Preliminary Episodes of ‘TerrorBytes’ Docuseries Are Effectively-Crafted Love Letters to Horror Gaming [Review]

“For a interval, it actually appeared like survival horror had died. However just like the zombies that plague its hallways, it at all times will get again up. You can’t kill survival horror.”

So posits Doctoral Researcher, Kaytlin Blackmore, in TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming’s debut episode. It’s a rhapsodic reflection on how the style in query has managed to endure throughout the generations, within the face of ever-shifting client tastes, adversarial cultural forces, and unfavourable regime adjustments on the publishing entrance. Extra importantly, although, it’s only a essentially heat and fuzzy sentiment that resonates all through everything of this community-backed docuseries.

Constructed in a method that remembers the reverent originals that you simply usually discover whereas shopping Shudder (i.e. Horror’s Best or The 101 Scariest Horror Film Moments of All Time), TerrorBytes is first & foremost an admiring have a look at survival horror over the ages. So somewhat than scrutinising the style with any type of crucial distance or tutorial neutrality, its contributors are much more inclined to wax lyrical and discuss how a lot canonical texts like, say, Everlasting Darkness imply to them.

Akira Yamaoka

Their giddy enthusiasm for Resident Evil 4’s opening village salvo or the cat-and-mouse dynamic that characterises Alien: Isolation is infectious, and earlier than lengthy you’ll end up wrapped up in an identical state of euphoria. Itching to replay an previous favorite or perhaps even check out one thing new for the very first time.

In that sense, the doc may be greatest described as a love-letter to survival horror, made by the style’s greatest followers for its greatest followers. In fact, this emphasis on cheerleading over evaluation does imply that TerrorBytes is unlikely to win over anyone not invested in the subject material to start with. However if you happen to simply need to hear passionate folks gush about their earliest go to to the Spencer Mansion (or no matter different formative expertise popped their horror cherry so to talk) then this may ship that in spades.

None of which is to say that TerrorBytes is totally devoid of substance, nevertheless. Quite the opposite, there’s sharp dialogue of hidden gems, in addition to some recent behind-the-scenes tidbits which may deepen your appreciation of these acquainted classics we’ve all performed a thousand occasions earlier than.

John Carpenter

The latter insights come courtesy of a powerful lineup of students, builders and business bigwigs that director Richard Moss and Producer Daniel Richardson have roped in as interviewees. For instance, Jeremy Blaustein — resident translator and localizer for Konami throughout the studio’s heyday — is ready to articulately unpack the emotional depths of Silent Hill 2 along with his distinctive perspective on the fabric. 

Elsewhere, Sam Barlow humorously relates how he was capable of get publishers to purchase into his combat-free imaginative and prescient for Silent Hill: Shattered Recollections by interesting to their ingrained understanding of Pac-Man, whereas Alex Aniel — writer of the terrific, unofficial Resident Evil historical past, “Itchy, Tasty” — is ready to make clear Capcom’s rival IP.  We even get some good technical insights from folks like foley artist, Daybreak Lunsford, who breaks down her sound design for the infamous “Rat King” encounter from The Final of Us Half II. In brief, these are authorities who actually know their stuff and are eager to rejoice it.

And but the juiciest morsels truly come from those that have labored on less-than-stellar titles and who’re very happy to get actual candid concerning the compromises they needed to make alongside the best way. Living proof, there’s an enchanting part whereby veterans from the Silent Hill: Homecoming crew describe how they have been pressured to make that recreation extra intently align with the 2006 Christophe Gans film (in addition to to shoehorn Pyramid Head into the plot for no enough cause). Likewise, Brian Gomez, author of the Clive Barker-branded FPS Jericho, explains how one higher-up on that venture insisted on fully redesigning a feminine character to be able to cater to his personal fetishistic whims.

It’s when it dips into these unvarnished anecdotes that TerrorBytes will get tremendous intriguing however, even when it’s not being gossipy, it’s nonetheless only a pleasure to listen to from all the passionate voices which have been assembled. Talking of which, it’s troublesome to listing all the achieved speaking heads right here as a result of there are simply so many unbelievable will get.

David Szymanski

Amongst others, you’ll hear from: Alone within the Darkish scribe Hubert Chardot; legendary composer Akira Yamaoka; DUSK creator Dave Szymanski; The Indignant Video Recreation Nerd himself, James Rolfe; the one and solely John Romero, and a few bloke referred to as John Carpenter. They even discovered room for Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor at one level. In actual fact, there are such a lot of attention-grabbing folks on show that they generally go you by in a blur, with you barely having a second to scan the decrease third overlays telling you who’s who!

Luckily, editor Connor O’Keane is ready to piece the super quantity of footage he’s been lumped with collectively in a method that at all times feels flowing and coherent. In actual fact, the craft is impeccable throughout your complete board right here. Apparently, the 2 episodes we watched for reviewing functions weren’t fairly 100% completed, however you couldn’t inform. Because it stands, the opening animation is brilliantly realised, the transitions are slick, and your consideration is held all through by some well-chosen archival cutaways. If it’s going to look much more polished after a ultimate modifying go, then there may be no complaints in any respect about TerrorBytes’ technical execution.

The primary episode, affectionately titled “Enter the Survival Horror,” is very effectively packaged contemplating how a lot historical past it tries to compress into simply 60 minutes. Taking us on a whistle-stop tour of the style that begins off with the arcade coin guzzler Sinistar, and goes proper as much as final yr’s indie darling Crow Nation — stopping alongside the best way to pay respects to Candy House, Clock Tower, and Useless House — it definitely manages to cram quite a bit in.

One factor that helps make it digestible is that Moss and co. have shrewdly elected to interrupt up the chronological construction with some thematic mini-chapters (trying on the evolution of the ultimate lady trope, for example, in addition to the emergence of stalker enemies and the customarily turbulent journey that Japanese franchises should endure when Western studios are given custody over them). One explicit spotlight is a piece taking a look at how necessity actually was the mom of invention again within the PSOne period, because the confines of that older {hardware} demanded some actually ingenious workarounds from builders.

The second episode that we noticed, “Deadly Licenses,” was admittedly extra loosey-goosey. It’s meant to be an outline of horror titles which have been tailored from pre-existing sources — which feels like an superior premise — however it goes off matter a number of too many occasions and its focus appears to have primarily been dictated by who they might get to look on digital camera. As such, we find yourself with a disproportionate quantity of protection being dedicated to the ultimate season of Telltale’s The Strolling Useless (presumably as a result of its author was obtainable to speak about it), whereas there’s additionally a prolonged puff piece about Useless by Daylight close to the tip that feels dangerously near turning into a company livestream. But it’s crucially by no means uninteresting, and there are nonetheless some cool segments scattered all through, together with one concerning the delayed manufacturing of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer recreation.

All in all, if in case you have even the vaguest of curiosity in survival horror, you then owe it to your self to look at TerrorBytes. You would possibly sometimes end up craving a little bit extra depth, however it’s a enjoyable, well-made sequence that has clearly been crafted with care, amplifies quite a lot of good voices, and one that may remind you of why you fell in love with the style within the first place.

TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming will probably be launched as a 5-part docuseries in April 2025. You possibly can pre-order the sequence now. Previews for the primary two episodes have been offered by CreatorVC.