Highlights
- Steam is flooded with games, but hidden gems like Samurai Unicorn offer original, nostalgic horror experiences.
- Samurai Unicorn's nostalgic graphics and cyberpunk aesthetic pay tribute to the classic PlayStation 1 era.
- This upcoming Indie game blends old-school exploration with modern action-horror mechanics for a unique experience that longtime horror gamers should keep an eye on.
The horror genre has always been home to some of most innovative and creative projects in all of entertainment. Just like horror movies, horror video games can do a whole lot with very little, and the limitations that are usually placed on them often end up leading to moments of sheer brilliance. Though budgets have gotten much bigger, and there are more AAA horror games than ever before, there are plenty of horror titles that still manage to retain a high level of creative-freedom, though sometimes fans have to do a little digging to find them.
Steam is absolutely flooded with games, from early access titles to AAA releases and just about everything else in between. But Steam is also home to some of the most original, inventive video game experiences out there, and fans just need to know where to look. It's all too easy for intriguing new Indie games to get overshadowed by big corporations, but there's one upcoming game that nostalgic horror fans can't afford to overlook, and that's Samurai Unicorn.
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Samurai Unicorn Offers an Intriguing Blend of Old and New
Samurai Unicorn's Graphics Are a Nostalgic Throwback
While nostalgia has always been a part of video game industry, it's become especially apparent in the last decade or so, particularly in the world of Indie development. When it comes to Indie games, many devs are inspired to create experiences based on their own favorite childhood titles, and that's seemingly led to a new wave of nostalgia-focused Indie games, many of which have tried to recreate the unique pixelated look of classic PlayStation 1-era graphics. Samurai Unicorn is next up to bat.
Originally announced all the way back in October 2020, Samurai Unicorn is set to be Indie developer Its Got Stealth's debut title, and it gained immediate attention for its unashamed art style. Fully embracing a PlayStation 1-inspired aesthetic, Samurai Unicorn features blocky character models, polygonal textures, simple lighting effects, and some rudimentary sound design.
On top of its general presentation, Samurai Unicorn also attempts to embrace the past with its general art direction. Though its pixelated art style does most of the nostalgic heavy lifting, Samurai Unicorn's cyberpunk aesthetic also goes a long way in capturing the spirit of the PlayStation 1 era, with the in-game "future" technology looking similar to 1980s Sci-Fi movies like Blade Runner, complete with chunky computers and cumbersome VR headsets, along with plenty of neon billboards.
Samurai Unicorn's Gameplay Borrows From Modern Action-Horror
But while Samurai Unicorn's main gimmick is nostalgia, it's got plenty of modern mechanics bubbling underneath its surface. An action-horror game, Samurai Unicorn blends the slower exploration of a classic Resident Evil game with the fast-paced combat of a Resident Evil remake, putting a heavy emphasis on its over-the-shoulder gunplay, and some intriguing melee combat mechanics. One of the most interesting parts of Samurai Unicorn's gameplay so far is its titular parasitic being, who appears to act similarly to one of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures' "Stands," appearing as a manifestation just outside the player-character's body and attacking enemies in front of it with a projection of a sword capable of dicing and dismembering.
Samurai Unicorn is in development.
