A deeply unnerving masterpiece from Red Candle Games. The woozy 2D art style was somewhat reminiscent of the dodgy flash games you'd play online as a kid - truly creepy stuff. As with the notorious (and banned) follow up, Devotion, the nightmare logic of the story is all the better infused with provocative and political cultural references to its native country of Taiwan, in this case during the time of martial law in the 60s.
Rarely has a side-scrolling adventure transcended to such an important work of art.

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.