One indie developer is attempting to build the "greatest PS1-style video game ever made," and judging by the first bits of footage, this game might just have what it takes to live up to that moniker.
Cold and Afraid is a mystery game where you take control of a detective attempting to find the killer behind a string of murders in a college town. You'll talk to various characters through a branching dialog system in order to solve the mystery, and a time event system will force you to make choices about how to spend your time while attempting to prevent the killer from claiming another victim.
As you can see in the footage below, the game absolutely nails the PS1 aesthetic, right down to the fixed camera angles and constantly-warping textures. But as a modern game, it isn't limited by the constraints of modern hardware, and it's absolutely incredible to see this visual style applied to much larger areas with far more NPCs than could be supported on an actual '90s console.
It's also a little horny. It looks like our protagonist spends most of the game in some painted-on jeans before coming home to hang out in her finest lingerie, and there's even time for a quick shower scene in the preview footage. I never imagined you could make an extreme close-up of blocky PS1 feet look quite so steamy, but hey, everybody's got their interests.
Either way, Cold and Afraid looks extremely impressive, and in an FAQ developer Sunamii cites a number of notable influences on the game's design drawing from various PS1 cult classics. The horror RPG helped influence the story and main character, Persona inspired the time event system, and the Japan-only adventure game Mizzurna Falls helped inform the central conceit of a game about solving a mystery.
Sunamii says "There is no official release date as of yet. However, the tentative plan is to release no later than Summer 2024." The game is set to launch on PC via Steam, and a Kickstarter campaign is planned. Sunamii previously developed Isolania, a small-scale adventure game that garnered positive reviews on Steam.
Cold and Afraid will still have some stiff competition from the best PS1 games of all time.
