Sweet Home (fan překlad EN)

Before Resident Evil existed, there was Sweet Home — and anyone who knows the history of survival horror knows what a fateful role this eight-bit game played. It was created as a game tie-in to the Japanese horror film of the same name and became the direct blueprint from which Capcom later drew when building its famous horror series.

At first glance Sweet Home is an RPG with turn-based battles, but its true face is deeply horrific. Five filmmakers enter the haunted mansion of a deceased painter and begin uncovering its dark secrets. The game dissolves tension and fear into its mechanics in a way that was utterly unusual on the NES: characters can die permanently, and when they die, their story and abilities are gone for good.

Key is the system of five characters, each carrying a unique item — a lighter, a key, a camera, a vacuum, a first-aid kit — essential for solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles in the mansion. The player splits the group up and reunites it, because some doors and threats require specific equipment or several people. That tension, when you separate a vulnerable character from the group, is pure horror.

Blood, corpses and terrifying imagery pushed the boundaries of what the NES could dare to show, and that is precisely why the game never officially released in the West. It can be played in English only thanks to a fan translation the community lovingly created to make this pivotal piece of gaming history accessible.

The DNA of Sweet Home is visible today in every survival horror that uses limited resources, item puzzles and an atmosphere of fear instead of direct action. It is the root of the whole genre.

Why play: The forefather of survival horror and the direct inspiration for Resident Evil — an atmospheric horror RPG that, thanks to a fan translation, the West can finally play too.