"Game of Horror," a poem inspired by the acclaimed survival horror experience Song of Horror

I played the game, or it played me; only horror song remains.

Dear hopeful reader,

My poem “Game of Horror Part I” was inspired by 2020’s classic survival horror adventure game Song of Horror by Protocol Games. This game is a truly unique experience. Each chapter you choose a character to play with particular strengths and weaknesses. If they perish in that chapter, they perish for good, unless you restart the game. And if you lose all available characters, you lose the game. That is if you play it as it’s meant to be. And I highly recommend you do!

The stakes are high and you have to be vigilant and meticulous to keep everyone alive. The game gives you some unexpected scares and situations you have to evade that are different with each playthrough. And it gets harder and more terrifying as you progress, especially if you’re playing on the most difficult mode—the H.P. Lovecraft difficulty! After playing the game on M.R. James or Edgar Allan Poe, of course.

I played Song of Horror at least three times. Each experience was as enthralling as the last. That game submerged me so deeply into its lore that I wrote a poem after it. But it’s about a cursed game that disappears others. Funnily, the lines about drilling above is about a happening in the apartment complex I live. Drilling did happen. At three am, it did. And it sounded like it was happening above me. Guess what? I live on the last floor! Or, I probably played too much of the game.

Anyways, the poem is unfinished. I’ve been stuck on it for a while. And I’m not happy about the last stanza. It reads messy. But I still wanted to share a part of me, mess and all. I know I’ll finish it eventually. I just have to go down the rabbit hole called Song of Horror, again.

Also read: “The Swallow,” a song of endurance & freedom

---

Game of Horror Part I

after Song of Horror

Prelude

I played a game
that was misplaced;
I pressed start anyway.

I couldn’t stop;
there was no pause.
I played until the end.

I played the game,
or it played me; only
horror song remains.

Day One

The pitter-patter
drip drip dripping
of the rain is somehow

different today. How can it
fall like a cry like a howling
like a wendigo?

Day Two

Someone’s been drilling
fo(u)r hours, nonstop.
Someone’s been drilling

and it’s three am. Drill drill
drilling above. But we’re
on the last floor above.

Day Three

The husband left,
took the cat. The suit-
case stands, empty.

I asked the neighbor below—
no/body lives across—
if she saw them. Saw whom? 

---

Do you know any other game like and unlike Song of Horror you’d recommend? Is there a piece of writing you’re currently stuck on? Maybe we can help each other out with inspiration!

Yours hopefully,

Nadia

---