We’re all too familiar with this announcement: DELAYED. If it’s not the next hot game, it’s the showcase. COVID came in like a wrecking ball in 2020, and while things have calmed down a bit, the effects are still being felt. Sadly, EEK3 2022 is the latest victim of COVID. On August 10, @HauntedPS1 announced on Twitter that the virtual showcase of retro indie horror games would be delayed by a week. Instead of August 19, EEK3 2022 will be on Friday, August 26.
EEK3 is a niche but fun showcase. During the completely virtual event organized by Haunted PS1, upcoming indie horror games with a low-fi aesthetic are announced. They like games with a distinct ’90s and early ’00s horror vibe. Popular games include Resident Evil (1996) and Silent Hill (1999) if you’re trying to visualize the style. Earlier this year, Haunted PS1 put out a submission call in the form of a video on their YouTube channel. From March through May, indie game makers had the chance to submit their game trailer to be put on display. For indie horror fans, this event is all of our favorite things packed into one showcase.
Speaking of, their 2020 virtual showcase was really cool! They had a Livestream with the announcements narrated by their spooky, cowboy hat-wearing skeleton emcee as well as a virtual showroom game you could download. The games being featured during the showcase were on little arcade machines to peruse. There were a couple of little games to play too, such as a spin-the-wheel game. As you walked around, you could interact with a couple of the NPC hosts a bit. It was a unique meta experience that you can still find on their website.
Now that the time has been announced as well, we can set our clocks. Sure, you could google time conversions yourself, but we will be nice and include them for you:
- 3 pm PST
- 4 pm MST
- 5 pm CST
- 6 pm EST
Honestly, the news could have been worse. It’s only one week. The reception to the Twitter announcement was mostly positive at least. Many of the fans wished the production team member a swift recovery rather than lamenting the delay. However, one fan did ask how the illness effected a virtual event. Since everything would be online, why couldn’t the show just go on? It was really heartwarming to see other fans respond by praising Haunted PS1 for prioritizing the employee’s health over a deadline. Sure, they could have probably moved on without the team member, but after all of the hard work that goes into creating an event like this, that move would have been disheartening. We can all wait a bit so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor along with us!
