SSR Wives: Survival Horror Gets a Rom-Com Twist (and iMac Save Points?!)
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
*SSR Wives* is a survival horror game that dares to ask, 'What if Silent Hill went on a date with a dating sim and raided a retro tech museum?' The result? A weird, wonderful, and potentially terrifying adventure.
Right, so Rock Paper Shotgun (cheers, mates!) flagged this one, and fair dinkum, it's weirder than a goblin wearing underpants on its head. We're talking *SSR Wives: The Murder Of My Winter Crush*, a survival horror game that's mashed up with a romantic visual novel. Sounds bonkers, doesn't it? Imagine Silent Hill 3 doing a jig with Final Fantasy 9, all while worshiping a low-poly iMac.
Hen Studios, the mad geniuses behind this, have dropped a demo on Steam, and it's a proper sugar rush of sourness. You pick one of several, shall we say... *unique* anime characters – Tradgirl and Chudboy, for starters (I'm already intrigued!) – and find yourselves trapped in The Town That Time Forgot. Which, let's be honest, sounds like my last trip to IKEA.
But here's the kicker: those adorably chunky iMacs? Save points, mate! A tip of the hat to *Resident Evil*'s typewriters, but with a hefty dose of retro-computing charm. I'm suddenly feeling ancient, but in a good way.
Now, this town… it's not exactly a holiday destination. Think “liminal labyrinths,” an abandoned missile silo, and a “clown carnival.” (Note to self: avoid the clowns.) Oh, and there's an “antiquated bakery,” but I wouldn't touch the bread with a ten-foot pole. It's probably liminal bread, and that stuff gives me the bloomin' horrors.
Expect rusty tunnels, dodgy toilets, and giant rats with a serious hunger problem. Later on, you'll be dodging pumpkin monsters and mutant clogboggoes with guillotine arms. (Guillotine arms?! Someone's been having a *very* bad dream.)
But where does the romance come in? If you chat up the locals and do them a few favours, you might just get to date them! (Presumably leading to multiple endings.) Just be warned, the townsfolk are “inflicted with disorder” and their sins manifest as the game's terrors. You'll need to “balance their emotional connections with the need to survive.” Sounds like my last relationship, actually...
Thankfully, you'll have a decent arsenal of shiny, real-world guns at your disposal. They look almost cute in your character's hands… until you turn a rat into a casserole, that is. And honestly, that sounds like a perfectly cromulent defense to me.
Now, I’m a bit worried *SSR Wives* might be *too* throwback. The game practically *insists* you use tank controls, and calls non-tank controls for "cowards" (a bit cheeky, innit?). The Steam page even lists “classic door scene transitions” as a feature, which feels a bit like ticking boxes of retro tropes. I did get chewed apart by a rat in the demo because my character point-blank refused to strike downward, so the feisty control talk is a bit much.
Still, there’s something rather potent about this demo. It might not be as straightforwardly "retro" as it seems. I reckon there's something going on with the collision of fourth-wall-breaking anime puppetry and cathode-ray Konami squalor that's worth keepin' an eye on. A magic spell that turned something weird *and* cool?
The full game's due out this year. Colour me intrigued. I'll keep my wand ready, just in case.
Tags: survival horror, indie games, retro gaming, visual novel, comedy horror
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun