Hysteria Project

Take Dragon's Lair. Replace the animation with live-action video shot in the first person, the fantasy genre with Survival Horror, and its multiple arcade and home console release with exclusivity on iOS devices and the Sony PSP. You end up with Hysteria Project.

... Not descriptive enough for you? Okay, we'll try our best to elaborate, but bear with us.

Hysteria Project was released in 2009 and casts you as an anonymous, mute man who has been locked up inside of a shed, who bears a strange tattoo on his arm. If you don't escape quickly enough, another hooded man will barge in and kill you. It's up to you to save yourself and figure out who you are and why you're wanted dead. Clues are scarce, and the threat of your would-be assassin is always on your heels. Start running.

Continued in Hysteria Project 2 in 2011, which itself ends with a "To Be Continued" screen, so they might just continue the story yet.


 * An Axe to Grind: The killer.
 * Arc Symbol: The "H" inscribed in what looks like a maze.
 * Fog of Doom:
 * Implacable Man: Your stalker is just as relentless in his pursuit of you as Nemesis is.
 * Interface Screw: 2 has a couple of moments where your character is fatigued/dizzy, and the screen spins to reflect this, requiring you to stabilize him.
 * The Many Deaths of You: You'll see the "Retry" screen a lot.
 * Narm: The series makes a point of showing you several times just how close behind the killer is; and yet it expects you, just as many times, to believe that he has lost your trail when the need to hide arises. Also, the entirety of the fire escape in 2, no thanks to some way-too-large explosions that should have rightly cooked your goose.
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: In the first one, the screen occasionally blacks out in a fashion that mimics your character blinking.
 * Press X to Not Die
 * Press X to Die: A few Schmuck Bait options.
 * Timed Mission: Basically any time you have to make a decision.
 * Tomato Surprise:
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change: 2 upped the franchise's interactivity quite a bit, introducing areas you could examine within several degrees, as well as moments of actual gameplay. Like the laser hallway.
 * You Wake Up in a Room