Ghost Dog Films. No, it’s not the production company who brought us that odd little samurai gangster movie with Forest Whitaker in the late nineties, nope. These are the folks who gave us the FMV game I Saw Black Clouds and the movie Crucible of the Vampire, among other projects.
Billing itself as a “bodycam found footage” game and rocking a 1980’s VHS-style aesthetic, Spider Mall! tells the story of Explorer X (Aaron Jeffcoate) who sets out to explore an abandoned shopping mall and record his findings. As he’s prowling around he discovers he’s not alone! There’s a roaming trio of security guards (Mick – Richard Oliver, Moose – Simon Bugg, Terry – John Wolskel), who will happily pin him down and call the cops on him if they manage to corner him.
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His nocturnal explorations are further complicated by the discovery of a murderous, security-guard-and-urban-explorer-eating spider. A common issue in urbex situations, or so I hear. Explorer X must try and save himself, and maybe one or two of the guards, and escape the mall before he ends up as a meal or a host for the spider’s children.
A full playthrough will take you about 45 mins to an hour on your first time, but you can skip through scenes at any point so subsequent playthroughs can be completed much faster, with the game allowing you to skip to the next decision point. Though this isn’t recommended until you’ve played through at least once and seen what the game has to offer. It’s got a real grainy, analogue-horror vibe to it, with the featureless back corridors of the mall definitely leaning into that liminal space/Backrooms-esque horror vibe.
One interesting change from before the game’s release is that in the original teaser trailer you can clearly see a timer ticking down for you to make a decision, similar to other FMV games, but in the final release this is gone, giving the player ample time to make their mind up. While it might not be entirely realistic to allow the player infinite time to make a decision in the middle of a fraught chase scene, I can’t say that I miss it.
There are a few niggles, a couple of little complaints. The first is that there are no options. At all. No way to change the sound, video, subtitles or anything else. It’s not a massive problem, though the game really would have benefited from subtitles in a couple of spots when you’re trying to make out what people are saying on the radio, but for the most part the dialogue is crisp and clear enough for it to not be a bother for most players, though may pose an issue for those who are deaf or have accessibility needs.
I also encountered a couple of odd moments where I would make a choice, the next video section would play, but then it would suddenly return to that original choice, only progressing properly the second time through. It only seems to happen in a couple of the early sections, when Explorer X first encounters the guards and has to pick how he reacts to them. Other than that, my time with Spider Mall! was unblemished by any crashes or other technical issues.
As a value proposition, it’s hard to argue against Spider Mall! (always remember that exclamation mark). Even after five full playthroughs there are endings still to be discovered. Another eight apparently, so there’s plenty of replay value here, and all for less than five bucks (or just over four pounds in the UK).
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Fans of FMV games should absolutely give this one a try. Is it some new revolutionary idea in the FMV space? Does it offer cutting edge gameplay? No, but it’s a fine addition to the canon of analogue horror, and a great example of what modern FMV games can be, executed well. It’s available on Steam (PC only, sorry console players) for about the same cost as a venti latte at Starbucks and we really think you should give it a look. Arachnophobes might want to skip it, though.
Spider Mall! is out now on Steam from Ghost Dog Films.
