Zero Brightness - A Podcast About Horror Video Games

We journey into Sci-fi Horror as we explore Observer (the GOOD Bloober Team game) and Observation (the new joint from No Code, the developers of Stories Untold). Come with us now on a journey through time and space!

We played Layers of Fear 2 and we have opinions

We discuss Red Candle Games - the developer behind Devotion and Detention - who have received both critical acclaim and extreme censure from the Chinese government. We pick apart the social and political situation behind these events (including the muted reaction from US Journalists) as well as what makes these games noteworthy.

We dissect Silent Hill 2 and discuss whether or not the Horror classic still holds up today, in terms of themes and gameplay. Are its Lynchian vibes and slow-paced action still entrancing or has it soured like a skittering pile of raw meat? In the quest to answer this, we discuss its film influences and dark aesthetics. Also Zelda, just cuz.

We talk about The Glass Staircase and Stories Untold as we try to figure out if nostalgia can be an aesthetic/design principle or if it's always cheap gimmick. We also complain about the games industry and Dark Souls, because I could do that all day.

We talk about SOMA - which spirals into a discussion of Anti-games, Existentialism, the Nation of Islam, violence, speculative fiction, euthanizing the last human alive, working at guitar stores, what it means to be alive, etc. Easy listening, you know.

We talk about "Hide Em Ups" a more recent sub-genre of Horror games that boomed a few years ago and has remained a part of the landscape. We also deep-dive into two of the best hiding-in-lockers-simulators, Alien Isolation and Outlast. We also talk a lot less about Heavy Metal, but probably the same amount about old Genesis games. We can't be stopped!

We're talking a handful of atmospheric Indies (Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Layers of Fear, September 1999 and Lost in Vivo) as well as thoughts on Art, walking simulators, Black Metal and internet racism. I swear it's more fun than that sounds!

In our inaugural episode, we talk about the Resident Evil 2 remake as well as the series' bizarre development history and general propensity for weirdness. Contains admissions of guilt re: piracy and playing old RPGs in fast-forward.