Existential dread: Perdition Sphere

There are a lot of shmups with horror inspired visuals (especially from the HR Giger aesthetic school), but there are few that actually provoke an acute feeling of unease. Perdition Sphere, however, looms with ominous existential dread and unnerving mystery.

With its claustrophobically approaching walls, dark colour palette, throbbing soundtrack, nonspecific foes and opaque narrative, Perdition Sphere creates an emotive experience that is far larger than the bounds of the screen.

A winner of the 2023 Bullet Hell Jam, it deserves to be remembered and considered further as a marker of what the genre can do in this cosmic horror space.