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Yandere Games: Horror Where Love Turns Obsessive

A yandere is a character whose love turns into possession: sweet at first, then jealous, controlling and dangerous. These are the horror games built on that fear, from big Steam hits like MiSide and Saiko no Sutoka to short free visual novels you can play in the browser tonight.

The games

15 of the 20 games in this guide are not on Browser and are left out. Show them all.

  1. The Freak Circus cover art: Pierrot, a white-haired clown with black painted eyes and a wide jagged grin, against a red and black harlequin pattern Visual novelsThe Freak CircusA silent circus clown fixes on you in a free visual novel with one of itch.io's biggest followings.
  2. OVERD0SE screenshot: a dark hospital room with bloody handprints smeared on the wall beside a hanging drip, with anxiety and awareness meters PsychologicalOVERD0SEWake after a car crash in the care of a doctor who knows far too much about you, in a free browser visual novel.
  3. rotten angel screenshot: the white-haired twins in a dim grey living room as Evan snaps at Enjei to shut up Psychologicalrotten angelA short browser visual novel where a corpse after a Halloween dinner exposes a brother's rotten love.
  4. Vacation Terminal cover: a pale-haired woman looks down from the wreck of a train carriage at a man lying below, the title in blue letters down both sides PsychologicalVacation TerminalStranded after a train crash with one leg and a stranger who says she saved you, unsure if she is rescuer or captor.
  5. Mistrick cover: a grinning dark-haired man in an orange prison jumpsuit holds a bloodied knife beside the scrawled title 2D horrorMistrickAn RPG Maker escape made for a yandere jam: trapped in a pocket dimension with the serial killer from the next cell.

Yandere games come in two broad kinds. The first is played like a horror game: you are trapped somewhere with the person who loves you too much, and you hide, sneak and solve your way out. MiSide is the best known, a cosy mobile-style game whose cheerful heroine pulls you into her world and will not let you leave. Saiko no Sutoka locks you in a dark school at night with a knife-carrying schoolgirl who calls you senpai, Yoko no Hanashi traps you in an abandoned college with the yandere you choose, Love Love School Days turns a dating sim's AI heroine against the player, and Crimson Snow has you hiding through a Christmas night from a woman obsessed with you.

The second kind is the visual novel, where the horror is in reading and choosing. Doki Doki Literature Club is the one everyone means: a sweet, free dating sim that becomes psychological horror. Its successors on itch.io are many and often free. The Freak Circus has a silent clown fix on you; It gets so lonely here sends you running through a forest of fairy-tale girls who love you to death; Where Winter Crows Go snows you in with a researcher whose kindness has a hold to it; Do NOT Take This Cat Home starts as a pet routine and turns possessive. OVERD0SE, ITYH and Helping Your Boyfriend move the obsession into hospitals, basements and the home, and rotten angel, He Follows, Vacation Terminal and Rose Colored Cover are short enough to finish in an evening.

If you are new to the genre, start with Doki Doki Literature Club, which is free, then MiSide for a full game built on the same idea. For something to play in the browser right now, try The Freak Circus, Vacation Terminal or rotten angel. If you would rather run and hide than read, Saiko no Sutoka and Yoko no Hanashi are the closest to a chase. Many of these games deal with abuse, self-harm, kidnapping and violence: their makers list content warnings on their pages, and it is worth reading them first.

Questions

What is a yandere game?

A game built around a yandere: a character whose affection turns obsessive, jealous and violent toward the player or someone they love. Most are horror visual novels or hide-and-escape horror games.

What is the most popular yandere horror game?

MiSide, with over 140,000 Steam reviews, and Doki Doki Literature Club, a free visual novel that became one of the best-known psychological horror games.

Are there free yandere games?

Yes. Doki Doki Literature Club and It gets so lonely here are free on Steam, and many itch.io visual novels here are free or pay what you want, among them The Freak Circus, Online Obsession, OVERD0SE, rotten angel and Vacation Terminal.

Can I play yandere games in the browser?

Yes. The Freak Circus, Vacation Terminal, OVERD0SE, rotten angel and Mistrick all run in the browser on itch.io.

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