It’s a rare, rare thing when a game evokes the same uncanny feeling I felt marathoning Silent Hill as a kid. Even rarer when my chosen protagonist is a, quote, ‘Puppy Girl’. SSR Wives: The Murder of My Winter Crush might appear tongue-in-cheek, but after playing the demo it’s clear the developers are bringing their A-Game! Boasting unique, engaging graphics, fantastic tunes courtesy of musical superstar KORAII, and engaging classic survival horror gameplay, SSR Wives: The Murder of My Winter Crush brings a lot to the table… and there’s MUCH more where that came from!

Enter the Survival Horror

Hen Studios doesn’t mess around. Upon booting the game you’re treated to a beautiful title screen and a mouthwatering buffet of options: Bonus content, a music player and multiple playable characters. It’s only a demo and I’m already being spoiled. Your character choices are limited to the classic spectrum: CHUDGUY, TRADGIRL, and PUPPYGIRL. While your choice doesn’t seem to influence gameplay much, the final release promises visual novel style relationship building with other characters and slightly different experiences.

Upon making your choice, you’re thrust into a decrepit room that would probably go for $3600/month in Los Angeles. You can tweak the graphics filter on a computer here, but once you’re done it’s time to get acquainted with controls and gameplay. Like its survival horror forefathers, SSR Wives is refreshingly basic. You have your choice of Tank or Modern controls–the latter branded cowardly by the game, and I’d have to agree–a limited inventory, and a combat system straight out of Silent Hill 2. 

Once you’re acquainted with the controls, SSR Wives thrusts you into the obligatory survival horror puzzles. Crest, crank, and key lovers, rejoice! Like so many other games in the genre, the procedure is simple. Find the necessary item (usually stuffed behind a room of creepy-crawlies), bring it to the puzzle, lather, rinse, repeat. None of SSR Wives’ puzzles are too difficult at present, but they’re not too easy either. Look out for more mind benders in the full release.

Silent Chill

Ordinarily I don’t put too much stock into graphics or music, but I’d be a fool not to mention it here. What truly sets SSR Wives: The Murder of My Winter Crush apart from the rest is its unique aesthetic. Every door you open and staircase you ascend is coupled with a Resident Evil-esque transition. Saferooms are spread across the map with soothing tunes and a place to save your game.

The composer KORAII absolutely nails Silent Hill’s uncanny ambience and somber, but chill vibes. There were times where I was too busy listening to the beat to notice a rat was chewing on me. It’s hard to maintain individuality when making a survival horror game, but Hen Studios excels in this respect. With so much style packed into every scene transition and every dark, dank hallway, SSR Wives stands alone as a truly remarkable and memorable labor of love.

Oh the Horror!

Reviewing my playthrough of SSR Wives’ demo, I find it hard to come up with much to criticize. There were only a few instances of ‘issues’ in my playthrough, but none of them were game-breaking. 

Like Silent Hill, SSR Wives seems to favor (in the demo at least) melee over ranged combat. Unlike Silent Hill, I had a little trouble dispatching some enemies even when I acquired a baseball bat. The beauty of the pipe in Silent Hill 2 was that it gave you a good amount of reach on your foes. SSR Wives’ baseball bat, for example, could use a little fine-tuning. Sometimes my swing went over my target’s head even though I was aiming as low as possible. Other times my enemy was juuuust out of reach. I’m still getting the hang of combat, but I think the bat could use a bigger hitbox.

As for the gunslingers, SSR Wives uses a Resident Evil 4-esque laser sight system. While this makes it easier to tell where you’re aiming, it’s also a game rife with fixed camera angles. When running through the shooting gallery tutorial there were some instances where I couldn’t see where I was aiming. Clearing the shooting gallery quickly isn’t mandatory, but being able to snap to close targets might help in the long run.

Puzzle-wise, SSR Wives is off to a good start. Performance-wise, when completing a book puzzle, I noticed some of my inputs began to lag. My game didn’t crash or lock up, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sweat a bit! Glancing at the demo discussion this seems to be a common problem, so don’t worry too much about it.

In My Restless Dreams, I See That Game…

In short, SSR Wives: The Murder of My Winter Crush passes the demo test with flying colors! It’s fun, it’s pretty, and it leaves me hungry for more. I’m eager to see what this visual novel gameplay hullabaloo is like too, and the effects of choosing different characters. The store page implies every character will have different perspectives, so don’t burn out too quickly. This one might be worth a few extra playthroughs. It might even be a Day 1 purchase for me.

SSR Wives: The Murder of My Winter Crush is on Steam Next Fest: June 2025. It’s set to be released this year, but don’t delay. Fall in love again and give this one a try!