'Tis the spooky season, and with it comes a quintet of scary escapees from the Collection Chamber. Before I get to that, let's discuss something even more horrifying; Microsoft's forced obsolescence of Windows 10 - an entirely capable operating system that was apparently installed on over 40% of active Windows PCs (previous OS deaths were always less than 20%). Despite everything that I want to run on my system running fine, my more than capable CPU cannot handle the upgrade according to Microsoft themselves and thus I've decided to delay the upgrade for a year (thanks EU legislature!). Looks like I'll have to start saving for a new one - I can't quite afford it just yet. Until then, I'll carry on with getting old obscure games running as normal.
Talking about old games, let's take a look at the five new additions. We begin with an alien invasion in the heart of Brazil with an obscure first-person-shooter called Alien Anarchy: The Varginha Incident (1999 Perceptum Informática Ltda). Next up is a bizarre taxi trip through time and space with the FMV adventure Hell Cab (1993 Pepe Moreno). The classic novel by Robert Lewis Stevenson was given an action-adventure overhaul obviously inspired by American McGee's Alice in Jekyll & Hyde (2001 Cryo, Index+ & France Telecom). And, if you want to know what a couple of young men with a camera get up to in the suburbs of London, then play Psycho Killer (1992-1993 Delta 4 Interactive & Prism Leisure), a consequence-driven FMV adventure for the Amiga CDTV and DOS.
Pick of the month is a PlayStation game hailing from Japan; ...Iru! (1998 Takara) which has been fan-translated into English as "...They're Here!". It's a cool first-person survival horror that sees a dark force descend on a high school as a bunch of teenagers stay over to prepare for a festival. It's a cool little find that kept me gripped all the way through.
I've also prepared a few updated packages for you to try out too. The PlayStation version of Discworld Noir has updated its emulators and implemented full mouse controls in case you want an alternative to the PC original. Also on the PlayStation is the weird Japanese arcade game called Oh No! which, in addition to its updated emulator, has the addition of widescreen and hi-res hacks complete with a new custom menu. Lastly, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail has upgraded DOSBox to DOSBox-X.
See you next month!
Click on the images below to head on over to the game page.
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1999 Perceptum Informática Ltda
DOS
Action-FPS-Science Fiction-Aliens!
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1993 Pepe Moreno
Windows 3.1
Adventure-FMV-Time Travel-Sci Fi
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1998 Takara
PlayStation
Action Adventure-Survival Horror-Japanese
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2001 Cryo, Index+ & France Telecom
Windows
Action Adventure-Third Person-Horror-Novels
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1992-1993 Delta 4 Interactive & Prism Leisure
Amiga CDTV / DOS
Adventure-FMV-Horror
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I'll be staying with Win10 for as long as possible, there is a huge number of classic games that simply won't run on Win11. Might even swap to Linux if they try to really force it. Thank you for your continued work on bringing these hidden gems to the front.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard about too much of a compatibility difference, but then I'm not on Windows 11 yet. It might turn out to be a case of finagling with settings than outright incompatibility. I hope anyway.
DeleteReally? Which classic games don't work on Windows 11 that do work on Windows 10? I hope you're not talking about Collection Chamber releases? I haven't tried using Windows 11 yet. so I wouldn't know. Hearing this makes me scared to switch.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard much difference in terms of compatibility. That's what's annoying to me - forced obsolescence. If it ain't broke, why fix it - especially when up until then ~ 40% of Windows PCs still use 10 (far more than XP or 7 which were two OS's behind before they lost support).
DeleteI managed to extend my support for Windows 10 for another year, up to October 2026. I had to choose the correct options when offered the chance to extend my support rather than switching to Windows 11.
DeleteThat's what I did. From what I've read, those outside of the EU have to pay for the privilege (or get Outlook). Bloody Microsoft.
DeleteAmazing. Hell Cab and Psycho Killer are such obscure adventure games that even the venerable adventuregamers website hasn't heard of them. FInding them is... truly impressive.
ReplyDeleteThanks! There's plenty more on the backburner.
DeleteThank YOU for all the work you do. It's great there are many more obscure games to find, as well as all the ones already on the Request List. It's good to know the Collection Chamber will not have to wind down yet, not for the foreseeable future.
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