If you want some ’90s-style pixel-art horror this Halloween, you might want to keep an eye on Scarred Stars: Traumatic Edition. Created by indie developer Tuomo Laine with inspiration taken from the likes of Clock Tower, this psychological horror launches October 22 for PC.
Taking place in an abandoned theme park in 1985, Scarred Stars sees players trying to hide from a variety of monsters as they make their escape. There’s no combat, with the focus instead on solving puzzles and hiding from the “Chasers” that stalk the park and show up randomly to try and hinder your progress. Its pixel art aesthetic that channels the Game Boy Advance style, while the story promises an unsettling psychological adventure with multiple endings.
Here’s an overview of Scarred Stars: Traumatic Edition, from its Steam listing:
FEATURE LIST
• Game focused on hiding and puzzles, not combat
• Multiple different types of “chasers”
• Chasers may appear in some locations randomly, not just via scripted events
• Multiple endings
ABOUT THIS GAME
“One , two, three; let’s play hide and seek…
Four, five, six; run away from me…
Seven, eight, nine; the three hollowed you hide…
Ten; I’m here.”
– “The Aged Tree”, the game’s theme songPlot
It’s the year 1985. Asuka had always been a good girl but she had a friend who was bad influence on her; Momoko. Momoko always tried to egg Asuka onto doing mischevious, bad things. However, one day Momoko actually insists that the duo break into an abandoned amusent park as a dare, only for things to take ugly turn…
Scarred Stars started life as an in the RPG Maker MZ Touch the Stars Game Jam earlier this year, in which it placed in the top 20 of 110 games. It was made in the course of 14 days as “a loveletter to 90’s horror games” and a way of showing what RPG Maker MZ is capable of. Traumatic Edition will make numerous improvements across the board, including “new areas, new mechanics, vastly improved AI and new ending, along many other goodies such as a stamina system.”
Scarred Stars: Traumatic Edition launches October 22. It’s available to wishlist on Steam now, if you want a reminder when it comes out and/or want to show the developer some support—wishlist numbers are a big help for indies trying to navigate the murky depths of Steam’s algorithms.