Psalm 5:9-13 is the sort of horror game that wastes absolutely no time asking whether you have anything better planned for the next half-hour. You wake up in a gloomy house, presumably having made some extremely poor life choices, and are immediately invited to wander around looking for things that would normally justify calling the police. It is short, unsettling and occasionally rather effective, which is fortunate because there isn’t an enormous amount else going on.
Gaming Heaven
Atmosphere is easily the strongest part of Psalm 5:9-13. The whole thing is presented through the visual filter of an old VHS recording, complete with scanlines and a deliberately cramped 3:2 presentation. It gives the game an appropriately grimy appearance, making every dark corridor and suspicious doorway feel considerably more unpleasant than it probably has any right to be.
There are also some decent jump scares. A few genuinely caught me off guard, which is impressive considering the entire game is essentially telling you that something horrible is probably standing behind the next door. The simple room-by-room progression also keeps things moving, with strange objects and unsettling sights providing just enough reason to continue.
Gaming Hell
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the entire meal. Psalm 5:9-13 can be finished in around thirty minutes, and the gameplay consists largely of walking forwards until the game decides you aren’t allowed to anymore. Then you find an object, stare at something unpleasant or solve a puzzle that probably wouldn’t trouble a mildly distracted nine-year-old.
There are only a couple of puzzles with any real substance, and even these are hardly going to have you reaching for a notebook. Once the novelty of the VHS presentation wears off, there’s very little underneath it. The ending arrives abruptly and manages to be both brief and underwhelming, which is quite an achievement.
Final Judgement
Psalm 5:9-13 has atmosphere, a few effective scares and a suitably horrible aesthetic. Sadly, it also has the approximate lifespan of a Greggs sausage roll left unattended in the office. Worth a punt for hardcore horror fans at the right price, but there simply isn’t enough game here to justify much enthusiasm.
