“TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming” has released its launch trailer and has opened final pre-sales ahead of the five-part documentary series’ release in April. Helmed by CreatorVC, the creators of the critically acclaimed “In Search of Darkness” ’80s horror documentary trilogy, “TerrorBytes: The Volution of Horror Gaming” features over 50 horror luminaries, including acclaimed filmmaker John Carpenter and “Silent Hill” composer Akira Yamaoka.
Each episode delves into a different theme, beginning with survival horror and then moving onto licensed games, FMV and interactive movie games, the indie horror scene, and ending on “cursed” and controversial games.
Writer and director Richard Moss was kind enough to let me screen the first two episodes of the series, and I have to say as a lifelong gamer and a fan of the “In Search of Darkness” series, I loved what I’ve seen thus far. There is passion and a knowledge from the horror and games industry icons featured in the series that I haven’t felt since the early entries of “In Search of Darkness.”
The series kicks off with a focus on survival horror. While yes, it features obvious choices like “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill,” it also showcases many titles you might not have even heard of that pioneered horror in gaming long before these survival horror classics even emerged. I personally appreciated the inclusion of “Alone in the Dark,” one of the first horror games I remember playing on PC as a kid.
Episode two, deep dives into the good, the bad, and the ugly of licensed horror games. The titles run the gamut going as far back as Atari’s “Halloween” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to modern favorites like “Alien: Isolation” and Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead.” What I loved about this episode is that it tapped into so many different licensed titles and where and how they went wrong, but also props up the titles that served their licenses well. Best of all, by tapping into the industry’s creators and academics, you better understand why some of these titles turned out the way they did.
Now that I’ve gotten a taste of the series, as someone who backed the documentary series when it was initially announced, I am anxiously awaiting my Blu-ray’s arrival in May!
“Horror games provide an incredible breadth of experience, emotion, and catharsis away from the conventional gaming power fantasy, and their remarkable culture of innovation dates back almost to the beginning of video games,” said Moss. “It’s been a fascinating journey and heartwarming
privilege to tell the story of the genre in this series.”
The final pre-sale campaign for “TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming” is open now at https://terrorbytesdoc.com/, and offers exclusive perks including early digital access to episodes one and two, your name in the credits, access to the Darkness Unlimited streaming service, and a digital copy of another CreatorVC gaming title, “FPS: First Person Shooter.”
