Beware of the ‘possums

Opossum Country is a free adventure video game wherein you uncover the horrible secrets of a quiet community of outcasts. Developed by Ben Jelter, this 2D indie pixelated game is a Nintendo Game Boy-style horror RPG that can be finished in a few minutes. It was made for the Scream FM Jam contest and can be played either as a ROM on a console or as a browser game.

Quiet villages and their secrets

The story of Opossum Country starts with you arriving at a backwater trailer park in the middle of nowhere. You play as a pizza delivery guy who’s annoyed that there were no instructions as to who had made the order you’re delivering and no signal in that area to be able to check with your phone. With that, you start asking around—and eventually end up getting suspicious about the odd folks living there.

The controls for this game mimic the Game Boy’s own. If you’re using the keyboard, the Enter key is the Start button, the Z key is the A button for progressing the dialogue and interacting with objects and NPCs, and the X key is the B button for reloading bullets. To move, use either the WASD keys or the arrow keys. The game is played in a top-down view and features some combat mechanics.

The psychological horror here mostly stems from the uncanny—whether it’s the creepy character designs or the truth surrounding the cast of characters. The combat can be unwieldy on the keyboard as you have to aim with the gun with just the inaccurate controls of the movement keys. The dialogue is well-written, however, and the story could’ve been easily expanded into a longer narrative to draw out the horror and plot twist.

Something’s strange with these people

All in all, Opossum Country is a great short horror game to try out if you’re a fan of Game Boy ROMs. Not only does it capture the art style well, but it also supports controllers in case you’re having a hard time with the fight scenes. While it’s only a short game and offers a straightforward story without any player agency, it’s still a nice game to try out if you like creepy 8-bit horror games.