Madison: Hands-On Preview
The landscape for video game psychological horror changed forever in 2014 when P.T., the interactive teaser for a Silent Hill game that never came, arrived on the PlayStation Store. Since then there’s been an overwhelming amount of similar games released, ranging from direct clones to the creatively inspired. Fortunately, from what I’ve seen so far of Madison — the latest horror game in this unnerving lineage — has just enough unique ideas to creep terrifyingly into the latter.
Much like P.T., Madison is a first-person psychological horror set within the now-familiar surroundings of an oddly designed home, its rooms tormented by general horribleness. You play as Luca, a helpless and terrified protagonist exploring his now haunted family home armed only with a Polaroid camera.
One of the first things I noticed about Madison is its attention to detail in both the layout and visual design of the environments. The history of Luca’s family covers the walls, each one extensively decorated with picture frames, newspaper clippings, and hidden messages. Every room contains draws and cupboards to rifle through, and potential solutions that will aid in escaping this nightmare. And boy, let me tell you, there’s lots of nightmare fuel. Across four hours of play (which I believe to be roughly half of the game) I experienced not only my fair share of demon-based jump scares but also the consistent sense of dread you’ve come to expect from the P.T.-like subgenre. There was never a corner I turned where I wasn’t expecting the next haunting flash of something lurking in the dark, even if that moment never came. The general sense of eeriness has been masterfully achieved by the small Argentinian studio Bloodious Games, particularly in
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