The Saw movies have been a staple of the horror genre for 20 years now. Twenty years! And what has been springing up in popularity in that time is survival horror video games. Why not combine the two? Developer Dark Panda just announced Psycho Fear, a gaming experience that they describe as a “heart-pounding survival-horror experience” and one that no doubt will give you major Saw vibes.
This coop game has a setup similar to Saw, where players wake up inside a dark, moody atmosphere, subject to a psycho who has set up elaborate traps in order for them to survive. Puzzle solving and exploring the environment around you is necessary, along with collecting items and strategizing on how to open and unlock things… it’s all part of the fun. And avoiding some nasty traps.
Here is the trailer for the gameplay of Psycho Fear.
The official description of Psycho Fear:
Psycho Fear is a heart-pounding co-op survival-horror experience where players must escape to survive. Solve challenging puzzles, overcome deadly obstacles, and fight deadly enemies in an intense atmosphere, nerve-wracking and dark environment will keep players on edge.
The gameplay of Psycho Fear reminds me a lot of Dead By Daylight mixed with an escape room-like theme, in this case focusing on a character like Jigsaw who prefers to kill his victims through traps. Which makes a lot of sense. As much as games like Dead by Daylight enhance the feel of being chased by a single deadly killer (sometimes very famous ones), having different elaborate traps be the killer provides a needed amount of diversity in what you’re looking out for and anticipating. In that way, Psycho Fear‘s gameplay allows for a bit of flexibility to the survival horror handbook. How much the gore turns into something really gross and torture porn-like remains to be seen.
A demo of Psycho Fear will be available in June to give you a taste of what to expect ahead of the game’s launch. It is expected to be released on Steam in Q2 2024.
Last Updated on February 16, 2023.