Madonna, Dark Souls and Mario meet in a sweet and confounding swimming experiment based on a PS1 obscurity
If you're playing a "PS1-style" game these days, odds are it's a horror game. Sometimes, I worry that the association of PS1 with moody, Silent Hillian dankness has gotten to the point that younger players no longer perceive the original PS1 as a video game console at all. Going by Itch.io's Halloween output, the PS1 was just a rusty bucket of rot and gore in which the faithful might periodically hallucinate the face of Spyro the Dragon.
Here to remind us that the PS1 was capable of colours beside "existential grey" is Water Level/b.l.u.e. EXPLORATION, from New York City-based game designer Hatim Benhsain. It's a free downloadable experiment inspired by b.l.u.e.: Legend of Water, a Japan-only PS1 adventure in which you are a girl swimming through alien ruins with her dolphin.