Nun Massacre is the first Puppet Combo game I'm reviewing that reached widespread virality and notability, played by almost any internet content creator imaginable. Whilst games like Babysitter Bloodbath received some attention, nothing would compare to the success of Nun Massacre. It would also be the first title that was ported to console and mobile which highlights the success of the game. After the underwhelming performance of Spiders it appears as if Puppet Combo wanted to return to a format they were more comfortable with as seen in Power Drill Massacre and take it to a brand new level.

Upon receiving a letter surrounding an unfortunate illness befalling your daughter, you make a trip to pick her up from the religious boarding school she currently resides in, discovering the aftermath of something terrible and viciously pursued by a heavenly threat.

After experiencing your first jumpscare in Nun Massacre you will never want to experience anything like this ever again. Multiple factors contribute to this; the eerie and uncanny appearance of the nun with her bleeding eyes and doll-like face, the sheer speed that she chases you with, the haunting crescendo of ambiance that blares at you like a fire truck. All of these elements combine to create a hauntingly unpleasant experience, so much so that you will spend the rest of the game praying (no pun intended) that you never encounter her again.

It's possible to hide from the nun, however it does not guarantee your safety. Scrambling under a bed or other designated hiding spots in most video games would guarantee your safety for a short while as long as you aren't spotted. However, in this game, there's a chance the nun will approach these hiding spots and check which will most certainly catch you off guard the first time as it goes against the in-game logic of most titles.

If you are spotted by the nun in any capacity, the only way to escape is to run as fast and far as you can until her line of sight is broken. Her presence is indicated by the static of the screen, but as discussed earlier, that anticipation of the jumpscare is so frightening. It's an assault on all of your senses and requires an immediate reaction as you're in imminent danger when they occur. This can make it difficult to react appropriately in the event of these jumpscares, and unforuntately the game will reset upon dying.

Atmospherically the audio design is guided by the rainstorm outside, the occasional banging or pitter patter of footsteps, and the contrast between calm moments with those where you are pursued serve well to build tension. Whilst the narrative has never been weak in previous Puppet Combo titles, they were inarguably simple. It is much stronger in Nun Massacre, with five endings, a killer with a much more menacing backstory, and really disturbing lore found throughout the boarding school.

The environments are claustrophobic and multi-layered, littered with containers to search, puzzles to solve, ventilation shafts to traverse, and hiding spots to find safety within. A religious boarding school serves as an excellent backdrop to a horror game, with the release of Nun Massacre in 2018, it would coincide with the film The Nun, also released in 2018. As the nun acts as an active stalker within the school, areas will never feel truly safe, jumpscares aren't scripted and you will never be entirely sure if a hallway or staircase is safe to move through until it's too late.

Further bonus content exists too with the release of the definitive edition. With new territories to avoid the nun in, possessing new skins and with new environments such as a factory based on Power Drill Massacre, a circus, and even the backrooms. These maps have different layouts, different text files to find and unique introductions and endings.

Nun Massacre received a lot of tender loving care from Puppet Combo, and established the studio as a household name in the indie horror scene. The puzzles are simple but excellent in their execution and demand a lot of exploration and backtracking. When you're aware of what is needed, the game can be completed relatively fast, however that first playthrough will undoubtedly be cemented in your mind as a truly terrifying experience. What holds the game back is that it is almost too scary to fully enjoy, as the barrage of dread and stress that accompanies a playthrough of this game will sink the spirit of most who dare to achieve even a single ending in the game.

I tried to play this a few times, the first was on mac (which was absolutely broken, there was a bug where the intro stage never ended, then when I skipped in the menus the audio quality was so janked that it almost blew out my headphones).
Then again on windows a little later, where I was sure I'd missed something the first time around and confident I'd like it better on superior hardware. In the end, I realized a lot of the hype was just "it's scary," which is fine, but not much more than that.
The majority of the scariness was actually due to the broken audio I mentioned before, which breaks your speakers with every jumpscare and genuinely hurts a little bit even at minimum volume. It's just ok, I want to like it but it really doesn't give me much to work with.

First horror game in years to actually make me ”nope” out of a game. And it was the first moment I entered the monastery when it was just me and a dark corridor. What made it so terrifying was the ambience and the visuals. But the most terrifying part was that somewhere in those hallways something is searching for me and I’d be dead before I even know it. It feels like playing an empty gmod map and at any time you are gonna get a jumpscare but it never happens. It only increases your paranoia gradually.

It can be both a strength and a weakness when a horror game is just too fucking scary. Nun Massacre is absolutely one of these.

As with many Puppet Combo classics, Nun Massacre can be completed in much less than an hour. But for some, myself included, it can take days, weeks, maybe months to find the courage to search the halls of the boarding school of your ill-fallen daughter, only to encounter the pants-shittingly frightening Nun character.

There’s no music in the game except the retro title screen and some of the nastiest, most ear-piercing metallic clashes and screams when the Nun finds you - it was almost enough to give me severe heart attacks! The sensory assault of terror and stressfully drawn out puzzles can be off-putting to anyone who isn’t already a dedicated horror pervert. Whilst the game can be less violent than prior Puppet games, the Grindhouse nastiness is as strong as ever, mainly in the disturbing notes left by the absent children, details of physical abuse to the point soiling oneself, it’s hardly any wonder.

Although the many endings you get can be generally underwhelming - well, how can you cleanly round off such a horrible nightmare anyway? - Nun Massacre is a real gem for those who want to be genuinely terrified, with some brilliantly old-school puzzles and hide-and-seek gameplay. Wouldn’t recommend for the faint-hearted.