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. This video first appeared on The SideQuest Live! for October 17th, 2023.
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