A one-man indie studio project where the developer tried to make the most of his limited resources by crafting a throwback to the survival horror titles of the 5th generation. On paper, this isn’t really anything all that different from what Puppet Combo has done. The thing that ultimately distinguishes Back in 1995 from the works of Benedetto Cocuzza though, is that its vision is nowhere near as effective. 

Director Takaaki Ichijo unfortunately failed to create a compelling horror scenario. While genre hits such as the legendary Silent Hill have shown that it’s possible to turn otherwise everyday, normal locations into realms of total terror, any potential for fear that could have been here ends up lost in face of bland environments that are too well-lit and a remarkable lack of atmosphere. Not to mention the first and most common enemy type you’ll encounter literally looks like a floating almond with stickman arms, and foes in general are pathetically easy to avoid by just casually walking past them the majority of the time. So there’s no sense of danger or threat to keep you on edge.

It arguably doesn’t even do that good of a job at being a PS1-era callback either. There are certainly tank controls, fixed camera angles, save points, and plenty of locked doors, but it seems that its creator might surprisingly be misremembering the classics of yesteryear as worse than they actually are. For starters, with exception to maybe Bubsy 3D (albeit for very different reasons), I can’t think of a PS1 game that looked this bad! Say what you will about the limitations of 32-bit hardware, but devs were usually crafty enough back then to deliver some mesmerizing sights regardless by imbuing the textures on those polygons with a lot of little details that truly brought them to life. There’s nothing like that in this. Instead, you’re almost exclusively subjected to overly bright white rooms full of mundane chairs, filing cabinets, and air conditioners with no life or verve to be found. Then there’s the combat where Ichijo apparently wanted to pay homage by way of hyperbole. He harkens back to the clunkiness of old by making your melee swings play out in a ridiculously exaggerated slow motion that can cause you some serious problems should you happen to get backed into a corner by the faster moving monsters, whose speedy attacks can interrupt your character’s sluggish animations and make any form of retaliation incredibly difficult on your part.

There are also the technical issues to consider. Which include a remarkable lack of the I in AI, alongside floors and baseboards that are constantly distorting or bending out of shape as they reach the corners of the screen while you walk. The former causes what should be big, tense moments to fall hilariously flat on their faces. Case in point, after getting my hands on the game’s shotgun a cutscene informed me that a massive creature had just spawned for what I imagine was intended to be a thrilling boss fight. As I prepared myself for a grand battle the grotesque monstrosity immediately got hung on a nearby table, allowing me to completely ignore it as I leisurely strolled out of the door without firing so much as a single bullet. Another instance saw me stumble into a room with two of the hulking beasts where I adopted my typical strategy of paying them no mind while I steered myself towards the nearest exit, only stopping to grab a random note that was laying around. Upon finishing reading it I was blown away to find that my pursuers had somehow forgotten all about me and were lackadaisically wandering back to their original locations despite being hot on my heels a mere second beforehand.

Now, under normal circumstances I would typically be more forgiving of all the stuff I’ve complained about, given the fact that this was made basically by a single person and with what I’d estimate was a shoestring budget. Especially since it’s short, unchallenging, and thanks to a lack of a transfarring option I was able to net two easy platinum trophies across PS4 & Vita for the price of one. A crazy thing happens when you reach what appears to be the story’s natural conclusion, however. Before you know it you’re thrown right back to the beginning of the game. You might think this is another case of the adventure not quite functioning as it should and immediately exit out, but stick around and you’ll discover that key aspects of the journey have changed in some significant ways. The lighting is appropriately darker leading to a more befitting tone, the level design improves dramatically, and the brains behind the project himself breaks the fourth wall to explain every questionable decision you spent the last 1-2 hours encountering right down to the meaning behind them. The actual gameplay during this part is little more than a brief sprint back through areas you’ve already visited, but it’s in this moment you realize that Mr. Takaaki could have legitimately given the world a decent recreation of retro survival-horror and instead blatantly chose not to in favor of delivering some pretentious meta-commentary that wouldn’t have missed the mark so much if he had simply made the overall package good in the first place. A perfect example of one’s artistic intentions to release something with deeper meaning that the norm getting in the way of the actual experience itself. Ultimately, leaving me to feel like I wasted, admittedly quite a small amount of, my time on something that simply wasn’t worth it in the slightest, even at the relatively low price of $9.99.

4.5/10