Horror Gaming: A Figure in Gray Creepypasta Review · 3:54pm Jul 30th, 2022
A new edition of Horror Gaming is up, and we tackle a unique creepypasta about a strange background character in Paperboy 2. The second month of Summer often reminds us about the traditional fourth of July and other seasonal celebrations. Now, what I mean by seasonal celebrations is your typical BBQs, pool parties and simply going to the beach for a day of relaxation. If it’s not these activities that reminds me of the Summer Days in the US, then the simple things like a paperboy/girl delivering newspapers does that. Just take a look at Stranger Things Season 3 and to an extent the fourth one — despite taking place in the Spring — highlights these things easily. Crossing Souls (an indie pixel style game) also does a good job highlighting those classic 80s American tropes.
Now, the creepypasta is unique for a couple of reasons, and it is because the story simply doesn’t focus on a player having a haunting experience. It is the fact someone took the time to use a niche series that not even Golden Age gamers bring up and turn this into a creepy theory. The CP is the only Paperboy one to my knowledge so far as most never write a horror tale about a kid delivering newspapers. That is like trying to turn Mortal Kombat into a CP, but the problem is its already M rated with as much gore as any horror film. The same thing could be said about Paperboy since there is little to go on aside from being a parody of America’s 80s tropes. The theme has the narrator talk about a weird character in the background called the Gray Man. It is simply a man taking his trash to the curb, but things don’t always appear as black and white as we like to think one’s actions are. The narrator has a theory of what the Gray Man might represent based on family murder that happened in the 90s.
