Hide and seek with immortal stalkers: the best Indie Games similar to Clock Tower [Updated Oct 2023]

Clock Tower was one of the first examples of survival horror, in the format of a point-and-click adventure. Developed in 1995 for the SNES, the game brought, maybe for the first time, horror atmospheres on a Nintendo platform. The game had a gorgeous 2D aesthetic for the time, with an interesting use of colours. It was also partially inspired by the Italian horror movie Suspiria, especially for the model of the main character. Clock Tower was always a game full of original and innovative ideas, merged together in a twisted horror-thriller. Solving puzzles and collecting items was not a simple task, such as in other adventures, because this time a psychotic killer wielding giant scissors was unexpectedly chasing the player. Exploring the mansion while surviving the immortal stalker was one of the key elements of the game.

Many direct or spiritual sequels attempted to recreate that magic, also going into 3D, but the majority to failed. Except for Haunting Grounds and maybe Remothered, other more direct 3D sequels such as Clock Tower 3 or Nightcry failed to reproduce the experience. There are several elements composing the unique atmosphere of Clock Tower, which are very difficult to find in other games. For my personal taste, to consider a game very similar to Clock Tower, several requisites should be satisfied. For example, a nice 2D aesthetic is very important to recreate that old-school magic, so I will avoid adding to the list 3D games. Of course, it would not be a game similar to Clock Tower without an immortal stalker, which will chase relentlessly the player during the game. Clock Tower also got famous for the number of alternative endings: nine in the first game, and even more in the second installment. The majority of the endings was composed by Bad Endings, elaborated and usually brutal Game Over scenes. For this reason, I will also specify if a game has alternative endings. Even if Clock Tower was not really gory or violent, the overall thriller atmosphere and the depressing bad endings could be even more interesting with a bigger amount of blood. The creator of the original game also knew this, and in the spiritual successor Nightcry, he also increased the level of blood, but sadly almost at a parody level. For this reason, I will also consider as a positive thing the amount of blood.

As for other articles “games similar to” (for example here for Hotline Miami: Killers, blood, and intense acid trips: best fast-paced action games like Hotline Miami), I will provide here a  list of indie games that I found more similar to Clock Tower. Maybe they could be similar by chance, or maybe they were built having Clock Tower as a main inspiration. All the games included in the article are available on STEAM.

House of Velez

Intro: House of Velez is a gory adventure released in two parts. The game begins with a woman exploring her father’s mansion, a place that changed with time, now hiding nightmarish secrets. The game begins slowly, but soon enough the horror bursts into the main character’s life. The exploration is in a 2D environment, while the characters are modeled in 3D.

Stalkers: The stalkers in this case are really creepy and disturbing enemies, especially a mannequin-doppelgänger looking for her missing head… but of course on the main character’s body. Different mysterious and grotesque beings are ready to rip every limb from the protagonist. There are stitched skin mannequins, towering abominations, and colossal babies. However, the most “stalker-like” creature is a being in a wheelchair stalking the mansion toward the end. It can appear in every room, killing the protagonist in many ways. With a complex combination of buttons, it is possible to keep the breath, control panic, and avoid a stalker, which will just pass by without noticing the player. This is a quite complex mechanic to master, and a small error will lead to a horrible death.

Death scenes: Being caught by a stalker or a trap will bring to a really complex, inventive, and gory death, which could last for many seconds of graphical and well-executed CGI. Definitively, this is not a game for those weak of stomach! Deaths are long, unique, twisted, and very creative, but they can also get very disturbing, especially in Part 2.

Endings: When playing both Part 1 and 2, it is possible to achieve a Good and a Bad ending, based more on lore discovered than choices. However, the death scenes are so many, different, and complex that could be associated with the Bad Endings of Clock Tower.

If you want to check by yourself some of the most interesting and disturbing deaths, check the following video in the Surreal and Creepy official channel:

Horns of Fear

Intro: This is a game difficult to categorize, but it is an interesting call back to Clock Tower, especially in the first half. There is a huge and creepy mansion to explore, full of complex puzzles, rarely obtuse, and often very satisfying to solve. The mansion can be freely explored, in all its beautiful background, enjoying the many works of art scattered around. The atmosphere is dense and interesting, offering some jump scares and rooms where you will never feel safe inside.

Stalkers: A creepy and grotesque family is also living in the house, and meeting the owners will be always a shocking event. While the family is more there to advance the plot, learn more lore, or for puzzles, there is another aggressive element inside the house. Soon or later, the stalker will make his appearance. A masked horned man wielding weapons, the Caretaker is the only stalker in Horns of Fear. While facing him, more than running and hiding, will be important to quickly execute a combination of buttons. The price of failing will be a really brutal and grotesque death. There will be also a final and satisfying 2D battle against the stalker, a moment of closure that also marks a huge shift in the plot.

Death scenes: As I said before, deaths here a quite brutal. There are only a few of them, but their appearance is always traumatic. This is because death scenes are realized in claymation, with an extra focus on gory details. Having the main character’s head split in half in a close-up scene made in claymation is surely something that will stick in the mind.

Endings: Sadly there are no multiple endings, and the game loses its “Clock Tower-ish” vibes toward the second half. Horns of Fear is not the closer example to Clock Tower, but the presence of the stalker, and the good balance between exploration, puzzle solving, and scary events, make of it a really enjoyable horror experience.

Also in this case, you can check a video on the Surreal and Creepy channel to have an idea about the game. After many puzzles and running around, you can finally face the stalker in a peculiar brawling battle. Or, you can die trying, with a peculiar and brutal death made in claymation.

You can check both the fight, the surreal afterward, and the brutal death in the following video:

Clea

Intro: Clea has a really beautiful art style, especially for characters and enemies. The game is heavily focused on stealth mechanics since the very beginning. The player can hide in the closets, sneak, and peek through keyholes, all to avoid the creepy Chaos Servants wandering around the house. The game can be really difficult and challenging, based on trial and error, and it is divided into levels. Each new level will feature something novel, such as puzzles or enemies, and also challenges to be completed.

Stalkers: The Chaos Servants are the main stalkers inside the game, creepy figures wearing a robe and with creepy smiles on their faces. However, they are not the only enemies inside Clea, since each level can bring new threats. For example, the second level features creepy spiders, which can be avoided only by staring at them in time, before they strike. The sound component is also very important, not only to understand if a Chaos Servant is close but also to attract his attention. In fact, by running but also by interacting with specific objects, the noise produced will surely call the attention of a Chaos Servant.

Death scenes: Clea is more creepy than gory, and being trapped by a stalker leads to a quite standard game over screen.

Endings: The game features multiple endings, at least 3, with different requirements to be achieved. Moreover, Clea is a love letter to classic survival horrors, with good replayability and secrets, including unlockables such as new outfits and extra modes. It is also a really difficult game, where challenging Chaos Servants is driving the gameplay more than exploration and puzzle-solving.

Unknown

Intro: A one-man project which is a clear love letter to Clock Tower. Even the main character is very similar to the one of Clock Tower. Unknown has all the key elements to be a spiritual sequel of Clock Tower. The 2D art style is really beautiful, both in movement and during the static cutscenes. There is a family with a secret and a mansion full of puzzles and mysteries that the player can freely explore and solve.

Stalkers: The stalkers are creepy experiments, which will hunt the player mainly following the sounds. They are a dangerous treat, which can be avoided by hiding, or by outrunning them, hopefully without depleting the stamina bar. The sound system is also very well realized, especially the metallic noise produced by the stalkers.

Death scenes: The game is not gory or violent, and the death scenes are more like simple jump scares.

Endings: According to STEAM achievements, there are also many different endings, in theory at least 6, which for sure help the replayability. The game could be a great spiritual successor of Clock Tower, but sadly at the moment, it is quite buggy and with obtuse puzzles. With a bit more polish and time, maybe it could become a hidden gem.

Coma 2

Intro: Coma 2 is a total improvement of the previous game, and one of the best games developed by a Korean studio. Coma 2 shares similarities with the Clock Tower saga, using a 2D aesthetic to create a relentless hide-and-seek against an immortal stalker. The graphic is really gorgeous, between a manga and a cartoon, well cared in every detail, from the characters to the complex background. The level of detail and polish is incredible, also focusing on rewarding the player. For example, several achievements after being unlocked will reveal a gorgeous concept art or an artwork.

Stalkers: The main stalker is the dark version of a teacher, hunting her students with a knife, helped by another more brutal and deranged version of herself. At some point, other minor stalkers will chase the player, including a deranged butcher inside a market. A stamina bar helps to outrun the devilish teacher, but also other strategies are possible. The main character can hide in bathrooms or closets, but only by completing a quick time event, the player will stay hidden without making any noise. There are several traps and minor monsters along the way, which will generally cause negative effects. Different attacks can bring status alterations, such as poison or bleeding, creating an additional level of threat. Avoiding spoilers, there are also specific events that could lead to the permanent loss of a chunk of the health bar.

Death scenes: The game has very gory deaths that usually involve secondary characters, suddenly stabbed to death by the appearance of a stalker. The main character can also die in different ways against the stalkers, showing brutal Game Over scenes that are different based on the played chapter.

Endings: Coma 2 has a Good and a Bad Ending, based on how many times you lost chunks of the health bar in important events during the game.

Immure

Intro: Another game divided into two parts, Immure is a very nice mix of the style and the system of Clock Tower, together with the creatures and the mysterious environment of Lovecraft. The 2D art-style is really gorgeous and full of details, picturing horrible creatures and huge slasher ghosts with great attention. From the gameplay side, Immure features all the classic Clock Tower mechanics, plus some interesting surprises.

Stalkers: Different immortal creatures are chasing the main character, from a colossal ghost fireman wielding a deadly axe to a grotesque abomination of teeth and tentacles. The main character can run (depleting a stamina bar) and hide in closets, but can also use a gun and a crystal to temporally stun the enemies. The crystal is especially interesting and it can be used both to light the environment, moving as the mouse cursor, and to stun the stalkers if properly charged.

Death scenes: The game is really brutal, with gory comic-style death scenes. Every death is accompanied by its death-ending screen, for example having the head devoured by an eldritch being.

Endings: There is free exploration, with puzzles and moral choices, all this while avoiding the stalkers. Judging from the moral choices already present and the words of the developers, the final version should probably include “at least” two endings.

Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story

Intro: The core of the experience is a combination of cyberpunk and Chinese folkloric elements, where ghosts and exorcism meet with human augments and VR. The beautiful 2D aesthetic is a clear check for this article, from the detailed and haunting environments to the characters and the disturbing spirits. The protagonist will repentantly pass from a lightful world rich of characters to the loneliness of an abandoned building, from a sci-fi environment to a forgotten world of traditions. The game is a love letter to classic survival-horror games, with many secrets and unlockable outfits, achievable in consecutive NG+, where new contents and elements will be unlocked.

Stalkers: Talking about the stalkers, Sense makes a great effort in creating a variegated set of disturbing ghosts, haunting the different rooms and floors of the building. There are ghosts for every taste: a spider-woman setting traps with her long hair, a spirit possessing a horde of seductive dolls, a feral old woman attacking on the four legs, and many more. Each ghost can be avoided or defeated with multiple strategies. For example, some ghosts can follow the player around on all the floor. For this reason, hiding in special rooms protected with a talisman will help to survive. A mini-game will play in these challenging moments, where the player needs to place a moving bar the closest possible to the center. Running away is also the best option, but a stamina bar will quickly empty, making it difficult to run for a long time. Minor entities can be quickly defeated with a holy sword, while other more dangerous being needs to be lured in an empty room and then imprisoned with a talisman. However, almost every spirit needs to be exorcised to being finally able to rest in peace. This is done by following Chinese traditions: finding an altar, a picture of the spirit, rice, and a joss stick to burn. Sometimes, the offering for the deceased is only part of a more complex task, which changes from ghost to ghost.

Death Scenes: The game is brutal, and every ghost features its personal death screen, a violent Game Over where each ghost shows its violent malevolence. Plus, bad choices during the game lead to even more bad endings, usually brutal and lethal.

Endings: Even if the main ending is only one, Sense features many Bad Endings/Game Over screens, portrayed using gorgeous comic-like static scenes. Maybe the player could think to escape from the building by jumping out of the window, or that a group of evil cats can be bypassed without using any item. Those decisions will lead to graphic and violent Game Overs, where the main character will die in horrible ways, for example having her eyes ripped out by the evil cats.

Killers, blood, and intense acid trips: best fast-paced action games like Hotline Miami

Action games are often the opposite of a pure survival-horror game, missing atmosphere and resource management in favor of choreographic combat. However, even if this is true for many cases, sometimes there are very interesting exceptions. And one example is Hotline Miami. Built around trial and error mechanics, fast-paced and unforgiving, the game was able to create a violent, frustrating, and intense atmosphere. Moreover, the horror essence was not only focused on the gameplay, but even more on the plot, a surreal criminal tale that looked like a rage-induced acid trip.

As for Dark Souls before, Hotline Miami almost created a sub-genre of top-down fast and unforgiving games based on trial and error. But the inventiveness of Hotline Miami is not only in the camera or the gameplay, but also in how a criminal plot verged into surrealism and horror territories. A proper spiraling down into madness, where violence is the main emblem of it. Moreover, the nameless protagonist is a really unpleasant and deranged sociopath, which will make shine Agent 47 and any GTA protagonists as very sociable guys. But this all helps to create a surrealistic, violent, and psychedelic atmosphere.

In the following article, I decided to select action games that I find similar to Hotline Miami, not only for gameplay, but also for the atmosphere and the idea behind it. The selected games are not only fast-paced action games based on trial and error, where death is behind every small mistake, but are also often an acid trip inside dark criminal stories. Violence is an integrative part of these games, and often works as symbolism for a mental breakdown or social criticism. Moreover, the main character is often a killer that doesn’t fit any more inside society, a deranged and unpleasant character. However, this is not exactly true for every game on the list, but in many of them, you can smell that same sick and dirty atmosphere, with a tough plot based on violence, drama, and regretful memories.

Like other articles before, such as Horror Games Based on Asian Folklore, Games Inspired by Clock Tower, or Towns with a Dark Secret, this article will be also updated in time when new and fitting games are released.

KATANA ZERO

Gameplay: 2D melee oriented, fast and deadly, where the katana can be used to slash enemies and parry bullets. One wrong bullet and you are done.

Protagonist: Traumatised war veteran, drug addicted, amnesiac, who becomes a killer following the orders of his psychologist.

Violence: High.

Setting: Near future criminal underworld, but where the mind of the protagonist also merges with more nightmarish realities.

Acid Trip: Medium. But things will really start to get weird and unreliable at some point.

Katana Zero might look different, mainly for the 2D side-scrolling style and the focus on melee kills, but it is in fact one of the best evolution of the sub-genre started with Hotline Miami. The story is mature and dramatic, touching PTSD, murdering, and war crimes. The samurai protagonist is a tormented man, a relentless killer but also broken, looking for salvation through pills and a psychologists. For this reason, he is an unreliable narrator, and much of what is happening in the game could not be real. Fast, brutal, and unforgiving, the gameplay is focused on quickly slashing the enemies with a katana, while reflecting their bullets or dashing through them, in a torrent of rapid attacks and fountains of blood. The game features a time rewind, which allows to restart few seconds before being killed, allowing a neverending flow of fast and brutal action. Moreover, the game alternates action levels with more adventure ones, where decisions and action can shape the ending. The main apartment also works as a little hub, with some performable interactions after every job. Katana Zero is a game full of secrets, including a super-hidden boss that looks like out of a nightmarish horror game. Katana Zero has a marvelous story, so deep and brutal, and, together with a fast and violent gameplay, it really works as a sort of spiritual successor of Hotline Miami.

PROJECT DOWNFALL

Gameplay: FPS fast and addictive, where the player can use many weapons, slide, or simply kick the enemies to death.

Protagonist: A killer looking for vengeance against witnesses, or maybe just looking for medical help.

Violence: High.

Setting: A sci-fi East European city, full of gangs, insanity, and violence, from BDSM clubs to derelict buildings.

Acid Trip: High. Seriously, the protagonist can hallucinate after taking too many pills, including talking with his own brain.

Project Downfall is one of the best examples on this list. It has everything you can dream about: fast and unforgiving combat, an insane and surreal story, over-the-top situations, and gallons of blood. The story is set in a sci-fi and dystopic version of an east European city. Between curfews, experimental drugs, pollution, and violent gangs, the main character must travel to insane locations to come back home after losing the last train. The setting is incredible, sick, and dirty, but also mixing with surreal situations. Some levels will bring you inside derelict buildings, while others in a gas station, or a bondage club with insane boss battles and enemies, including a chainsaw maniac with a pig mask! In Project Downfall there is a lot to do, and some levels include hidden secrets, paths, and missions. Moreover, the main character’s apartment works as a hub to replay missions and analyse all the collected info. The game is so bizarre, that often the main character will directly speak with his own brain. The main difference with Hotline Miami is the first-person view instead of a top-down one, however, this nicely creates a new perspective, especially when kicking a door open or entering a new area. And all this with the same fast and addictive gameplay, where death is behind every error, throwing empty weapons is a standard technique as well as sliding to kick down the enemies. Another gameplay element feature taking experimental drugs, which will improve reflexes and power, but will also affect a morality system that controls the endings. And the game already features 12 endings, which can be achieved through alternative paths/levels, secondary missions, and killing/sparing characters. Because this violent world is full of weird characters, which are not directly aggressive but can still be killed by the main character. If the first person is not scaring you off, without even bothering about the game still being in Early Access, you should try one of the best entries on this list, because even in the current state, the game is huge!

And if you want to see the game in action, below a video from a really disturbing level called Rectum, a BDSM club with a chainsaw maniac and a sauna full of lunatics, which is available on “Surreal and Creepy” YouTube channel:

NAMELESS

Gameplay: Stealth-oriented action game where you can kill every enemy with deadly weapons, or use a brief invisibility to subdue them.

Protagonist: A criminal looking for redemption and freedom. Behind the irony, he is hiding something darker.

Violence: Low.

Setting: Modern police operation inside a skyscraper full of hostages. But things will get really weird and disturbing later on.

Acid Trip: Medium. The second half will get really disturbing and bizarre, including monstrous boss battles and impossible decisions.

Nameless starts as a parody of the genre: a stealth game full of irony. But after the first half, it will get much darker. Between hallucinations, amoral choices, slaughtering, and a disturbing final boss, the game is a perfect spiral into madness. Seriously, don’t make the error of taking the atmoshpere of the beginning thinking that the game will be all jokes and puns, because it will really go into some dark territories. There are clear inspirations from Earthbound, but it is nice to see them implemented into an action stealth game instead of a classic RPG. In Nameless, the player is a random criminal trapped during a bank heist, and now, to be free, he must solve a hostage situation inside a skyscraper. The game is divided into many micro levels, where the protagonist must eliminate the terrorists and save the hostages. However, a morality system is also part of the mechanics, depending if you kill/subdue the enemies or how many hostages die. There are also different weapons to unlock, divided into lethal and tranquilliser ones, from tazers to deadly throwing knives. And to help in the task, the protagonist can also briefly become invisible. Luckily, when the system gets repetitive, the game provides interesting alternatives, from mini-games to puzzles and boss battles. Moreover, the second half of the game is so harsh and disturbing that it is impossible to stop playing without reaching the end. And with different endings and achievements that nobody solved (sadly the game is very underrated), the game has much to offer. Nameless is probably the most obscure game on this list, but it also has a very interesting concept, not refined as others, but with deep and disturbing plot.

If you want to have a look at how the game will get insane and disturbing, you can check the following video from the official Surreal and Creepy YouTube channel featuring the last boss fight and the bad ending. Of course, be aware of heavy SPOILERS of NAMELESS:

PARTY HARD 2

Gameplay: Stealth-oriented murder mayhem, where every level is a huge sandbox of quick killing chains.

Protagonist: A deranged mass-murderer that enjoys to kill people during parties. But you can also play other weird characters, from a rabid dog to an alien hunter.

Violence: High.

Setting: Each level is a big and insane party, including a motor-biker gang in the desert, a hell-based party, and another inside a hospital.

Acid Trip: High. A lot of weird things will happen, but, in general, it is more comedy-oriented than disturbing.

Party Hard 2 is the perfect sequel of a very interesting concept and, even if it is a bit far from Hotline Miami, it has similarly fast and addictive gameplay. In the game, the player controls a crazy killer that enjoys crashing parties… or better “slashing” parties. Every level is a huge sandbox toy, where the main aim is usually to kill everybody, or some specific characters. But every location is a concentration of surreal eccentricity, including morgues, nuclear bases, or hell itself. Every level offers a multitude of insane situations to activate, from calling a circus, to reviving zombies or waking up a Yeti. However, stealth is a crucial element, so avoiding bodies lying around or being spotted while murdering is essential to complete each level. If not, civilians will call the police, while armed agents will directly attack you. And very similarly to Hotline Miami, one hit and is Game Over. Till now, the game seems more similar to Hitman than Hotline Miami, so where is the fast and challenging gameplay? Simply, it lies in combos. Quickly murder civilians and you will get combos and higher scores and, since you have dozens of people to kill, playing fast and aggressively is usually the best way to succeed. Sabotage electronic devices to create traps, throw a couple of strategic grenades, and start to slash everybody before they can call the police. Moreover, if one killer was not enough, Party Hard 2 provides a set of insane lunatics to spread mayhem with, some coming as DLC. And with every new character, the gameplay drastically changes. For example, a small and rabid dog cannot use items and must escape not only from the police, but also from his owner always chasing after him. On the other hand, a Predator-like alien cannot walk in public without having everybody calling the police, but can rely on invisibility and deadly weapons. And if you want to play on Easy mode, there is a tall and disturbing killer with a paper bag on his head that is very tough to kill or arrest. Party Hard 2 provides a tough but rewarding gameplay that can offer long sessions of brutal fun, more stealth-oriented than Hotline Miami, but still infused with fast-paced insanity.

LITHIUM CITY

Gameplay: Fast action game where you can die in few hits, where dashing is the main form of surviving.

Protagonist: A mysterious girl with blue hair and inhuman powers.

Violence: Moderate.

Setting: Sci-fi setting with androids, holograms, and nice neon-like aesthetics.

Acid Trip: Low. The game has minimal plot with few twists, but nothing very controversial.

Lithium City is another surprise on this list, a top-down, fast, and relentless action game with gorgeous neon-like aesthetics. Set in a colorful sci-fi city, the game is a joy for the eyes as well as at gameplay level. The world is stunning and dynamic, and the gameplay is never boring due to the many situations or enemy types to face. Once slashing criminals gets repetitive, Lithium City brings you into fighting a room full of robots, surviving fast conveyor belts, avoiding a gunship on a train, or fighting hordes of holographic statues in a church-like building. The gameplay is fast and dynamic, with different weapons to collect from the bodies, and the ability to quickly teleport around. And when few hits mean death, dashing around is the main strategy to survive. There are also many strategies to solve a situation, including having the enemies shoot at each other while you quickly avoid the bullets. The game is challenging but never to the extreme, with the only exception of the final boss, a deadly tough battle. The gameplay is very rewarding, with fast executions and deadly combat, but it also needs quite a bit of strategy and planning to survive the most complicated situations. The fast and aggressive gameplay, together with the gorgeous neon-like aesthetics of the settings, create a small product with really high value.

APE OUT

Gameplay: Fast and aggressive action game, where the player must quickly rush toward the end of each level while smashing and throwing away enemies.

Protagonist: A strong and violent ape trying to escape toward his freedom.

Violence: High.

Setting: Laboratories that look like modern mazes, from entire building, to facilities in the jungle.

Acid Trip: Medium. Everything from the aesthetics to the jazz music is an audio-visual trip, while the plot is almost absent.

Ape Out is an easy call back to Hotline Miami, from the top-down perspective to the saturated colours and the quick and violent gameplay. The biggest change is that the main character is a strong ape trying to escape a research facility. The dark silhouettes, the top-down view, strong light dynamics, and an insane jazz soundtrack create a very stylish experience for every sense. Ape Out is all focused on quick and gory melee fight since the ape is of course unarmed. However, this is not true for the enemy soldiers, which wield from rifles to grenade launchers. As in Hotline Miami, being quick and sharp is the only way to reach the end of the labyrinthine levels, and surprising the soldiers before they are able to shoot is the way to go. The innovative details is how the gorilla behave, a deadly beast able to smash the enemies with a punch, throwing them against each others or outside windows. Moreover, the gorilla can also grab specific objects, like heavy metal doors, or the soldiers themselves, using them as temporary covers. In terms of plot, Ape Out doesn’t deliver much surprises of surrealist moments or acid trips, but the echo message hidden behind the multiple escapes of the animal, each time from a more complex research facility, can still offers something for many players.

CRUELTY SQUAD

Gameplay: FPS with tactical and stealth elements, with huge levels open to multiple approaches.

Protagonist: A specialised killer working for a murdering agency.

Violence: High.

Setting: Sick and dirt cyberpunk world made of flesh, amoral corporation, body augmentation, and killers.

Acid Trip: High. This world is a very weird and peculiar place, from every power-up to every character and location.

Cruelty Squad is quite different from the other games, but also very fitting, especially for the atmosphere. Set in a bizarre cyberpunk dystopian future, Cruelty Squad is an immersive FPS with so much to offer. And don’t make the error of being pushed away by the cursed PS1 aesthetics, because the game is one of the deepest shooters around. The atmosphere is insane and feverish, a capitalistic nightmare where cannibalism is a skill, you can augment body parts in a very disturbing way, and talking flesh is a standard. If you know the surrealist game for PS1 called LSD, imagine it but combined with Goldeneye 64 into a very violent and strategic FPS. And if this is not enough, each level is a sort of huge sandbox, where the objectives can be achieved through many ways and paths, from going stealth, to kicking the doors into the enemies’ faces. The levels are often wide, and dying resets the progresses, but luckily you still get some money as a reward, which can be used to improve your character and increase your next chances. The player can spend the money in different ways, from augmenting his body in really disgusting ways, to investing it in an in-game stock market, which will drop and raise during the game. Every gameplay element is intentionally cryptic, with many approaches and secrets to identify and kill the targets. Moreover, the game will get even more strange toward the end, in a surrealist spiral of flesh and madness. And with different enemies and tools, including a gun that transforms enemies into a mass of flesh or intestine-like grappling hooks, Cruelty Squad knows how to diversify the gameplay. If you are not superficially pushed away by its aesthetics, Cruelty Squad is one of the most immersive FPS around, and an insane trip in a dystopian, sick, and disturbing future, which is as challenging as replayable.