Indie horror often shines brightest when it commits to being different, and developer Simon Lukasik has taken that to heart with Bad Cheese. Published by Feardemic. This short, contained experience runs around three to four hours, but it uses that time to full effect. By blending surreal cartoon imagery with deeply unsettling design choices, it manages to create a mood that feels both nostalgic and uncomfortable.
Bad Cheese Review (PS5) – Cheese Gives You Nightmares
At first glance, Bad Cheese looks cheerful, like an old animation reel dug up from the 1930s. Reminiscent of Cuphead’s design. The art style mimics classic cartoons with bouncy character movements, looping backgrounds, and bold outlines. But it doesn’t take long for that charm to curdle.
What. Is. That?
Characters you meet become stranger the longer you stare at them, their proportions stretched and warped in ways that feel deliberately wrong. Enemies, meanwhile, look playful from a distance but reveal grotesque details when they close in. It’s the sort of imagery that gets under your skin not by startling you, but by making you want to look away.
That’s not to say there are no jump scares, though. They aren’t overdone, and when used, they’re used tastefully. It’s all cleverly crafted to keep you at that maintained level of unnerved. Never knowing what’s around the corner, be it a creature jumping in your face or a subtle, horrifying silhouette of one of “Daddy’s” friends.
Charming References Give Brief Respite
Sound plays just as important a role in maintaining that unease. The audio design mixes cartoonish squeaks and warped laughter with jarring bursts of static and muffled voices. Moments of silence, where only faint breathing or creaking floorboards remain, are used effectively to keep tension high. Rather than leaning on jump scares, Bad Cheese builds discomfort through repetition, distortion, and contrast, creating a genuinely unnerving atmosphere.
The story itself starts simple and gradually spirals into stranger territory. At first, you’re pulled into a cartoon-like mystery that feels lighthearted. Over time, environments shift, familiar objects appear in the wrong places, and logic begins to break down. By the time the credits roll, the short campaign has taken you on a full descent into weirdness, balancing surreal visuals with off-kilter narrative beats.
Good God…
That said, Bad Cheese isn’t without issues. Some puzzles are a little too vague, requiring trial and error that slows momentum. Movement and controls can feel clunky in tighter spaces, which occasionally pulls you out of the creeping unease. These flaws don’t break the game, but they do highlight its indie limitations.
Even so, Bad Cheese delivers a memorable slice of indie horror. It doesn’t try to be a big-budget epic, but its unnerving art style, genuinely weird character and enemy designs, and creative soundscape make it distinctive. Fans of short, surreal, and slightly off-kilter horror will find plenty to enjoy here.
Bad Cheese is available now.
Review Code kindly provided by publisher.