The Picky Horror Show Is, Well, Interesting and on Pico-8

I must confess, the only time I saw The Rocky Horror Show was on a bad transfer VHS copy in the late 80s, I was probably 10 to 12 years old when I saw it. That means, my memory of what happened, who was who, etc is quite foggy and unreliable. With that said, have you heard about Picky Horror Show for the Pico-8 platform? It is as wild as you are probably imagining it.

Not the Only Game Based on Rocky Horror Show

Back in the day, there was a Rocky Horror Show game for the Commodore 64, I am unsure if it was released on other platforms. I just remembered my brother had a copy and swore I could not tell our parents, our mom was cool with it but dad, he was not.

I brought up that version because, well, this Pico-8 version is obviously pulling inspiration from it. Heracleum, the developer, mentions this on the itch.io page for Picky Horror Show.

What is interesting is just how well it translates to the limited specifications of the Pico-8 hardware.

Heracleum also states they have added a few things to the game to make it more interesting, challenging, and fun.

There was also a Rocky Horror Show game released on Steam in late 2024. That takes on a more Addam’s Family style aesthetic pitting you against the world in a 2D side scrolling action platformer style game. Not quite the same style.

Quite Challenging

I only played a little bit, video embedded above. You can see earlier in the video I was unsure of where to go and what to do. Once I took the time to read the instructions beyond control, it made sense and off I went to die. I mean, get as far as I could in the game, i.e., die.

Your goal is to collect pieces scattered around the mansion and reconstruct the de-Medusa machine. There are characters around the rooms that will most often just take your clothes and hide them somewhere in the house. There are other characters that will simply kill you. Good luck figuring out which are which, although they are pretty easy to figure out based on their animations.

If you are a fan of adventure games, something like Maniac Mansion but without the cursor thing, then you will want to check out Picky Horror Show. It is free and can be