Gameboy Point And Click Horror In Batty Zabella

Rating: 0
Author: Justin Wood

Justin Wood |

Nov 8, 2022

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to sit down at my computer and just go surfing through Itch or Steam. With the Halloween season over, it is finally time to get back to what I like doing best. This week was interesting finding a game, the only Gameboy horror game I ever played was Resident Evil Gaiden. Which, let’s be honest, was pretty crummy, but I would be willing to give it another shot since it’s been so long. But when I was on Itch, my attention was immediately grabbed by this wicked-looking Gameboy graphic point-and-click game. Batty Zabella.

In Batty Zabella, we play as well… Batty Zabella. She’s laying in bed awake at night, her husband has been missing for two weeks, and she is worried something is going on in the house, so she gets out of bed, and we search the house after checking on her Bat, son, its off to make him a sandwich. This gives us the vibes that Batty is going for right off the bat (get it?). There is this great mix of comedy and horror here. Obviously, with the whole vampire family, I will say Batty Zabella does look like she was based on Elvira, which is always an excellent source of inspiration.

As we walk around the house, we will need complete simple tasks, get Bat son a sandwich, and get him some new BATteries for his Walkman. Still, eventually, we will come across this spooky spirit in the basement, which you will have to deal will because the longer you stay in the presence of the spirit, the more you’ll get hurt, and if you get hurt too much, you will die. But the point and click reminds me of Maniac Mansion mixed with that off green art style I find Synonymous with the original Gameboy.

I always love when developers think outside the bun like this and marry two styles together, especially when it works so well! The music here is a retro bop, too. It comes across as very simple but helps set the mood of an off-kilter horror comedy. There also is quite a lot of music in here too, and there isn’t a single one that doesn’t land amazingly.

The way developer Ice Cold Blood talks about Batty Zabella makes me think we will get more games starring here, which I really hope we do because I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the game, plus now I know there is a whole genre of point-and-click horror games so thank you Ice Cold Blood. I didn’t come across things on the Itch page, but apparently, there is a reason for that. There is a hidden mini-game that, during the demo, was teased as a poop game. But as we can see in the full version, it thankfully isn’t that. I am all for poop humor, but it would have come across as just too out of place here.

There is a weird Munster’s meets Elvira mashup going here, and I am all for it, between the music just being that wicked Gameboy chiptune that blends well with the sprite work of the old-school point-and-click adventures. Not to mention the humor is generally pretty good and got a few chuckles out of me, and the story is intriguing enough to keep you engaged all the way through. It’s definitely worth checking it out, especially if there will be more Batty Zabella games coming in the future. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you can play this game in your browser, or if you’d like to send the developer some cash, you can get a downloadable version of it.