Endure a pop-culture nightmare in this bizarre Seinfeld horror game
You're trapped in a hellish sitcom world, with a heavy dose of anime, in Sinfeld Remastered.
At first I was going to write off Sinfeld Remastered as "A Bunch of Seinfeld References, The Video Game," but the deeper into the trailer I got the more there seemed to be going on.
Yes, it's a horror game that's oddly obsessed with Seinfeld. Within a few seconds we see a neon sign for the Van Buren Boys and graffiti reading "Assman was here" and a Frogger arcade cabinet. (Those things are all from Seinfeld.) It's followed by a trip past Monk's Restaurant and through Jerry's apartment, complete with the couch Poppie peed on. But along with the Kenny Rogers Roasters sign and the Festivus pole (which appears to be magic), there's also a nod to Spider-Man's upside-down kiss, an alligator and helicopter attack, and the Grim Reaper in the parking lot of The Last Video Store.
Plus, the game is led by a disturbing, baby-faced character wearing an Akira jacket (which also references The Human Fund from Seinfeld). So, it's safe to say I have no idea what's going on other than it's more than just a bunch of Seinfeld references. EVA 01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion makes an appearance as well. See, there's something for everyone.
Sinfeld Remastered was originally called Sinfeld Chronicles and was made in PS4 game creation tool Dreams, and featured a character named Donathan wandering through a nightmarish version of Jerry's apartment building. But in 2020 developer Rarebird Interactive stated it was working on a bigger "New York themed" game that reached beyond the sitcom. And that looks like what this is, considering all the non-Seinfeldian stuff going on and the fact that Sinfeld Remastered is made in the Unreal Engine.
According to the trailer's description, Sinfeld Remastered is an "action horror comedy parody featuring various gameplay styles inspired by Resident Evil, Silent Hills and PT." And according to The AV Club, it's coming to both PS5 and PC in October. If you're wondering if this is just an April Fool's joke, I don't blame you. But Jerry, just remember: It's not a lie if you believe it.
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Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.