Circadia: A bunch of PNGs telling the story of a girl that recluded herself into a self destroying state of mind, the contents of a tape being the catalyst for us to see her behaviour disorders and how the people around her wanted to be supportive. It does not have a conclusion. The image format allows for the text to branch out creatively into paragraphs that can be read in different order so that it can allow the viewer to feel the chaotic thoughts and distorted memories bumping around the protagonist's head. It's not technically a videogame but it's included as part of this anthology 6/10

Pente: Lore explained in tablets dispersed far apart in a fantasy map, that tell the story of an artist that had to seal some spirits, then afterwards had to resist their pulsation coming from the inside, but failed and was taken by them to a deserted beach with four pillars. There's also not a conclusion from what I've played but I can't excuse it here because there's also not a lot of depht, it's more focused on the eerieness (cool looking concept though) 3/10

Grandma: One I have difficulties interpreting. The grandmother's house has her fallen asleep to the TV, the knife in her house is shining in red, and a book that you find in it tells of a daughter who was enclosed in an attic, maybe by this old lady. You can find a mausoleum in the forest, where you can speak to the corpse of a woman who claims to know where the player lives. The way to advance the game is to grab that knife covered in fresh blood and "kill" one of three sinners hanging by their neck as if they weren't already: a blasphemer, a lecher and a murderer. Was the old lady watching TV in case there was some news report about these three people, making her be the avenger of her daughter? Maybe there was a news report about her mistreatment of the daughter? Is the player a passive observer or someone related to these people? Nobody knows and the game gets too focused on the daughter's and the three criminals' cannibalism and other stuff for me to care about despite the interesting atmosphere and the bizarre ending. Also my eyes hurt from wandering through this map for an hour for its attempt to look like a 3D Game Boy Advance game (honestly Doom for the GBA looks better than this) 3/10

Leechbowl: It's about a deserted, black and white city whose inhabitants seemed to have been eaten between themselves, in a Soylent Green kind of way there seems to be a social commentary on how marketing (you enter a supermarket with really unsubtle posters) and capitalism (the imposing presence of a factory and telecomunications factories) makes us destroy ourselves yada yada yada, very generic. I don't know if it's because of the heat in my house, due to the previous game or because of the fact you literally throw bottles of blood at walls to reveal tiresome threatening messages, but I was nauseous already and ended up dropping it, but helping matters is the fact I didn't enjoy the previous titles in the anthology, so I think this won't be that different. I peaked through some fences and there was a weird blob, what could it mean? 4/10

Sorry Gsar, I didn't enjoy these ones 😔. The reviews here seem to applaud the atmosphere, but I find there's simply not enough substance to add to it. Yes, you turn off the TV and you start listening to the grandma's snoring, but what does that contribute to anything apart from being a little detail? It's a shame the one part of the anthology where the details matter because of there being a clear protagonist where you can charactherize her psychological state is the one that's not a videogame.

Figured its finally time for me to go through the other "Haunted Cities" packs, so why not start from the beginning. First up, Grandmother is a thoroughly creepy little adventure, though the tank controls really do make it a bit annoying to play. Having already completed Grandmother's Garden from the 4th Haunted cities pack, it was cool to go back and see what the original idea looked like. And while I do end up preferring Grandmother's Garden I still enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Up next was Pente which is undoubtedly the weak link of the trio IMO. Its the most basic of the 3 conceptually, and it's also the most visually plain. Thats not to say its bad, as the atmosphere is still solid, but its by far the weakest game from Kitty that i've played so far.

Then finally, we have Leechbowl. The game is set in this chilling, derelict factory town and it has some great ambience and sound design. I also love the way all of the details on the buildings (Windows, doors, cracks, etc) are just 2D textures plastered on to the wall, and I think it fits the very off-putting and surreal vibe of the game. The interiors were unsettling as well, and the main mechanic of revealing messages by throwing blood on the walls was a cool way to convey the story. Im a sucker for this style of decaying small town, so this one was just right up my alley. Definitely my favorite of the pack and one of my favorites that I've played from Kitty.

So far, the haunted cities series is 2 for 2!

Some really creepy little atmospheric dread-inducing short horror games. Leechbowl is a spooky lonely town to explore and throw blood on the walls, Pente has a beautiful almost vaporwave castle (but is pretty short and not very scary), but Grandmother is the standout, with a genuinely dreadful little farm in the woods to explore, as your grandmother stares lifelessly at the TV (or starts gasping horribly if you turn it off). With all of these the horror works by building up a sense of mystery and dread rather than through jump scares. You can see the seeds of the skincrawling masterpieces that Kitty Horrorshow would go on to make in her later entries in the series.