Short horror Psychological horror 2D horror

A monster doesn't let me leave my room

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One apartment, a few days, and something outside the door.

Platforms: Browser, PC, Mac, Linux
Price: Free
Rated: Game Jolt: 250 likes, 142 followers and dozens of Let's Play videos; players call it unsettling and a slow burn
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard: X to start; M mutes the sound
Made by: xk_
Released: 2016

What frightens A man is shut in his own apartment by something he calls a monster; across a few days of ordering food and passing time, the room and the story turn stranger, with sudden sounds, a room that flips over, and a loaded gun in the corner.
Content: loud sounds, references to suicide.

A short, free horror adventure made for Ludum Dare 37, whose theme was One Room. You spend a few days inside a single apartment with a narrator who says a monster will not let him leave, and the slow-burn story gets stranger the longer you stay.

About A monster doesn't let me leave my room

A monster doesn't let me leave my room is a short horror adventure by the Game Jolt developer xk_, made in December 2016 for the Ludum Dare 37 game jam, whose theme was One Room. It plays in the browser on Game Jolt and has downloads for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The whole game happens in one apartment, drawn from above in thin purple lines on black: a bed, a desk and computer, a sofa, a guitar, a pistol on the floor, a single window. You move the narrator around it, day after day, doing the small things people do when they cannot go out, ordering food, sleeping, sitting at the desk, while he tells you that something will not let him leave.

Its fear is quiet. Players describe it as a slow burn that leaves them wondering what is real, with dark humour, nods to famous writers and a few moments, like the room turning over, that change how you read everything before. The start screen lets you mute the sound, and advises you not to.

It is rough at the edges, with spelling slips players point out, but its following on Game Jolt is large for a jam game. It suits players who like short, strange stories more than chases and jumpscares.

How to play A monster doesn't let me leave my room

Open the game's Game Jolt page and press Play, or download it for Windows, Mac or Linux.
Press X on the start screen, and keep the sound on.
Walk around the apartment and use what you find to pass each day.
Read what the narrator says and follow the story to its end in one sitting.

Tips

Headphones help: much of the unease is in the sound.
Explore every object in the room each day; the story moves on through them.
If the browser version shows only a white screen, try the download for your system.