The eyes, THE EYES
You might have heard of the “horseshoe theory” in political science, which holds that far-left and far-right groups are actually closer to one another in terms of values and objectives than the political centre, coming together like the prongs of a horseshoe. I would like to propose an analogous theory for horror games and cute games whereby past a certain point of cuteness, the videogame in question teeters over dramatically into dread and nausea. We could call it the “horseshuwu effect”.
As evidence of this, please witness the unholy magnificence ofSaccharinity of Starfield, aStarfield modfrom lucyprrrr and the Sakura Candy Society, which treatsStarfield’s items, spaceships, buildings, vegetation, planet models and, worst of all, people to a barbie-doll makeover reminiscent of a seriously overclocked shoujo anime. Do you like pink? No you don’t. Not this much.
I can just about tolerate the spectacle of the mod’s pastel-coloured, lower-resolution interior props. I actually think the toy figurine sheen of the redesigned outfits is fitting, given that all Bethesda Softworks games can be summarised as vast jumbles of memorabilia - merchandiseable object worlds with anRPGtrapped somewhere inside, screaming for an inventory upgrade.
But then you get to the planets, which just look… wrong, like colossal bath bombs poised to disintegrate and flood whole star systems with violently-scented foam.
And then there are the game’s poor, innocent character models. Lucyprrrr has written “uwu” on their eyeballs. I do not much rateStarfield’s companions, but what have they done to deserve this?
I posted the mod on the RPS Slack. Katharine immediately sent me a screen of herStarfield Dadwith uwu eyes, which I have dutifully used for this article’s header image. Away, fiend, away!
It’s an excuse, at least, to recommend some deliberate “cute horror” games, like Amanita Design’s so-calledHappy Game, orTattletail. They don’t appear on ourbest horror gameslist, butLittle Nightmares 2does, which I guess you could class as “cute” in places.
