Fans will either rejoice or recoil in fear upon seeing footage from the upcoming Seinfeld-inspired horror game, Sinfeld Remastered. If the idea sounds bizarre in theory, it's even more strange in practice. Sinfeld Remastered is an odd hodgepodge of pop-culture references, and appears to put players in the shoes of a man-sized baby developed to become "the ultimate killing machine."
Believe it or not, this is far from the first time that fans have taken Seinfeld and added a horror spin. Just last year, a Dreams player recreated Jerry and Kramer's apartment with horror movie overtones. But Sinfeld Remastered aims to take things from terrifying to downright peculiar. The game doesn't read solely Seinfeld right off the bat. Sure, the infamous Frogger arcade machine where George put up his high score appears in the background, and Monk's Cafe is tucked neatly behind it, but all of the main cast is conspicuously missing, and the odder elements in the trailer are overwhelming.
In fact, a fan video that reimagined Seinfeld in the style of Twin Peaks from a few months back might come a bit closer to the mark than downright horror. Sinfeld Remastered is borderline Lynchian in its presentation. Even a quick glance at the playable character begins to bend the mind. First, players take control of an adult-sized baby. Also, that man-baby is wearing a jacket that is Kaneda's jacket from the anime Akira, but with the slogan of The Human Fund—George Constanza's fictional charity in Seinfeld—on the back. There are just enough oddities to keep the viewer completely engrossed and totally confused. It has to be seen to be believed.
There isn't much to glean in terms of gameplay, but Sinfeld Remastered appears to be a first-person horror game that takes players through a nightmare-like version of the Upper West Side. A list of inspirations apparently includes "Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and P.T." So fans of those games may find something worthwhile here. For Seinfeld fans, the trailer is already rife with niche references to the show. In the short three-minute trailer, there are already references made to Kenny Rogers Chicken, the Van Buren Boys, and Cosmo Kramer's crude license plate mix-up.
One of the great challenges to would-be Seinfeld-inspired indie games is licensing. Just last year, a Seinfeld point-and-click adventure was pitched but was basically a non-starter without licensing. Sinfeld Remastered appears to work around this by simply peppering the trailer with only passing references. Though the trailer does feature samples from Frank Costanza's speech about Festivus. With the trailer released on April 1st, this could all be one elaborate April Fool's Day hoax, but it remains to be seen.
Sinfeld Remastered is in development for PlayStation 5.