Horror shooters and action horror PS1 horror

DUSK

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A 90s shooter through backwater cults and the darkness under the earth.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (97% of 25,554 reviews); Metacritic 88 on PC
Length: about 8 to 10 hours
Players: 1 (campaign), online arena multiplayer
Made by: David Szymanski
Released: 2018

What frightens Deep in the countryside, sack-masked cultists with chainsaws, possessed soldiers and stick-limbed screaming things wait in farmhouses, sewers and ruins, while messages on the walls say that something below is calling.
Content: gore, blood, violence, flashing lights.

DUSK is a retro first-person shooter by David Szymanski, the maker of Iron Lung, published by New Blood. Inspired by Quake, Blood and Doom, it sends you through three episodes of backwater cultists, possessed militants and darker forces, to find out what lurks beneath the earth.

About DUSK

DUSK was made by David Szymanski and published by New Blood Interactive in 2018. It is built as a love letter to the shooters of the 1990s, from Doom and Quake to Blood and Hexen, with a metal soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult.

Its three campaign episodes take you from rural farmhouses and a cult's lair to sprawling industrial plants and stranger places. The enemies are backwater cultists in sack masks with chainsaws, possessed soldiers, and worse things that come out of the dark, and the levels are full of hidden rooms, secrets and messages that warn you that something below is calling.

It plays fast and loud. You run, jump and strafe at high speed with sickles, swords, crossbows, rifles, dual shotguns and rocket launchers, and enemies burst into pixelated gore. Yet its horror is real: dark corners, distorted rooms and unsettling sound design make it closer to Blood or Quake's grim side than to a power fantasy.

Beyond the campaign there is an Endless Survival mode and online arena multiplayer. It suits players who want horror with their shooting, and fans of Szymanski's Iron Lung who want to see where he started.

How to play DUSK

Pick an episode and fight through each level, finding keys to open the way.
Keep moving: strafe, jump and circle enemies rather than standing still.
Switch weapons to suit each enemy, from sickles and shotguns to crossbows and rockets.
Look for secret rooms and hidden items; they hold extra weapons and health.
Try the Endless Survival mode and arena multiplayer after the campaign.

Screenshots

DUSK screenshot: a sack-masked cultist in overalls with a chainsaw stands in a red-lit room, another in a hood behind him

DUSK screenshot: tall, stick-limbed creatures with gaping mouths come down a sewer tunnel toward a double-barrelled shotgun

DUSK screenshot: the words Something below is calling us scrawled in red on a stone wall beside a fireplace

Tips

The crossbow goes through several enemies in a line.
Listen for chainsaws; the masked cultists are loud before they are close.
Explore odd walls and corners; DUSK hides a lot of secrets.

Questions

Is DUSK a horror game?

It is a retro shooter with a strong horror streak: cultists, possessed enemies, dark and unsettling levels and plenty of gore, closer to Blood than to a pure action shooter.

Who made DUSK?

David Szymanski, who later made Iron Lung, with New Blood Interactive as publisher.