Video games have been around long enough that we’re starting to see trends cycle. For a long time ‘retro games’ were almost exclusively 2D side scrollers, made by people who grew up loving the 16-bit era. Now a new generation of game devs who grew up in the ‘90s are tapping into the early era of 3D to revitalize their own childhood experience. While Sony brings us aAstro Bot, a 3D platformer born fromSuper Mario 64’slineage filled with relics of the PS1 era, the indie scene is flooded with polygonal survival horror games that use fixed camera angles and tank controllers to remind us of the terror of playing Resident Evil and Silent Hill on 20” Panasonic TV/VCR combos late at night when we were supposed to be in bed.
This year’sCrow Countryand 2022’s Signalis are the most notable recent retro-inspired survival horror games, but this has become one of the most popular genres of indie horror on Steam and Itch.io. One I’ve had my eye on for quite a while is Heartworm from solo developer Vincent Adinolfi, and I finally got to play it at PAX West. The game lost its original publisher last October, which nearly caused Adinolfi to end development. Now, thanks to DreadXP, it’s back from the dead, which is pretty fitting given the game deals with death and resurrection.
The game follows Sam, a woman suffering from PTSD after losing people close to her. Unable to cope, Sam looks for answers online and learns about a house said to hold a gateway to the other side. Sam soon finds herself lost and alone in a surreal alternate reality made of memories and shaped by grief and fear. A haunted house in the mountains is the perfect setting for survival horror deeply ingrained in the traditions of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and Adinolfi’s approach to the genre shows great reverence for the classics, and a desire to build something new upon their legacy.
Heartworm isn’t shy about its inspirations. Many of its systems, mechanics, and iconography are ripped right out of the original survival horrors. The presentation mirrors the original Resident Evil right down the door transitions and heart monitor health bar, while the level design and structure of the haunted neighborhood you explore feel like it belongs to a forgotten Silent Hill game.
What impressed me the most was the way it uses fixed camera angles and lighting to create tension and danger. Adinolfi is a student of survival horror, not just an admirer, and he crafts brilliant compositions that elevate the environments and exploration. Heartworm understands that the claustrophobia and disorientation created by fixed camera angles was a feature of the genre, not a bug, and uses lots of opportunities to confuse and misdirect in a way that feels purposeful and directed rather than a frustrating gimmick. Running away from a shambling monster and taking a blind turn to attempt to get away may unknowingly put you in a dead-end alley, but it’s those kinds of high-pressure, unscripted moments that made classic survival horror games so engrossing.
Heartworm is mercifully modern in the ways that matter. If dealing with tank controls causes more frustration than its worth, you can play with modern controls instead. You also swap to first person when you aim a la Metal Gear Solid 2, which makes fending off enemies easier and has the added effect of changing your perspective to see the world around you in a new way. So before you take the left down that alley, you can aim and see where it leads. Learning little techniques like this is core to classic survival horror. Heartworm is imitating so successfully it feels like the real thing.
The PAX demo, which will soon be available on Steam, is heavy on exploration to give you a good sense of the scale and shape of the neighborhood, but Adionolfi is still holding a lot of the narrative details close to the chest. It’s a story that explores grief, PTSD, and the way our memories twist and transform over time, and I can’t wait to unpack the mysteries of Heartworm when it launches next year.
