Junji Ito has become one of the most popular and influential creators within the modern horror landscape, with his style permeating across continental borders to make him a household name among the fandom. Unsurprisingly, many creators have become inspired by the twisted visions of Ito and his work has become influential across various mediums.
Enter NextDoor, a 2D pixel art visual novel developed by Sijbren Schenkels, Yun Ying Hu, Bjorn Dingeldein and Clément Panchout. The title gets its namesake from Ito’s The Woman Next Door, which inspired the project.
The game has excellent use of sound, with a beautiful midi soundtrack that also embraces terrifying ambient sounds to heighten the tense story. Visually, the use of 2D pixelated graphics benefits the extremely creepy tone allowing the player’s imagination to fill in the graphical gaps.
With a run time that matches the short story, (taking around 10 minutes to complete) NextDoor is a ideal spooky little gem.
Experience the game yourself for free at NextDoor’s ich.io page, or check out our full game playthrough here:
More Video Game Reviews
When I was a young little horror fan, one of the things that occupied my time was playing online horror Flash games. Sadly, Flash has mostly been discontinued, which left… Evil Dead is a cult franchise in every sense of the idea – a variety of divergent media in the realm of comics, games, and merchandise; all humbly originating from… Several years ago, a small Japanese third-person horror game known as GOHOME started to make waves in the Let’s Play YouTube community. Created by the VTuber known as Itimatu Ichimatsu… Kuon, developed by FromSoftware, is an atmospheric survival horror game released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. Set in the Heian period of Japan, the game presents a gripping, eerie… The sixth-generation era of video games is often regarded as the pinnacle of survival horror, having granted us titles such as Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame, Forbidden Siren, and the… Today I’d like to talk to you about the visual novel series, Spirit Hunter, known in Japan as Shinrei Horror (心霊ホラー), a series that seems to have passed many by,…The Outbreak (2008) Game Review – The Forgotten Precursor to Telltale’s TWD
Evil Dead: The Game Review – The Fantasy of Every Evil Dead Fan
GOHOME (2020) Game Review – Homeward Bound
Kuon (2004) Video Game Review – A Forgotten Survival Horror Classic
Ikai (2022) Game Review – A Treat for Fans of Japanese-Inspired Horror Games
Spirit Hunter (2019) Game Review – A J-Horror Visual Novel Series
Hey there, I’m Jim and I’m located in London, UK. I am a Writer and Managing Director here at Grimoire of Horror. A lifelong love of horror and writing has led me down this rabbit hole, allowing me to meet many amazing people and experience some truly original artwork. I specialise in world cinema, manga/graphic novels, and video games but will sometime traverse into the unknown in search of adventure.