Animal Crossing game news as a horror game? This strange FREE game has 95% positive reviews on Steam
Published on 03/22/2024 at 5:09 p.m.
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Rental is the unexpected meeting between Animal Crossing and Silent Hill. An experience as short as it is catchy which has attracted hundreds of Internet users.
It was after reading an article from our colleagues at gamesradar that my interest in the Rental game was awakened. The paper bears the following title: “The new darling of Steam is a cursed version of Animal Crossing and, suddenly, Tom Nook seems to be the best owner ever” and at first glance, the screenshots suggest a universe close to that of Nintendo's flagship franchise: an absolutely cute little rabbit frolicking in settings similar to what we could explore in the era of the first PlayStation. The atmosphere is intended to be much more horrifying, with Umi, the rabbit in question, finding herself stranded in a sinister rental cabin that is probably haunted. The owner of the place then blurted out to him: “Forget your parents! You’ll never see them again anyway!”
“It's a bit like Silent Hill meets Animal Crossing, and I'm still not sure if it's a good combination,” writes Hope Bellingham, a journalist for gamesradar. However, it was probably this particular mix that caught the attention of a few hundred Steam users. I even read a tweet from a user who said that although she was put off by horror games, she would give this one a chance for its adorable protagonist. Second point of interest for fans of very niche productions: low-poly graphics, a style that appeals to a very large community fond of anything that can infuse them with a certain wind of nostalgia. Finally, last significant advantage: it's completely free.
When Animal Crossing meets Silent Hill
Apart from a pitch that is frankly attractive at first glance, the content of Rental is still very minimalist, the game can be completed in barely fifteen minutes. The principle is as follows: Umi must search the furniture in the cabin and search for hidden pixels to collect a series of objects required to carry out a ritual that will allow her to escape from this hell. Getting started is extremely simple, the experience only requiring you to use the arrows on the keyboard as well as the enter key. No escape mechanics are present, the horrific processes consisting only of a few chance appearances. It's hard to say that I was completely thrilled by this brief adventure (especially since the game crashed twice during fateful moments), and yet, both the packaging and the concept still exude something very charming. . On Steam, 95% of users who have tried it seem to come away absolutely delighted.
On the networks, Rental even serves as a source of inspiration for other amateur artists. Shizuku Sato, in particular, shared a very beautiful handmade illustration of the small family of mammals. Some have not played the title, but seem completely thrilled by the visuals. “I like the aesthetic and the concept (it reminded me of the nightmares of my childhood) and the strangeness of the icons with humans existing alongside these cute animal mascots,” said one Internet user to the attention from the studio, who took the trouble to respond: “I think I was very influenced by a time when I was playing Animal Crossing and found this human model on my friend's island. I found the difference in proportions hilarious, as well as its bizarre implications for the world of acting.”
[Free]“Rental'', a short horror adventure game with a nice low-poly character similar to the original PS and DS 3D games, is now available on Steam https://t.co/MUt9y0StsJ
The main character, Umi, and her family rent a cabin near the seaside during their summer vacation.Once inside, he becomes trapped, so he collects crosses and candles and aims to escape from the hut. pic.twitter.com/jmOsQZFywC
— Denfaminicogame (@denfaminicogame) March 12, 2024
On the Steam comments page, the compliments keep coming. “It finishes in less than 10 minutes, so it's short enough that you won't feel upset about wasted time if you don't like it. I think it does some interesting things in its short lifespan and has style, so it's worth taking a look,” Yzil writes. Opinion shared by Kandria, who is very optimistic about the future of developers:
A cute and rather well-made 32-bit throwback, Rental wasn't a bad game overall. The story is decent, with some fun twists on old tropes, the graphics are well done, and the gameplay is pretty smooth. It's a simplistic and short game, but it has a lot of potential. With enough exposure and interest, I think we could expect to see more complex projects from this developer in the future.
A game from a great game jam
The game is by Lonely House on Steam, but we find it in the studio catalog Smarto Club on itch.io (probably their new name), a small group of three novice developers from Santiago, Chile. In addition to Rental, which is intended to be completely free, the trio offers for barely three euros the purchase of a fanzine of around fifteen pages, which brings more lore to the very short experience, and which we could perhaps have be liked or implemented in the main game. The title was developed for the 32bit Jam in 2022 and if the theme interests you, I suggest you explore this page in particular, which lists all the additions from the participants who have fun creating games inspired by the aesthetic of the late 90s.
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