It’s not uncommon for a retro game for kids to catch on with older and more modern audiences. There are a ton of Disney games like The Lion King that have stood the test of time. This week, an unexpected entry has joined those ranks. Piglet’s Big Game, a 2003 video game tie-in with Piglet’s Big Movie that released on the PlayStation 2, PC, and GameCube, has gone viral, with some people calling it their new favorite survival horror game. Yes, you read that correctly.
The game started gaining traction with an X post from user Jaxonloid, who was shocked that there seemed to be clear horror game music on the soundtrack.
THIS IS MAKING ME LOSE MY FUCKING MIND.,.!?!?,? pic.twitter.com/B0uDAC5FBE
— Jaxonloid | CEO OF PIGLETS BIG GAME (@jaxonloid) November 8, 2024
This led to streamers picking it up. Before writing this, I saw a number of live streams on TikTok from content creators who typically play horror games, with a lot of comparisons specifically to the Silent Hill series — which is appropriate considering the Silent Hill 2 remake has been well received by fans and franchise newcomers.
This uptick in popularity has led to eBay listings skyrocketing in price. GameCube and PS2 copies are selling for anywhere from $140 to over $300 as of Friday evening.
While I haven’t played it, it’s really easy to see why these comparisons are being made. One of my favorite horror game YouTube creators, eurothug4000, played it after seeing the viral post, and described it as “survival horror for kids.” There aren’t many of these sequences, but a lot of the weirdness comes from Piglet’s main weapon. In order to fight enemies and help his friends, Piglet must purchase and upgrade his Brave Faces, some of which can be pretty frightening for younger players. Finally, there’s a panic system that feels straight out of a game like Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.
There are a lot of empty spaces and rooms that Piglet has to get through without the help of his friends, which evokes feelings of walking through an empty Silent Hill. Other areas feel more dreamlike, with a gothic aesthetic and puzzles that evoke Resident Evil.
This kids game also features techniques that were common in horror games in the early 2000s and are still utilized today. As X user Tredlocity posted, it uses “fixed camera setups and sound design … more effectively than most mascot horror games.” It gives the players a sense that something is always around the corner, which is one of the key ways horror games build tension. Also, sometimes the soundtrack is just legitimately terrifying. In the clip Tredlocity shared, you can hear heffalumps clomping heavily in the distance before they even appear on-screen. The dark level only lit by some candles and a night sky coming in through a window only adds to the setting.
In trying to figure out why the soundtrack sounds like it’s from a completely different game, Destructoid went looking and found that it was composed by Philippe Codecco and Guillaume Saurel. However, they have few other credits to their names besides some Disney games and another Pooh game. It was made by French developer Doki Denki Studio, which went defunct in 2004, not too long after the game released.
Eurothug4000, thankfully, was able to get in touch with Pascal Cammisotto, a game designer on Piglet’s Big Game, who confirmed that the lead game designer actually did want to make “Resident Evil for kids.” The team didn’t have access to the Piglet’s Big Movie script and Disney was being cagey on the details, so Doki Denki created their own story.
“It focused on his lack of self-confidence and the courage he would need to help his friends, who were asleep and trapped in a nightmare,” Cammisotto said.
