Terror in 16-bits

by Jonathan Raab, Matthew M. Bartlett, William Tea

Now you’re playing with…
TERROR

Demons stalk the circuit boards. Phantoms roam the arcade. Programmers embed occult secrets into the code. Madness spreads from player to player like a virus. Virtual and augmented reality are haunted by unspeakable forces. Doom-cursed warriors live and die and live and die again and again, in bloody and brutal fashion. The denizens of a tortured cyberworld begin to wake up… and get very, very angry.

Power up across fifteen shocking and sinister levels of video game-inspired horror, from unique tributes to legendary game franchises to alarming visions of technology gone to hell. These rising stars of independent horror channel our fears of the new interactive electronic frontier—and reveal the terrors that await us in the great digital abyss beyond.
So grab the controller and press START. But no cheat code can save you from…

TERROR IN 16-BITS

Featuring:

Matthew M. Bartlett, Jack Burgos, Amber Fallon, Julie K. Godard, Orrin Grey, J.R. Hamantaschen, Amberle L. Husbands, Thomas C. Mavroudis, Adrean Messmer, Brian O'Connell, Jonathan Raab, Alex Smith, William Tea, Sean M. Thompson, Richard Wolley

Genres: Horror, Video Games, Anthologies

414 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2017

About the author

Jonathan Raab is the author of The Secret Goatman Spookshow and Other Psychological Warfare Operations, The Crypt of Blood: A Halloween TV Special, Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization, and more. He is also the editor of several anthologies from Muzzleland Press including Behold the Undead of Dracula: Lurid Tales of Cinematic Gothic Horror and Terror in 16-bits. You can find him on Twitter at @jonathanraab1.

Reviews

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun! I love both horror and computer games so this was right up my street, especially considering that this collection features stories from Matthew Bartlett, Orrin Grey and J.R. Hamantaschen - who are among my favourite writers. I was also introduced to some new writers who have written some impressive and enjoyable stories. I was absorbed by all the stories and was pleased to find that there wasn't a dud among them, I can totally see myself reading this book again.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why haven't we seen more horror stories inspired by video games? There is so much fertile ground to explore and if they touch on anything like what is seen in Terror in 16-bits then we are in store for something amazing. And they don't have to just be carbon copies of games we've played, the majority of stories in here are simply taking their cues from video game concepts. In fact, this adds a layer of discovery to each story as you try to determine what genre of game they are trying to pull from, are they writing a story about fetch quests, a story revolving around the epic battles of role playing games, or saving a princess. Some of the stories do pull straight from games, for instance there is a great homage to the Splatterhouse Games, in which we realize that sometimes there is a way to break the loop of constant continues. Or there is one that is heavily inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's, but I think adds a bit more terror to the tale.

You don't have to be familiar with video games to enjoy this book, there are a number of games the authors mention as inspiration that I've never played, each story stands perfectly on their own. A number of stories dig deep into the horror, others lean a little bit toward humor, and one or two are a bit gory.

I'd love to see this as a series of books. It would be a blast to see what other game concepts and worlds could be explored. Definitely hunt this down if you are at all interested in the intersection of video games and horror.

[Joel Hacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Spooklights or High Strange Horror, you'll see many familiar names in this collection. Similarly, if you dip into independent/small press horror leaning towards the weird and bizarro, you may also recognize some names here.
I would also say, if you like gore, or just video games, this should be a fun collection to peruse. While some gems such as J.R. Hamantaschen's 'I'm a Good Person, I Mean Well, and I Deserve Better' and Orrin Grey's 'The Drunkard's Dream' have some significantly darker psychological underpinnings for the dedicated reader to dig in to, one can easily read it and the likes of 'Reset', 'Dr. Coagulant's Splatter Lab', and 'Angels' Armageddon' as fun romps filled with video game references and all the blood and meat you can handle. A quick read despite its size, due mainly to font and typeset, pick it up and find some authors to fall in love with then seek out their collections!

[SB Senpai Manga · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are plenty of video games out there that can please horror fans, most of them aren’t from big developers but it shows talent.
This anthology takes a look at video games in darker situations.
Some good ones shows what it truly would be like if you lived in a world like Until Dawn, Resident Evil, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Even if you don’t like or not familiar with these games, you can still be spooked out by the basic idea of them. I liked the first half more so than the latter half, just because it really grabs you with the stories they chose.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun anthology! The authors took the theme to pretty different places, some being inspired by specific videogames, some featuring games in the story, with a good balance of horror, humor, and winking camp throughout the collection.