demo was a horror experience unlike anything the gaming industry had ever seen.

Terror hadn’t spread like this since The Exorcist.

This forlorn feeling was instilled in me by my dad and others who lived through that era of horror.

I will concede that they had a point.

It wasnt a ploy, though.

People really did faint in the aisles.

People really did run out of the theater screaming for help from their preferred deity.

For years, I bitterly conceded a point that Id heard many times before.

There will never be another movie likeThe Exorcist.

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Fortunately, not all is lost.

It rode into theaters on a respectable wave of hype.

Related Article: The Absolute Best Horror Game Box Art

P.T.did not benefit from a similar approach.

A trailer for the project was sandwiched between far more notable announcements at Gamescom 2014.

It was the first time anyone had ever heard of the project.

Wed seen that trick before.

Amusingly, the game even anticipates that you might feel the need to turn away from the games scares.

Doing so often results in you being greeted by an expertly crafted supernatural terror.

Of course, facing things head-on doesnt exactly make the scares more bearable.

If you feel like being critical, you could write-offP.T.s creature design as derivative.

Most of the games ghouls are of the scary female ghost design that weve seen many times before.

What truly matters, though, is the way the game delivers its scares.

In short,P.T.utilizes a combination of choreographed and surprising scares to keep the player unhinged.

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This isP.T.s greatest design accomplishment.

Its the perfect combination of environmental tension and jump scare payoffs.

Beating the game, as you may now know, reveals thatP.T.is simply a teaser.

A clever way to promote the then-upcomingSilent Hillsgame co-created by famed developer Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.

In the hours that followedP.T.s release, that bit of information became the biggest story.

However, something equally wonderful happened in the days that followedP.T.s initial release.

How did that happen?

It took two years for the game to break one million sales.

Thats when the real magic happened.

For a brief period of time,P.T.was the talk of the industry.

Even if you did indulge in proxy playthroughs, though, you no doubt still found yourself atP.T.s mercy.

Much likeThe Exorcist, though, the most notable reactions toP.T.were also the most extreme.

It is the nature ofP.T.s communal experience which makes it such a historically special piece of horror entertainment.

The games intensity and the nature of its stealth release inspired gamers to pass it on to one another.

Kojima and the games publisher,Konami, had a falling out that sealed the projects fate.

Cruelly, Konami even pulledP.T.from the PlayStation Store.

Truth be told, something always does.

That does nothing to diminish the legacy ofP.T., though.

There never will be anything quite likeP.T.again.

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer forDen of Geek.

You canread more of his work hereor find him on Twitter at@SilverTuna014.

Read and download theDen of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazineright here!