Line #23 Creator/PuppetCombo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l08yhh4.jpeg]]
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3	Puppet Combo (originally known as Pig Farmer Games, real name Benedetto "Ben" Cocuzza) is an independent one-man game developer that specializes in a specific genre, by combining [=PS1=] SurvivalHorror games like ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' with the aesthetic of retro low budget 1970s, '80s, or even '90s slasher films like ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'', ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'', etc. He has made such titles as ''VideoGame/BabysitterBloodbath'', ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'', ''VideoGame/NightRipper'', ''VideoGame/StayOutOfTheHouse'' and many more.
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5	Puppet Combo has also published many games from other developers, many of them being either a similar [=PS1=] style or focused on horror, all done under the alias of ''Torture Star Video''. Puppet Combo also regularly has tracks composed by Music/{{MXXN}} in his games.
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7	[[https://www.patreon.com/puppetcombo Their Patreon page.]]
8	----
9	!!List of games with their own pages:
10	[[index]]
11	* ''VideoGame/BabysitterBloodbath'' (2013)
12	* ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'' (2015)
13	* ''VideoGame/NightRipper'' (2017)
14	* ''VideoGame/BuzzSawBloodHouse'' (2017)
15	* ''VideoGame/StayOutOfTheHouse'' + ''VideoGame/{{Night Shift\|2018}}'' (2018)
16	* ''VideoGame/NunMassacre'' (2018)
17	* ''VideoGame/FeedMeBilly'' (2018)
18	* ''VideoGame/MurderHouse'' (2020)
19	[[/index]]
20
21	!!List of other games:
22	[[index]]
23	* ''Minotaur'' (2012)
24	* ''Texas Butcher'' (2016)
25	* ''Meat Cleaver Mutilator'' (2016)
26	* ''Planet of Bloodthirsty Santa'' (2017)
27	* ''Spiders'' (2018)
28	* ''Power Drill Massacre (8-bit)'' (2018)
29	* ''Night Watch'' (2018)
30	* ''Blood Maniac'' (2019)
31	* ''Unfinished Worlds Vol 1.'' (2019)
32	* ''The Glass Staircase'' (2019)
33	* ''The Riverside Incident'' (2019)
34	* ''Christmas Massacre'' (2021)
35	[[/index]]
36
37	!!List of games published (under the pseudonym Torture Star Video):
38	[[index]]
39	* ''SEARCH PARTY'' by Lum (2019)
40	* ''Tonight It Follows'' by Jordan King (2019)
41	* ''These Trees Are Spectral Fingers'' by kavvka (2019)
42	* ''Ski Freak'' by Jordan King (2020)
43	* ''VideoGame/TheEnigmaOfSalazarHouse'' by [=Maldo19=] (2020)
44	* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodwash}}'' by Black Eyed Priest and Henry Hoare (2021)
45	* ''VideoGame/DeadlyNight'' by Cubyte Games (2022)
46	* ''VideoGame/NightAtTheGatesOfHell'' by Black Eyed Priest and Henry Hoare (2022)
47	* ''VideoGame/RewindOrDie'' by Comp-3 Interactive (2023)
48	* ''Ding Dong Dead'' by Black Eyed Priest and Ben Cocuzza (2023)
49	[[/index]]
50
51	!!Puppet Combo games typically contain the following tropes:
52	* BittersweetEnding: If the game doesn't end in an outright DownerEnding, it's usually this.
53	** ''The Glass Staircase'' ends with [[spoiler:the protagonist killing the monsters within the building, but she was unable to prevent the other girls' deaths and their spirits wave her goodbye as she departs]].
54	** ''Murder House'' ends with [[spoiler:the protagonist escaping when The Easter Ripper is devoured by [[KarmicDeath his now zombified victims]], but nonetheless is the SoleSurvivor of the massacre.]]
55	* BMovie: Their games emulate 1980s-era slasher and grindhouse films. In fact, almost all of them have a VHS filter.
56	* CrapsackWorld: The settings of their games are so seedy that one wouldn't be faulted for feeling like they need a shower after playing. ''VideoGame/NightRipper'' is set in a desolate UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity terrorized by a SerialKiller, and ''Buzz-Saw Blood-House'' which takes place in a world with [[UsefulNotes/TheDeepWeb Dark Web]] sites where sadistic perverts pay to watch kidnapped female teenagers be hunted down by a chainsaw-wielding maniac while traversing a house filled to the brim with titular buzzsaw and chainsaw traps.
57	* DecoyProtagonist:
58	** ''The Glass Staircase'' has you play as a series of servant girls who [[spoiler:get picked off one by one by a giant mutant monster]]. It's only the more weary and skeptical FinalGirl who [[spoiler:becomes the hero, kills the monsters, and escapes alive.]]
59	** ''VideoGame/MurderHouse'' starts with a prologue section in which you play as one of the Easter Ripper's child victims trapped in a mall after closing time with the serial killer. The main game has you play as an intern in a camera crew exploring the Easter Ripper's home.
60	* DeliberateVHSQuality: Pretty much a signature style of almost all of his games. To properly emulate videotaped horror movies. Complete with most of the menus using [[https://www.dafont.com/vcr-osd-mono.font blocky monospaced font]] that people whom have seen VHS tape before would be familiar with.
61	* DownerEnding: Almost all of their games end with this: In ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'', [[spoiler:the heroine is either captured and murdered with the titular power drill or is last seen trapped in an endless, supernatural hallway, after which it is revealed her stranded boyfriend starved to death waiting for help while she has not been found]]. In ''VideoGame/NightRipper'', [[spoiler:the protagonist manages to escape the serial killer and get back to her apartment, only for the Night Ripper to break in and close in on her.]]
62	* {{Fanservice}}: Some of their games have this, such as ''Spiders'', where the protagonist's wife has a black crop top and a pair of shorts on. Can be Justified in that one of Puppet Combo's biggest inspirations are the '80s-era horror movies, which are rife with fanservice.
63	* HellIsThatNoise: If there's one thing that's to be expected in a Puppet Combo game, it's absolutely hellish sound design that will do its damnedest to terrify you. ''Nun Massacre'' and ''Power-Drill Massacre'' are especially infamous for this, due to the sounds their respective monsters make when spotting and chasing the player, the Nun's bloodcurdling shriek when she spots you and a bell-like clanging when she's chasing you, and the shrieking drill-like sound when the Power-Driller spots you and his strange moaning as he chases you respectively. What makes Mother Apollonia's screeching even more horrifying is that Puppet Combo siphoned the audio for it from a supposedly-real 911 call in which a woman was murdered during the call, and her screams were used for the Nun's voice. It's heavily debated online as to whether the audio is real or not, but if it is, that's really disturbing.
64	* JumpScare: As is to be expected from slasher film homages.
65	* MonsterClown: Many of the games have clown-based killers or antagonists, such as ''Babysitter Bloodbath'' and ''Feed Me Billy''. Not only that, there's also ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLCpaFfSEUA Evil Clowns]]'', an FPS based on the LightGunGame ''VideoGame/CarnEvil'', where well. You have to fight through a carnival filled with evil killer clowns.
66	* {{Retraux}}: Not only do their games emulate 80s-era slashers but also early [=PS1=]-era games with their blocky and low-poly textures.
67	* SensoryAbuse: Pairing off with the HellIsThatNoise trope. Puppet Combo's scares are (in)famous for being intense and loud, which normally wouldn't be effective by themselves, but with the exquisite balance of their games being mostly silent otherwise and the atmospheres being perfect, needless to say the loud noises suddenly become incredibly effective at scaring the hell out of you.
68	* SerialKiller:
69	** The antagonists of all their games, ranging from escaped mental patients to manchild-like backwoods killers, and even a bloodthirsty alien Santa!
70	** Interestingly enough, ''Feed Me Billy'', ''Christmas Massacre'', and [[spoiler:''The Riverside Incident'']] are some of the exceptions, because you're the one playing the serial killer!
71	* ShootTheShaggyDog: ''Tonight It Follows'' [[spoiler:ends with the main character being told to give up and walking into the embrace of the final monster]].
72	* StealthSequel: ''Night Watch'' turns out to be one for ''[[spoiler: Power Drill Massacre]]''.

Context Creator / PuppetCombo