Zero Brightness - A Podcast About Horror Video Games

16-bit month continues as we discuss Lone Survivor, the 2D Side-Scrolling Survival Horror game that - quite improbably - manages to incorporate heavy doses of all your favorite PS1 classics while introducing more modern survival elements and a whole bunch of commentary on mental health and violence. We also discuss Silent Hill and David Lynch, the game's two big influences - which we promise are r...

To celebrate the 10th episode of our Patreon-exclusive bonus podcast Zero Brightness Plus, we decided to give everyone a taste! This is Episode 8, where we talk about Gamer Rage taking over the media and games culture. If you like what you hear, you can sign up at our Patreon to check out the backlog and get new episodes every Thursday.

16-bit month rolls along with an absolute corker of an episode where we start talking about the classic 1993 horror-action game Zombies Ate My Neighbors and end up debating which dinosaur-themed retro action game most aggressively sexualizes its scaly, anthropomorphic hulks. In between all that? Only god knows.

We discuss the original trilogy of Splatterhouse games, which brought the gruesome aesthetic of 80s shock-horror to the world of Arcade beat-em-ups. We chart this highly influential series' evolution from the rudimentary smashing of the arcade original to the surprisingly complex mechanics of the third, Genesis-exclusive title. Somebody cut Namco a check!

We check out The Suffering, a much requested action/horror title from the heyday of the PS2. We discuss its many forward thinking ideas while trying to figure out if it's any fun to actually sit down and play.

We're back for more as we check out Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly aka the one where Tecmo really gets their shit together; a dark, cinematic upgrade to the original that creates a different kind of horror. We also talk ghostly pictures, bad ports, scared teens, Meat Loaf and a whole bunch more. It gets weird, in a good way.

It's our 30th episode and we're discussing the music of Silent Hill! We dive deep into the influences of the artist behind these iconic tunes (Akira Yamaoka) as well as the finer points of these fantastic soundtracks. We also give you a heaping helping of music recommendations, with more to come in future installments. Playlist for all of our recommendations and references dropped in our Silent Hi...

We're joined by our friend and fellow musician Cole Benson to tackle The Evil Within, a massive and bizarre horror game from the mind of Shinji Mikami. It's our Halloween special and *boy* is it special, with our conversation ranging from nuts and bolts game talk to figuring out what's inside the game's iconic green ooze and everything in between.

We're talking about Kuon, the From Software-developed PS2 game that has taken on mythical stature due to its rarity. We break down what it's like to actually play the game - a mix of asymmetrical storytelling, classic Survival Horror gameplay and rubbing bloody cloths on things. Grab your kimono and Clorox wipes, its' about to get nasty in here.

We drag ourselves through the Bosch-style hellscape of The Game Kitchen's new Gothic Metroidvania game Blasphemous and try to answer the big questions that it poses. We're talking mechanics, influences, dashing around with a giant sword, existential dread, pure frustration and giant evil babies - so you know it's gonna be a good time.

We tackle Clock Tower, not only the first 16-bit game we've played for the show but THE 16-bit horror game - a work whose influence has been strongly felt in the genre despite its janky, uh, everything. We talk about its direct inspirations (Argento's Phenomena and Suspiria) as well as its many quirks, including a heavily randomized gameplay experience. You won't believe who we both accidentally k...

We head back to Greenvale with our guide Whitney Chavis (creator of the Welcome to Greenvale and Silent Hill Historical Society websites) who enlightens us on a lot of stuff we missed in our first two Deadly Premonition episodes. We also talk the metaphysics of the Red Room, tons of wild theories and plot analyses and even a little bit of Silent Hill at the end. Buckle up, we took the scenic route...

We go on a writers' retreat with our boy Alan Wake and end up workshopping his new stuff (it's not very good) while trying to figure out exactly what is going on with his game.

We "discuss" Eternal Darkness, which is a nice way of saying we have a pretty rousing debate over its merits. Is it a one-of-a-kind classic or a three-out-of-ten? We also discuss its influences, including HP Lovecraft, 90s horror movies, Stephen King and much more.

We discuss Supermassive Games' new interactive movie/game The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (which we played together!) and dredge up terrifying memories of the Sega CD, David Bowie's weird Sci-Fi game, Dragon's Lair and more.

We're back with our buddies (?) Bloober Team and checking out their new game, a riff on the legendary Blair Witch franchise that mixes classic lost-in-the-woods vibes with a heavy dose of that patented Polish Psychedelia. We discuss the ups and downs of this surprising new game as well as dumb bumper stickers and Very Good Dogs.

We go back to the start of the Fatal Frame franchise and find that it’s a bit weirder than you may remember. We’re talking haunted cameras and annotated flow charts as we explore a very Japanese haunted house. J-Horror Forever.

We tackle Silent Hill - the one that started it all in 1999 on the PS1 - and cultivate a newfound appreciation for this super ambitious game. We're talking music references, drug cults, g4m3r5, circle strafing an alpha demon and much more.

It's part two of our discussion of the cult classic Deadly Premonition! Hold on to your butts, cuz we got almost two and a half hours of breaking down plots, analyzing themes, sweet musical cues and spoiling all the everything. Listen to part one first, obvs.

It is time. We're talking about Deadly Premonition, the completely batshit, cult classic Twin Peaks simulator. There's so much going on that our coverage of it is a two-parter - this is the first half where we discuss shaving in dungeons, trying to get this game to run on PC, the joys of talking to yourself and much more.

We played that new Castlevania that's called something else for legal reasons. Ali talks about the Game Boy Advance a lot and James has big plans for his bath water.

We're talking Samurai Resident Evil (or Ninja BioHazard, if you're nasty). We also recorded this at the end of a long day, so we get loopy and start talking about gamers pissing themselves and pornographic PS2 games. For fun's sake!

We conclude our discussion of 2.5D Horror Games (i.e. spooky Cinematic Platformers) by diving into Little Nightmares. It's full of creepy, provocative imagery and a whole lot of running to the right.

We discuss Limbo and Inside, the two horror-themed cinematic platformers by developer Playdead. This is part of a longer discussion of 2.5D horror games that will conclude next week with a breakdown of Little Nightmares. Lots of cute, in-game avatars were accidentally harmed in the making of this episode.

We're shooting stuff and getting spooked as we discuss Blood (1997) and Dusk (2018) - two games that combine the Horror and FPS genres.