SHLOCK HORROR

Looking back on the pioneer of fear that was HORROR SOFT.

- Robert Zak

What’s the oldest horror game that can still make you jump today, or send that acidic tingle of unease up your spine? Dogs bursting through the windows in the original Resident Evil spring to mind, while the PC faithful may point to another glass-breaking moment—the first monster you encounter in the original Alone in the Dark. The last notable horror game before that, Sweet Home on the NES, probably finds itself just on the wrong side of the 1990s to maintain much impact today. But in that overlooked period between 1989 and 1992, a British studio in the quiet town of Sutton Coldfield made some serious horror headway. Adventure Soft, founded by father-son team Mike and Simon Woodroffe, rebranded itself as Horror Soft, and over the course of three years released four first-person horror games that culminated in the beautifully gruesome Waxworks.

These games straddled a technological leap in PC gaming, introducing new ideas to the then-stagnant genre that left a sanguine blood trail for other developers to follow.

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

The shockingly detailed death scenes remain as brutal to behold today as they did 30 years ago, while its grimy labyrinthine levels foreshadow the ‘helpless horror’ subgenre popularized by Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as you’re often forced to flee from the Eldritch creatures, zombies and mobs that twitchily stalk you through porous walls of darkness.

Horror Soft’s father-son development team was an unusual dynamic, but it didn’t impact the development process. Over time, father Mike gravitated towards the business and finances of the studio, while Simon became the creative and designer.