Though AAA darlings like Resident Evil and Silent Hill sometimes hog the spotlight, Clock Tower casts a shadow just as long. Even on the Super Famicom, harrowing chase sequences created narrative tension like nails on a chalkboard. The result? An anxiety-inducing horror experience that still looms in the minds of many a '90s gamer. The newest product of Clock Tower's legacy? Midnight Special, which is set to release in early access on Steam on May 8.
A point-and-click survival horror game from Scared Stupid Inc., Midnight Special knows how to twist a familiar formula. Babysitting for a pair of twins in a creepy manor? It's a horror premise that would be equally at home in a Goosebumps novel or Dario Argento film. That's the first sign that Midnight Special is, well, special. From this simple start, we get mysteries, murders, and moderate puzzling. If anyone needed a reason to believe in Giallo games, this is it.
Watch the Midnight Special early access release trailer
In the right game, any mechanics can work. The tank controls of the early Resident Evils, for example, enhanced the horror by turning every encounter into a brush with disaster. The point-and-click interactions in Midnight Special arguably serve a similar purpose. Players are pursued by a villain as chilling as Clock Tower's iconic Scissorman, and escape is never certain. It might be a dark horse in 2025's roster of horror games, but Midnight Special has plenty to prove.
The game's 16-bit pixel art is one of its best qualities. If you missed the original wave of classics like Splatterhouse 2 and Super Castlevania 4, however, it might not be obvious why. Like a horror movie that obscures the monster to enhance the mystery, pixel graphics let your imagination do the heavy lifting. Pair that with some beautiful animations, and you have a recipe for creepy fun. Even from trailers alone, the attention to detail is obvious.
The Resident Evil films and other big-budget adaptations have sometimes struggled to capture what made early survival horror games so scary. It's a mix of brutality and subtlety as refined as any bouquet, and Midnight Special has it by the bucketful. Come for the bizarre phone calls, and stay for the life-sized plastic dinosaur. You can clutch your pearls (and butcher knives) when Midnight Special releases in early access on Steam on May 8.