There was something special about the horror games on the first PlayStation console. We talk about Nightmare Creatures, Parasite Eve, Hellnight, Silent Hill and the first Resident Evil, among others. The limitations of the console, especially its three-dimensional characters created with few polygons (‘low-poly’), gave them a special charm that made them both terrifying and mysterious. It is not uncommon that today we feel nostalgic for them and that they have inspired works such as those of the movement Haunted PS1 Disk Y Nun Massacrea Puppet Combo game that was recently released for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5.
This is a ‘survival horror’ in the vein of Alien: Isolation. We have to go through terrifying scenarios while being hunted by a horror that we cannot defeat.
We know that there are tons of indie horror games similar to this one. titles like Amnesia: The Dark Descent Y Slender: The Eight Pages they had an overwhelming influence resulting in thousands of imitators. Nun Massacre and other Puppet Combo games stand out among them for a number of reasons, but mainly because of their dedication to a very specific and particular retro aesthetic.
The opening credits roll like an old VHS movie and it never abandons that premise. The game starts with a CRT filter and even uses “tape ‘tracking’ defects” as one of its mechanics. It’s all done to make us feel like we’re kids watching a violent low-budget horror movie on a stormy night in the late 1980s.
If we decide to play the optional intro, we can learn details of the story. We received a letter from the mother superior of the boarding school where our daughter is, informing us that she is very ill and that she needs our presence as soon as possible. After traveling a long mountain road in the middle of the rain we arrived at the ominous building. It didn’t take us long to discover that it is practically abandoned. Its only inhabitant is a huge eyeless nun who chases us with a knife.
We must go through the boarding school very carefully, opening all the drawers to find objects that help us progress. The puzzles are similar to those of the classics Resident Evil Y Silent Hill, finding objects that we must discover where and how to use them to open doors or obtain other objects. We can also find documents that help us discover what happened to the daughter of the protagonist.
We realize that the murderess is close because “the quality of the film” begins to deteriorate. We can run or hide under a bed, as long as she doesn’t see us doing it. These sequences are really stressful. Not only for the simple fact of being persecuted, but because the nun’s inhuman screams are capable of freezing the blood and the music becomes very intense.. It’s a very old trick, but effective.
If he catches us, we will lose one of three lives. If we lose all three, we discover to our horror that we are back at the beginning of the game. That’s how it is, Can’t save game Nun Massacre and we must finish it in one try. Of course, it is not a long game. Once we know where all the objects are and where to take them, we can reach the end in less than 40 minutes… if the nun doesn’t get in the way too much.
Still, it can be tedious to repeat the same steps over and over again. We really would have liked to have a save game system, even if it was limited. There are also three traps in the game that can end the game immediately, no matter how many lives you have left. Another thing that does not make us happy is having to go through the ventilation ducts. It is impossible not to get lost in them if we do not draw a map and we can stay going in circles without knowing it.. If the nun finds us there, it’s much harder to avoid her. If by some miracle we do make it, we probably won’t be sure where we end up.
Another problem is that we are not always clear about what we should do. Sometimes we forget to look at a door handle and that can stop our progress for a long time. Solving some puzzles can open doors and paths, but we are not told where. There are also sections of the boarding school that change completely, putting corridors and doors where there were none before. This is done on purpose to force us to always be exploring even though we think we know the relatively small map, but it is annoying.
There are other headaches in Nun Massacre and one of them is literal. The CRT filter can be wonderful for creating ambience, but blurry colors and effects can make us feel dizzy and sick. Fortunately, we can disable it. It’s also possible to swap out the VHS filter for a PS1 or black and white one that gives the game equally eye-catching looks. Other options allow you to remove jump scares and lower the difficulty so that the nun’s appearances are less common, perfect for those who want to concentrate on setting and plot.
There isn’t much of a plot though. The documents we found detail a history of child abuse that harshly criticizes how strict and cruel religious education can be, but it’s all very ambiguous. Depending on what we do we can find one of two endings. If we take the two candles to the chapel we are on our way to the “bad ending” and if we find the four VHS tapes and watch them on the four different televisions in the boarding school we can achieve a “good ending”, but more symbolic and metaphorical. We stick with the first one, at least it makes things a bit clearer.
Nun Massacre It is quite a challenge that will be appreciated by those nostalgic for both the horror of the PS1 era and the days of VHS. But the lack of a save game system, some ‘bugs’, and design issues will definitely keep the general public away.
Review made with a digital copy of Nun Massacre for Nintendo Switch provided by Puppet Combo.
