a man outside

About a man outside

a man outside is a short browser horror game by litrouke, the maker of Please Answer Carefully, built in Twine with ink illustrations by eli.psia. Its maker describes it as atmospheric horror in the vein of creepypasta and r/nosleep, and asks you to play with sound.

It begins as a little language app. You choose a difficulty and answer multiple-choice questions about what words mean, clicking A, B or C. It is calm and slightly dull, and that is the point. Before long the app starts to misbehave: the text shudders, answers stop making sense, and lines appear that ask you to restart, over and over.

Between the questions are grey, painterly drawings of a pavement and two bare trees. They look the same each time, until they do not, and a dark figure is standing there.

The whole thing takes a few minutes and has more than one ending; a 2021 update expanded the last one. It suits players who like quiet, uncanny internet horror that gets under the skin without a single jumpscare.

How to play a man outside

1. Press play and turn your sound on; the game requires audio.
2. Choose a difficulty for the quiz.
3. Click the answer you think is right for each question.
4. Keep going and watch the pictures between questions until you reach an ending.

Tips

• Play with headphones in a quiet room.
• Look closely at each illustration before you click on.
• There is more than one ending, so it can be worth a second play.

Questions