Horror Spotlight: P.T.

He goes first. We [the player] wake up inside of what looks like a basement with a cold, stone floor and a cockroach as company. As we steadily get up, we step outside the door into a brightly lit hallway; it’s night time. A digital clock on a small end table in an alcove reads 23:59, a minute to midnight. The hallway itself is a little bit messy, with refuse in the alcove and at the base of a set of drawers with pictures on it, as well as a phone. In the background, a radio broadcast can be heard, talking about a string of domestic homicides, one of which talks about how a father shot his mother, son, and daughter before killing himself. The mother was pregnant at the time. When you round the corner, there’s a door immediately on your right, and one at the end of the hallway. As you travel closer to it, you see on your right a set of drawers on your right with more pictures and a radio, and the entrance to the house on your left, with a single hanging light above you. From here, you can also see the second floor, which is pitch black. When you try the front door, it’s locked.

So you head through the door at the end of the hallway walk down the stairs and then open the next door…

It’s the same hallway. It’s still a minute to midnight.

My turn. The radio’s off, and the door at the end of the hall is shut. But for some odd reason, there’s an odd rattling of the second door. When you check it, there’s nothing, and the door at the end of the hall opens. His turn. Same hallway. By this time, you can tell we’re switching off between each other, neither one of us wanting to play through completely. 2^nd door rattles…harder. For some odd reason, we hear a baby crying. Door opens, we keep going. My turn. Same hallway. Door at the end of the hallway is open; it closes by itself. When you go to investigate, the 2^nd door opens just a tad. Roaches crawl out of it, and baby cries can be heard from within. When you go to it, you can tell it’s the bathroom, but you can’t open it any further. You see something…squirming in the sink, however. Getting a closer look elicits a NASTY surprise and the door shuts, but the door at the end of the hallway opens up.

His turn. Same. Hallway. When he rounds the corner, we see…SOMETHING standing underneath the light. It’s not moving. Just…staring at us. We’re both terrified at this point, but we press on. It disappears, and the light goes out. I am scared as shit, but we keep going. I’m not gonna tell you how the rest of the game goes, except for the time where the both of us went crazy. On one loop, we pass by a radio that speaks a series of numbers: 204863. After the both of us do a bit of mental memorization, it says “Look behind you.” Both of us are in full “HELL NAH” mode, but then it says “I said, look behind you.” So my cousin turns, and there’s nothing there.

The moment that we turn back, however…

We had to stop playing for a few minutes after that.

The entire game does an amazing job of using their scares to the best of their ability, by letting the atmosphere, the scene, and the sounds come into play…without actually doing anything. Some may think that boring as hell, but I would argue that it’s one of the most effective ways of scaring someone. It’s about that anticipation. I would argue that it’s so effective, playing it with the brightness turned up won’t save you.

The creepiest thing was after we stopped playing and went to get something to eat. It was very dark at night.

Towards the end of this game, though, you find out what it actually is. P.T. stands for Playable Teaser; in other words, it’s a demo for a new horror game in a familiar franchise:

Silent Hills.

…Yeah, no D:

--Choco Thunda (10/28/14)

Sources: www.gamespot.com, www.digitalspy.com, www.humblebazooka.com