Free Horror Game
The Shadow Over Route 80 is a free horror game developed by The Ito Project for Windows. You play as a clerk working the night shift in a gas station’s mini market when creepy events start to happen. The game offers charming retro Playstation-style graphics to help the feel of unease settle in and make everything appear creepy.
Furthermore, you can replay it several times to discover all the possible endings of the game. There are plenty of first-person horror games you can try, such as Fears To Fathom, Late Night Mop, or Beware The Shadowcatcher.
Creepy atmosphere
The Shadow Over Route 80 offers graphics that will remind you of classic Playstation 1 games such as Silent Hill. Everything outside is drenched in darkness, and the only sources of light are the old, unreliable lamps from the store.
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All of this contributes to the creation of the uneasy feeling that you’re not alone in the store, and that something is watching you. However, the start of the game seems ordinary at first glance. You can just go about your daily routine as a clerk, until a car shows up at the gas station and honks; if you decide to go out, things start to take a turn.
A short replayable story
You won’t spend hours in this horror game, and that’s the way it was intended by the developer. The Shadow Over Route 80 lasts about ten to fifteen minutes, and the goal is to replay the game to reach all the alternative endings.
You’ll get different results depending on the actions you perform before and after creepy events start happening, so it’s recommended to play it several times and to play around to travel all the different paths to the end.
A retro creepy experience
Thanks to its old-school graphics and creepy atmosphere, The Shadow Over Route 80 offers a short but enjoyable horror experience with multiple endings that demand you replay the game. The minimalistic sound design and graphics, reminiscent of Silent Hill, will strike a chord with any horror fan, and the game is downloadable for free on Windows.
The developer’s done a fine job of creating a similar eerie vibe to that in Silent Hill without simply creating a clone of that classic title. In a genre that’s extremely well-populated, Route 80 fits in well, while retaining its own identity, so credit to the developer for that too.
