The Sniper Killer demo shoots its shot as part of Steam Next Fest

High caliber dinner

I appreciate what Henry Hoare and Jordan King (Black-Eyed Priest) bring to the indie-horror cafeteria. They definitely understand the assignment, delivering rickety packages of gameplay, spartan visuals, and deliberately tacky and uncomfortable subject matter. Bloodwash still stands as one of my favorite titles of the lo-fi horror genre, and the amusing part of that is it’s largely just creeping dread and atmosphere. The actual horror game only takes up a small portion of its final act.

As part of Steam Next Fest, Torture Star Video brings us a demo of their upcoming game Sniper Killer as part of Steam Next Fest. Having chewed on its 25-30 minutes of gameplay, I have to say I’m excited to see the final product. I can really dig its routine of getting shot, shoot, repeat.

Herr Hans Fotostein!

The Sniper Killer demo opens up with you in the heels of Pamela. She’s degraded herself to taking on a sketchy modeling job in the basement of some awful apartment building. She finds herself posing for a diminutive German stereotype named Hans, who references a hilariously sordid past as a modern Dr. Frankenstein. This all ends with murder.

Next, you’re placed in the shoes of the eponymous Sniper Killer. You hang up your shoes, get to examine the tattered dregs of their life, then quickly get another call. Someone else needs to have their brains aerated.

You travel to the local carnival where you’re told you’re hunting the person dressed as a werewolf. Find your target, find a vantage, and take your shot. I’m not sure who lets someone on a carnival ride with a rifle, but I’m going to assume a very long and unseasonal coat was involved.

After claiming your victim, you take the wheel of Gail, a journalism student and acquaintance of Pamela. She takes a short reprieve from studying toward a life of constant poverty to investigate the mess you made at the carnival. After poking your nose around where it doesn’t belong, you once again find yourself on the business end of the Sniper Killer.

Protect national security

The narrative scenes of Sniper Killer are rather restricting, and the murder scenes are pretty simple. However, I couldn’t help but find the whole demo rather entertaining. The tone strikes a nice balance between seedy and amusing. I’m not sure about it being scary or even tense. The part of my brain that feels fear has long since been eroded away by a lifetime of digital headshots. However, I appreciated the small touches, like dropping a coin while trying to pay for a turnstile.

Overall, I feel like what’s been demonstrated of Sniper Killer is enough to keep me interested in seeing the final product. Alternating between the perspective of the murderer and their victims is a fun narrative approach, and I’m looking forward to seeing it extended throughout a complete story. I also enjoy the lo-fi, neon heavy visuals that Henry Hoare and Jordan King lean on. It’s a great way of encapsulating everything in urban gloom.

Puppet Combo is also releasing a demo of Power Drill Massacre for Steam Next Fest. I was going to do this post as a double-feature, but when you start up the demo, you’re given a static screen that tells you the demo isn’t finished yet, and to check back after an update on Wednesday. What a shameless prank to pull. I guess I’ll have to circle back on that one for a separate matinee.