This Spooky Game Based On Sydney’s Rental Market Was Inspired By Real Rental Horror Stories

The Sydney rental market is rough right now. Between gargantuan rental increases, no-grounds evictions

snake around the block Game of Thrones Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch).  Pete Foley Scott Ford Fuzzy Ghost callout for real renter experiences

The Coraline… oven? (Source: Supplied).

Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)  Coraline — Beetlejuice  Poltergeist  Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)  Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)  Steam

The post This Spooky Game Based On Sydney’s Rental Market Was Inspired By Real Rental Horror Stories appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .

and inspection lines that , it’s never been grimmer to find somewhere to live — a prospect made worse by negligent and exploitative landlords. While rental crisis discussions dissect the numbers and policies of it all, they often glaze over the middleman: the leeches who turn housing into a episode, as captured through a landlord character straight out of your worst nightmares in the upcoming comedy-horror video game, Game developers and are seasoned tenants themselves and have lived through their own fair share of rental horror stories. After examining their own home’s questionable character, the pair at award-winning independent developer company began riffing around the relatability of their living situation. “Scott was sitting upstairs one day in the house we’re currently renting and he was looking across at a crack in the wall upstairs,” Foley recalled to PEDESTRIAN.TV. “He told [the landlord] multiple times that draughts come in, water gets in when it rains. “But our lease is coming up and we don’t want to shake the hornet’s nest because if you try to insist on something, NSW has no-grounds eviction laws, so [landlords] can just say, ‘look, too hard basket, get out’. And we were like, oh, that’s terrifying. This is good content.” The disconnect where landlords put profit before people is all too common and an experience that informed the writing of the gameplay. Foley and Ford did a  and continue to be shocked by the submissions coming in. Giving space to tenants to get their stories off their chests has allowed their voices to be heard and feel less alone. “There’s this really strange dynamic where trauma allows us to laugh together,” explains Foley. “We’ve really enjoyed getting other people involved so we have this communal sense of the shit we live through. Oh boy.” Noise pollution, weird smells and cockroach infestations are just the tip of the iceberg. One woman shared with Fuzzy Ghost that her landlord let himself into the house, found her in the bathtub and continued to ask her questions about the property while she sat there in shock. Another tenant revealed their landlord would disguise themselves as a handyman to do sneaky inspections, while a third was horrified to find theirs living in a secret space underneath the back deck. These anonymised, real life stories are then swept through the game as case files lost by a dud real estate agent Janet has hired to manage her properties, that players will be able to pick up and read as they plod along. Whether it’s the light streaming through a plant-filled hallway, walls speckled with black mould or the oven that hasn’t turned on for months, playing out scenarios of the housing shortage Sydney’s rental market is experiencing may feel too close to home at first. But Foley explains that while there are some jump scares here and there — and a lot of holding up the mirror — Fuzzy Ghost aren’t interested in making people feel uncomfortable and instead see the game as a therapeutic outlet. “The thing that’s been really frustrating us about the way the media deals with renters is always in abstract concepts,” says Foley. “I really want people to stop treating an ‘investment’ as though it has as valid weight to a roof over someone’s head. Like, it should absolutely not work like this.” The stills from look like a scene straight out of  an aesthetic choice made after a rewatch of and that sparked the idea to play around with the suburban and fantastical. Foley describes the titular Ms Mornay as representative of old school money with eccentric girlboss undertones, taking inspiration from Cruella DeVille and Yzma. “They’re these powerful women that are just kind of shitty, but you love them and love hating them,” he says. “The villain is this entitled rich woman who feels like she owns you.” But at the heart of it all is the camaraderie and care between three LGBTQIA+ housemates who are being put through the ringer together, normalising queer found families on the small screen. Their bond extends beyond the absurd forces working against them, with Janet proving to be a common enemy but not the only common denominator in their relationship. If Foley were to summarise the Sydney rental market right now in five words or less, they would be: “Good Luck And Get Out”. While won’t spare you a trip to Fair Trading, Foley says he and Ford hope it becomes another voice to keep up the pressure on vital reforms that will see Sydney renters better protected. “Hopefully, for people who do rent and have gone through terrible times, it provides a bit of solace,” he says. “I mean, what are video games if not a power fantasy. The idea that you get to defeat this landlord? Chef’s kiss.”  is set for release via.