[Games of Halloween is a retrospective highlighting the most frightening video games ever created. This entry sees Tim Torres reflecting on Eric Chahi's pioneering game, Out of This World.]

Out of This World, also known as Another World, gets cited by Fumito Ueda (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Zone of Enders) and Goichi Suda (Killer7, No More Heroes) as major inspirations, so that probably makes it one of the most important games ever made.

It has some atmosphere for a game from 1991. “Ahead of its time” doesn’t even begin to describe its lonely, bleak world. There’s barely any music. Just sound effects of rocks falling or beasts breathing and the occasional ambient tone pulsing in the background. Er, from what I know of the first few screens of gameplay anyway.

Yeah, I barely got past the first area. I was a real scaredy cat when I was younger, but what an introduction this game has. You’re blasted into another world, underwater, where tentacles creep up at you, and when you get on dry ground awful black slugs crawl after you. Get too close to a slug and a quick little scene plays where a single retractable tooth juts out of and kills you. Scared the hell out of me when I first played the game. And I never outran that beast.

Playing it now the sluggish controls make me impatient and the try-and-fail style of gameplay can only entertain me for so long, but yeah, it inspired Ico, so I’ll have to play through it sometime in my life.

I just hope I get past those slugs.