Horror Games Special Feature – Gregory Horror Show

Posted on 16th October 201520th October 2015 by

With Halloween just around the corner, we felt it was time to delve into some of the horror classics of gaming!
In the nights leading up to All Hallows Eve, we’re going to do a short feature of some of the more notable horror games that have been released. This isn’t a list of the best or even our favourites.
Just some Horror games which have stood out to us, for one reason or another.

Actual differences between horror games have a tendency to be subtle or shallow.
A focus on zombies over demons.
First-person or third person.
Gun-toting mercenary or terrified Japanese girl with a camera that can see ghosts
(yes, that’s a real thing, check out Project Zero).
The big exception is Gregory Horror Show.

Looking totally unlike any horror game before it, GHS is an adaptation of a CGI anime released only in Japan. It features cartoonish talking animals and an oddly adorable Grim Reaper.
Your goal isn’t to survive but to retrieve souls for Death, so that you can leave the hotel run by Old Gregory himself (a grumpy anthropomorphic mouse).

It should be obvious why this game is a noteworthy horror; there’s never really been another horror game like it. You stalk the dark hallways of the hotel, trying to catch or trick hotel guests into giving you their souls, without being caught by the genuinely scary Nurse Catherine, a pink lizard who tries to steal the blood of any hotel guest she sees with a giant syringe…..???

The bizarre conversations you have with, for example, Cactus Gunman or Roulette Boy (a boy with a roulette wheel for a head) almost makes this seem like it’s aimed at kids. There’s a bandaged puppy and adorable zombie you get as allies, I mean come on!
But, as you might guess from the description of Nurse Catherine, it is often pretty scary, and creeping through the cartoonish-ly misshapen, yet pitch black corridors is more unsettling than you’d imagine.
On top of that, the puzzles are layered, devious little puzzle-boxes which will be impenetrable for even most adults.

Despite such a unique, and well implemented, concept, GHS wasn’t received very well by the public. It’s practically unheard of in the West, though, to be fair, the difficulty makes it a very tough sell. Most players will throw the controller down in frustration within an hour, because there is no hand-holding.

But if you’re looking for one of the more unique horror games out there, one that doesn’t take the tried and tested formula of “generic blockhead in monster infested hell”, you might give this a go.
(Though to be fair, you won’t find a bigger blockhead than the main character here)

Best Moment
It’s tempting to give away the OTT ending, which is a delightfully fiendish homage to a classic horror film. But it has to be said, the first time you’re chased through the halls by the demonic Nurse Catherine will send your heart into palpitations. (and what a grizzly animation if you get caught!)

Where is the franchise now?
Unsurprisingly, Gregory Horror Show didn’t receive a sequel. If you enjoy the tone of the show however, there are plenty of the episodes from the TV show to be found online.