’80s adventure Onryō Senki took horror games in a slower, spookier, direction

Pasokon Retro is our regular look back at the early years of Japanese PC gaming, encompassing everything from specialist ’80s computers to the happy days of Windows XP.

I have never seen a game ratchet up the supernatural tension quite as effectively as Onryō Senki, an adventure game from 1988. Not Fatal Frame, not Devotion, not even my first trip to Silent Hill—none of them come close to matching the level of “I’m not scared I just want to sleep with the lights on for a week” horror found here. This is a game content to treat players like prey, something to be patiently stalked while it waits for the perfect time to strike.

I’ve also never seen another game ship with a protective ofuda designed to ward off evil spirits like Onyro Senki; this clever packaging gives the PC-88 version’s warning about malicious ghosts being summoned forth if played without protection just a bit more weight. This small rectangle of printed paper is exactly the sort of straight-faced “No, really” caution a scary tale should start with: it’s a physical suggestion this story might not be quite as fictional as anyone playing expects it to be.