Entertainment

Games: Creepy Spanish puzzler Song of Horror 'a full-throated love letter to videogame frights'

Terror and potential death lurks behind every door in Song of Horror
Terror and potential death lurks behind every door in Song of Horror Terror and potential death lurks behind every door in Song of Horror

Song of Horror (PS4/Xbox One)

By: Raiser Games

THANKS to some ill-advised "seafood truffles" whilst on a Barcelona stag, the thought of Spain already conjures up stomach-churning horror for me. But our Iberian cousins have a long history of scaring the bejesus out of folk, and this rich tradition is only now being appreciated globally with such cinematic delights as the REC series.

Carrying the torch on the videogame front is Madrid studio Protocol with this tribute act to old-school survival horror that first released on PC back in 2020.

Set in 1998, the Lovecraftian tale kicks off when Daniel Noyer arrives at a mansion in search of Sebastian Husher and his family. The only clue to their whereabouts is a creepy music box, with the 'song' in the title referring to its cursed ditties that drive listeners insane.

Focusing on 13 characters, each with their own stats and skills that bring a unique perspective to the action, players travel through a variety of boilerplate horror locales, including abandoned hospitals, antique shops and the like.

With genre Easter eggs aplenty, Song of Horror is a full-throated love letter to videogame frights, and hardcore fans will notice winks to everything from Fatal Frame to Dead Space.

While the clunky tank controls and fixed third-person view hark back to the good ole days, gameplay is combat-free. As a result, success comes less from pumping lead into zombies than pumping logic into environmental puzzles of the "find the glue to fix the key to open the door to collect the thing" type.

Your actual foe is the Presence, an odious entity that turns up with much noise and black gunk, forcing you to hide in more Spanish wardrobes than Keith Barron in Duty Free (ask your dad).


The Lovecraftian tale kicks off when Daniel Noyer arrives at a mansion in search of Sebastian Husher and his family
The Lovecraftian tale kicks off when Daniel Noyer arrives at a mansion in search of Sebastian Husher and his family The Lovecraftian tale kicks off when Daniel Noyer arrives at a mansion in search of Sebastian Husher and his family

Once hidden, a mini-game plays out to match your character's heartbeat – a novelty that becomes an annoyance in record time. With no health bar, each encounter with the Presence is a potential insta-kill, and even horror vets will struggle to make it to the end with a full cast intact – especially when simply entering a new room can spell doom. Players must squeeze their lughole to each door: if you hear what sounds like my guts after those seafood truffles, don't go in or it's adios.

While handsomely mounted, the odd glitch belies Song of Horror's modest budget, with rheumatoid animation and amateur-night voice acting that sounds like its developers nabbed whatever English speakers were wandering past the office.

Still, if you bemoan today's big-budget horrors, such as the recent Resident Evil Village, for trading lateral thinking for lush action, Song of Horror is singing your tune. Come for the puzzles and not the digital ghosts in this ode to the glory days