“The Aching” – A Retro Horror Adventure Game

“The Aching” is a 16-color horror adventure game developed by Hadrosaurus Software. The game is inspired by the classic adventure games released by Sierra and LucasArts in the 1980s. The game features low-resolution graphics that mimic the limited hardware of that era.

The gameplay of “The Aching” revolves around a combination of arrow keys and a classic-style parser. The player controls a pale creature who wakes up in a cave with no memory of their identity or situation, except for a locket and a patch of red paint on the wall. The player must explore this otherworldly environment to uncover the mysteries of their past. The game does not include prompts like “Press [F] to do the thing” and instead relies on the player to type in commands.

“The Aching” was designed to run on a Tandy 1000 computer off of a single floppy disk. The game engine has been emulated to run on modern computers so that players can enjoy the intended experience, with or without access to a Tandy 1000 computer.