The Lacerator Review – A Twisted Tribute to Retro Survival Horror

Ole Gamer Joe
Oct 6
6 min read

The Lacerator

Steam/PC

10/9/25

Games From the Abyss/DreadXP

Halloween season has arrived for indie gaming fans—at least at the time of this review—and that means publisher DreadXP is at it again, bringing us their latest morbid offering: The Lacerator. The game promises old-school survival horror gameplay with warped sensibilities. But did The Lacerator leave me completely tongue-tied? Or was it all guts, no glory? Let’s find out in our full review!

I grew up on survival horror games, and so the genre has a very special place in my heart. These titles were legitimately scary at the time—I mean, I was what, a 12-year-old kid? I mean, who amongst you doesn’t remember moments like the “Itchy…Tasty” memo in the original Resident Evil? Or seeing Pyramid Head for the first time doing whatever he was doing to those mannequin legs—which wasn’t quite as brutal in the remake? Today, as a grown-ass man, it’s not often I find myself scared by video games, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the survival horror genre just as much now as I did then. There was something to be said for pre-rendered backgrounds, needing ink ribbons just to save your progress in safe rooms, eerie atmospheric music, and of course, tank controls. Ok, maybe tank controls were never that great, but purists would certainly argue against me.

With The Lacerator, Games From The Abyss have crafted something a bit different for the genre. Yes, save points are scarce, ammo is limited, and a fixed camera adds cinematic flair just as it did through the ’90s, but it is also very much its own thing. After completing my first run, I can honestly say I have never played anything quite like it, despite the game’s short initial runtime of just over an hour. It’s a game that sticks with you and beckons you to complete multiple playthroughs to see everything that it has to offer—assuming you can stomach its grisly, unrelenting violence and chaotic pacing.

In The Lacerator, you’ll control Max, a man who, as the game states, “Loves to have Sex.” I’m with you on that one, Max! He’s a has-been porn star whose career has grown a bit flaccid and now finds himself in the lair of The Lacerator—a crazy psycho killer who wants to quite literally chop Max’s dick off and any other appendage he can get his grubby mitts on. I shouldn’t say it’s JUST Max he’s after, as The Lacerator seems to have somehow lured in other porn stars who also have ties to our lead character. This bizarre fusion of grindhouse and classic survival horror works to surprising effect, as I loved the setting and atmosphere of this title—it is truly offbeat in the best of ways.

As unusual as its story and presentation are, in terms of gameplay, The Lacerator plays much like any other old survival horror game. Clunky combat and aiming? You know it! Find memos to unlock more story bits? Yup! Fetch items and bring them from location A to location B? You betcha. It’s a simplistic affair from a gameplay standpoint, with your usual inventory system to manage, areas to bumble about—without any sort of map in this instance—and the only real twist coming in the form of potentially losing your limbs and a man, or err… creature, that lives in the wall and wants you to feed him in exchange for rewards. Now, in fairness, those are pretty drastic changes that can alter the gameplay dramatically.

During my first run, I lost one of my arms, and on my second attempt, my tongue was cut from my mouth—only to be replaced with a mechanical contraption that I found later on. In the case of my missing arm, I was unable to open certain doors, which meant I would need to take a different path forward. It’s a fascinating concept that works very well and teaches players to learn from previous mistakes. You might be doomed on one run thanks to the game’s rather unforgiving and somewhat random autosave system, but you’ll know what to do the next time around—and given the game’s brevity, you won’t mind giving it another go.

The dealbreaker for more modern-day gamers not accustomed to tank controls may be that they can’t be changed to a more modern control scheme at the time of this review. In fact, the developer seems to revel in just how bad the game feels to play, sometimes forcing players into timed situations where they need to run from one section to another before a door slams down in front of their face. These areas were infuriating even for me, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I do feel like the option for improved controls in a future update could go a long way in widening audience appeal. The poor movement, and especially frustrating combat, will simply be too much for some to overcome.

On the subject of combat, it is by far the worst part of playing The Lacerator. Rooms are sometimes full of zombie-ish enemies and aren’t always easy to circle around, depending on the room’s layout. In some cases, you won’t have a gun to bail you out, which means relying on your melee skills. This is either a punch or a kick, but if you’re cornered, you can forget about surviving. Even worse, when enemies strike you, Max flashes for a moment, adding to the confusion and clunkiness. I get going for old-school combat—I really do—but here, it’s old-school to a fault and undeniably frustrating. The game’s few boss encounters don’t fare much better, which means it’s a mechanical issue. And should you happen to run into the Lacerator, who can sometimes pop up just as Nemesis did in Resident Evil 3, you don’t have a great chance of taking him down. Add in a fixed camera and, well, you know how that can go.

The Lacerator’s puzzles also don’t require much thought based on the few I came across, usually boiling down to remembering numbers off of a memo you stumbled upon. I wouldn’t have minded some more elaborate brain ticklers, but in fairness, the game favors making pivotal choices—including one very important one at the end—over the usual connect-the-pipes-or-wires affair. There are a few puzzles throughout, but I wouldn’t call them a standout feature of the game.

What does stand out, however, is the visual presentation of the game. Interestingly enough, I initially was unknowingly playing the game at a lower resolution that was called “Text” for some reason and found myself preferring that resolution to switching over to 4K. Unfortunately, I was never able to switch back to Text again after I made the change to 4K, which I would assume is a bug. Regardless, this is a rare example of a game not looking as visually effective at a higher resolution than at a lower one. Even still, The Lacerator is very stylish, with abstract art and classic PS1-era visuals. A gritty VHS filter can also be toggled on or off, though I personally enjoyed it. Each area of the game presents an odd mix of humor and dread that few games are able to marry successfully. And while the inventory screen leaves a bit to be desired, I very much LOVED the look of this title.

The Lacerator also sounds fantastic, with a chilling stereo mix that had me looking to my surround speakers on more than one occasion. There's no shortage of disgusting grunts and groans that freaked me the hell out, with crunchy footsteps and eerie, brooding synths breathing life into this fascinating setting. The Lacerator both looks and sounds amazing—under the assumption that you love old-school visuals mixed with modern-day sound.

The game performs well on both PC and Steam Deck, with the Deck version offering a locked 60fps based on the time I spent playing in handheld mode. You won’t find a ton of accessibility options here, nor difficulty settings, which is a bit of a letdown. However, players can adjust controller sensitivity a bit at the least. There’s also an over-the-shoulder camera view that can be utilized if you don’t like the fixed camera; however, I personally didn’t care for it very much at all. Players are also able to view previous endings, which, on the surface, appear to be three—but who knows, maybe more exist.

While The Lacerator is, at its heart, an old-school survival horror game, it offers plenty of fresh ideas that make it stand out from its predecessors. Losing limbs is a disgustingly satisfying mechanic, the unusual story about a porn star makes for a fun fusion of retro horror and grindhouse, and other little touches—like optionally feeding a man in a wall—are welcome ideas. Still, it won’t win over newcomers to the genre with its clunky mechanics, scarce resources, and old-school graphics that only fans of retro games will truly appreciate. The Lacerator is for a very specific crowd—say, one that loves old-school Resident Evil games mixed with a bit of the cruelty and grindhouse violence of something like Manhunt—but I greatly enjoyed my time playing it and look forward to communities discovering every little secret it has to offer. There’s no shortage of Easter eggs and hidden endings to be discovered. I’m going to go out on a limb and say: this game is pretty great.

SILVER - GREAT

PROS

Unique limb-loss mechanic

Grindhouse-meets-horror narrative is fun

Stylish PS1 visuals

Disgustingly awesome sound design

Multiple endings and secrets

Played great on Steam Deck

CONS

Clunky combat and movement

No modern control scheme

Sparse accessibility options