Horror Double Whammy: New Survival Horror Dreamcast Indie Title and Alone in the Dark Ports Incoming

You can never have too many horror games on the Sega Dreamcast. Of course, it already boasts some exceptionally terrifying titles, from survival horror classics like the Resident Evil series to lightgun shootfests such as The House of the Dead 2, but there’s always room for more. Well, I’m happy to report that the Dreamcast’s horror library is about to get just that little bit plumper, with these two fresh news bites I have to share today. So, picture a gothic Ryo Hazuki as I say: "let’s get spooky."

I couldn't find a goth Ryo on Google Images, so here's Richmond instead.

Brand new survival horror indie title in the works from JoshProd!

Not much is known about this project yet, but the concept alone has the horror heads in the Junkyard team rocking back and forth with manic glee. A brand-new, fully fledged horror title is something the Dreamcast’s indie and homebrew scene has been missing, with Wolfenstein total conversion mod Witching Hour standing as the (sort of) lone torchbearer for a while now.

On Saturday, Philippe of JoshProd announced that development had started on a brand-new, currently unnamed "3D survival horror game", which will release exclusively on the Dreamcast. It will feature fixed camera angles, as is traditional survival horror fare.

It’s refreshing to learn that this title will be developed from the ground up specifically for the console, especially since JoshProd and their publishing arm PixelHeart have typically focused on porting existing titles over the years, to varied reception.

JoshProd hasn't shared any gameplay screenshots or artwork, just the image you see above of a very dusty Dreamcast. If yours looks like this, perhaps it's time to play it more. Maybe play this upcoming JoshProd horror game on it? We've been informed by Philippe that we'll hear more about this project in the summer, so keep your eyes peeled.

Alone in the Dark ports coming to Dreamcast — Preview build available

"The Dreamcast already has Alone in the Dark!" I hear you cry. And you’d be right. Infogrames and Darkworks' Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, the sole Dreamcast entry in the series, is a great game (and especially lovely visually), but soon, you’ll be able to play three more Alone in the Dark entries alongside it on the system. Don't worry, I'm not talking about the absolutely abysmal 2008 game (although that would be quite an impressive feat technically), but instead the very first —and highly influential— Alone in the Dark, its two sequels, as well as the short promotional game Jack in the Dark. 

After over a decade in the oven, developer Corbin (aka Corbachu) of Isotope Softworks has released a Dreamcast preview build of "Dream in the Dark", which is a modern, hardware-accurate source port of the original Alone in the Dark trilogy's engine. It is a complete rewrite of the Free in the Dark engine, and features a number of bells and whistles that my simple brain doesn't quite understand, but you can read all of the technical fine print in Corbin's announcement post over on the DCEmulation forums.

This newly released preview build (which you can download here) includes the demo versions of the first and second game, along with Jack in the Dark as a bootable CDI which you can burn to a CD-R or run on an emulator. An Alone in the Dark 3 demo is missing from this build as that game is not fully implemented yet.

Speaking of development, Corbin mentioned at the end of the announcement that this release functions as an apology for "past problems shipping games", most likely referring to the previously announced —but still unreleased— Dreamcast titles SLaVE and Hypertension. The post was then signed off with "this is far from the only major announcements we have for this year"... Could 2026 finally be the year we hear more about these two titles? Well, watch this space, I guess.

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It sounds like 2026 could be be a good year for fans of the Dreamcast and survival horror. Leave an "eeeeeeek" in the comments if you can hardly contain your excitement.

Deconstructing The Ring: Terror's Realm

In 2001 I saw a horror movie that totally changed the genre for me. I was at university and a friend who was (and still is) a complete movie nerd persuaded me to sit down and watch The Ring. Directed by Hideo Nakata and based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki, The Ring tells the story of a mysterious VHS tape that if watched, will forsake the viewer to certain death in seven days. It certainly peaked my interest in Japanese horror movies and over the following years I went on to buy the home releases of stuff like Dark Water, Uzumaki and The Grudge.

I'm not entirely sure what it is about horror from that particular part of the world, but there's always an intrinsic and overwhelming sense of dread that permeates every scene. There seems to be a strangeness that modern-day Japanese horror films effortlessly produce in spades: a gut-wrenching sense that while everything may seem normal, it is far from it. The colour may be off, the air just a little bit too still, the room just a little bit too quiet.

A built up, technologically advanced setting in which traditions and spirits are integral, and the odd juxtaposition of a totally empty street or apartment block are far more skin crawling than a typical haunted house or graveyard scene packed full of screaming zombies or monsters; normality steeped in an unknown and untraceable uneasiness is far more terrifying than a skeleton popping out of a cupboard, or a maniac running around with a knife. To me at least, that is the essence of modern Japanese horror; and while I am a huge fan of Hollywood productions like The Thing or The Shining (and more recently It Follows), what excites me is the notion that older, more powerful things exist in our world that have the ability to circumvent our technology and scare the living shit out of us.

HP Lovecast

As well as playing, collecting, discussing and writing about games in all of their guises (both retro and current), I also enjoy a good book. Granted, my most recent book purchases have been books about games: The History of Nintendo 1889-1980 by Florent Gorges and Masters of Doom by David Kushner, but I also enjoy reading the works of another author: HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft's most famous creation is arguably the whole Cthulu mythos, and the fear and dread that is encapsulated by that entire sub-genre hinges on the unnerving threat of inter-dimensional beings that possess ageless knowledge beyond human comprehension; and a running theme that being privy to this level of all-knowing consciousness would lead the frail human mind to total breakdown and madness. Personally, I much prefer Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour Out of Space to The Call of Cthulu, but that's just my personal preference.