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VHS-era sci-fi is making a big comeback in games
7K View2023-07-089 games listedThe reason I bring these relics from the not-too-distant past up is because we’ve had an unexpected renaissance of what I like to call “VHS-era sci-fi” in games lately. These are games based on movies I watched on videotape, the big plastic kind that came in a cardboard sleeve and had a sticker on it reminding you to rewind it before you brought it back to the shop.
RoboCop
,
Aliens
,
Predator
,
The Last Starfighter
—these were movies I saw on fuzzy CRT screens and had to adjust the tracking knob so that they’d quit scrolling crazily across the curved glass.
We’re in the middle of this little resurgence, so I’ve put together a list that includes games you can play right now as well as games that are coming out in the near future. If you’ve ever dumped an armload of VHS cassettes into a Blockbuster return bin, this list is for you.
[List created by
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0 Want
Offworld Industries has taken what they learned from Squad and applied it perfectly to the Starship Troopers universe—and specifically to the visual style Paul Verhoeven created for the over-the-top 1997 film version. Starship Troopers: Extermination is a massively co-op PvE game that throws you into the boots of the Deep Space Vanguard, the Mobile Infantry’s elite special forces. You’ll need to work together to establish bases on the hostile planet Valaka, which has been overrun by a screeching, clawing horde of alien bugs.
0 Want
Aliens isn’t as much about horror as its iconic predecessor Alien was, but Aliens: Dark Descent is easily the scariest real-time strategy game I’ve ever played. It’s cleverly designed to make controlling your squad just as easy with either a controller or mouse and keyboard, and it’s genuinely frightening creeping through the darkened corridors of empty Weyland-Yutani colonies, knowing that somewhere, something very, very bad is stalking you from the shadows.
0 Want
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is possibly the perfect example of VHS sketchiness that’s difficult to recreate now. The premise is absolutely absurd, it was made on a shoestring budget with practical effects and rubber suits, and it managed to become a stone cold VHS cult classic. Now it’s back as an asymmetric horror co-op game in which a group of players will have to defeat the ghoulish space clowns with teamwork and wits.
0 Want
Blade Runner transcends what I think of as the VHS era, but that’s when I saw and became obsessed with it. Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth will be the series’ first game adaptation since the 1997 point-and-click adventure, and it looks fascinating. In this story, a retired blade runner is called back to duty to scour through records that take the form of virtual spaces, some of which have long since been destroyed and replaced. It’s from Annapurna, so expect artful visuals and thoughtful storytelling that draws you into the story in unexpected ways.
0 Want
Before YouTube made video sharing an everyday part of our lives, it was extremely difficult to see clips of movies to prepare yourself for what was to come. You had to see the trailer in the theater, or at the start of another movie you’d rented or owned. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s theatrical run predates me, so I had to wait until I could find a copy at my local video rental shop, and I was completely unprepared for how grimy and terrifying and violent it was. Another asymmetric horror game in the style of Dead By Daylight, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre looks to recapture all the grind house terror of the original 1978 film.
0 Want
This one isn’t so much a product of the era as it is a re-creation of the vibes of VHS sci-fi and horror. You’re a radio DJ in a small town in the 1980s, and it’s up to you to track down a killer stalking the streets. From your DJ booth, you’ll need to answer all the town’s 911 calls, which are mysteriously being routed through the station soundboard at 189.16 - The Scream. It may not be based on an existing franchise, but that plot sounds like it’s right out of a classic slasher flick.
0 Want
Hey, it’s another game based on the work of our old pal Paul Verhoeven! Robocop: Rogue City has the half-man, half-machine peace officer fighting to take back Old Detroit from what appears to be a gang of Dead Kennedys fans. Whether RoboCop: Rogue City manages to capture Verhoeven’s highly sardonic take on law enforcement remains to be seen, but we’ll find out when this first-person shooter arrives in September.
0 Want
Stargate: Timekeepers sees our strategy-minded pals at Slitherine taking another bite at the VHS apple. This one’s based on the long-running sci-fi TV series, Stargate SG-1, which centers on the discovery of an ancient portal that allows humans from Earth to travel to distant worlds to defend humanity against hostile aliens. Stargate: Timekeepers is an all new story set after the events of SG-1 season 7. You’ll be using stealth and infiltration in this real-time tactics game to get behind enemy lines and break a deadly time loop.
0 Want
Nobody has yet had the guts to make the MMO version of David Lynch’s 1984 Dune that I’ve been demanding for years, but I think Funcom’s Dune: Awakening might just scratch the itch. The developer says we’ll be able to visit a “seamless” Arrakis along with thousands of other players, fighting for survival and dominance in the harsh desert world that’s home not only to the precious spice melange, but also the terrifying sandworms that lurk beneath its surface.
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Robocop and Aliens Dark Decent looks really fun. I don't care for how they've made a lot of the horror themed games a copy of DBD instead of making an actual game.
2023-07-10
I'm totally with you on this. Like I enjoy Dead by Daylight, but ... that game already does what it does so well! I don't need a whole sub-genre of multiplayer games trying to ape the same style.
2023-07-17