You shine your light through the lasting night
You walk through this bloody floor
We follow, we greet
We wait and repeat
Now forward through this linear path
Peer past the doors that hold your wrath
How long can hope keep you on your seat?
We follow, we greet
We wait and repeat"
123 Slaughter Me Street was an indie Mascot Horror game series developed by John Kolbek and Nate Sanders of Impulse Game Studios. Based on the works of Jim Henson, the games follow the story of Tim Denson, who is hunted by packs of murderous muppet-like monsters. After the first game, the team recruited Will of DAGames to develop the music for the second installment and Retro.
The first game had the player walk down hallways with holes on the walls, where monsters can pop out to kill you. The player has to avoid this by shining his flashlight on them, which sometimes he needs to smack in order to get it to work. Retro is a 2-D version of that, complete with run-ins with the Nightmare, who serves as a boss. The second game had Denson hiding from the creatures in his house, finding a ball, and then making a dash for the exit.
In late 2016, Kolbek announced via Facebook that he is no longer part of the company.
The two main games are sold digitally on Steam. 123 Slaughter Me Street Retro was made for Android phones. Then on August 23rd 2023, Super Retro a remake of Retro was released on Android and IOS.
A remake of the first game is currently under development.
On December 31st 2023, Slaughter Me Street 1999, an official spin off, was released in early access.
The series provides examples of:
- Arc Words: Salvation Awaits.
- Big Bad: Between the puppets, the Nightmare appears to be this. If it isn't all in our Villain Protagonist's head, of course.
- Creepy Basement: Even before the events of the game, Densson's basement as seen in the second are unnerving, with the carcasses of half-finished puppets here and there.
- The Corrupter: The Nightmare drives Denson insane when it begins speaking to him, resulting in the puppet maker killing his own daughter when she walks down into the basement.
- Death of a Child: With the brutal murder of Denson's daughter.
- Jump Scare: When caught by a monster, they will scream at the player and either attack them or shake the camera, resulting in a game over.
- Offing the Offspring: The second game reveals that Denson chopped his young daughter up after undergoing Sanity Slippage. Courtesy of the Nightmare.
- Ominous Owl: The Nightmare vaguely resembles a picture of an owl Denson's daughter drew.
- Psychological Torment Zone: While the first game only alludes to this, the second game seemingly plays it straight as Tim Denson bumbles around what is presumably his home over and over to escape from the monsters, with it being more deprecated each time.
- Retraux: 123 Slaughter Me Street Retro, fittingly, having pixelated graphics and a 16-bit era sounding score.
- The Smurfette Principle: The Greeter and The Greeter (Revenge) are the only female puppets in both games.
- Villain Protagonist: In the first game, the protagonist is seen escaping from the police, and we are not given a clear reason why. The second game reveals that he murdered his own daughter after being driven insane.
- A Winner Is You: Each level completed in 2 is followed by the words "You Win".
