RPG Maker horror Horror escape Horror Haunted house 2D horror

Ann

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Trapped in your art school after hours, with the help of one security guard.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, itch.io
Price: Free
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 2,785 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Rong Rong
Released: 2021

What frightens An art student breaks one of her school's rules and is trapped inside the building after dark, where the halls turn rotten and dark, pianos, mannequins and other objects come alive to kill her in one hit, and spirits haunt the rooms. Sudden chase scenes force you to run and dodge, and the school's secrets come out through flashbacks of the people who vanished there.
Content: blood, violence, suggestive themes, sudden deaths, chase scenes.

Ann is a free RPG Maker horror game by Rong Rong, made as a tribute to classics like Ib and Mad Father. An art student who broke a school rule is trapped in the building at night and, with the help of its security guard, must escape and uncover the school's secrets.

About Ann

Ann is a free horror adventure by the artist and developer Rong Rong, released on Steam in August 2021 and also on itch.io. Its maker calls it a love letter to the RPG Maker horror games of 2012, the freeware era of Ib, Ao Oni and Mad Father, and kept it free in the same spirit.

Ann is an art student who breaks one of her school's rules by accident and finds herself trapped inside. The building changes after dark: walls rot, objects move by themselves and the spirits of the school come for her. A security guard who wants only to be called Security helps her look for a way out and for the truth about what happened there.

You explore the school from above, pick up items, solve small puzzles and survive frequent chase scenes in which almost anything that touches you is fatal. The game autosaves and asks you to save before a chase, and players say the chases can be tough. Fully animated cutscenes, unusual for a game of this kind, mark the story's big moments, and the ending you reach depends on what you do.

Players find it more sad than frightening by the end, with ghosts whose backstories earn sympathy, and many compare it with Ib, Misao and The Witch's House. It suits anyone who grew up on RPG Maker horror or wants a free one to finish in an evening or two.

How to play Ann

Download Ann free from Steam or itch.io for Windows.
Walk Ann through the school with the arrow keys and examine objects to find items and clues.
Talk to Security when you meet him; he helps you through the school.
Save before each chase, then run and dodge whatever comes for you.
Explore fully and make different choices to see the other endings.

Screenshots

Pixel-art street outside the school by day, with trees, vending machines and Ann at a crossing

Ann walking a rotten pixel-art corridor lined with portraits and holes in the wall

An animated cutscene frame of Ann hunched forward in the dark, her face hidden by her hair

Ann facing a pile of black pianos blocking a dark school corridor

Tips

Save often; one hit ends the game and sends you back to your last save.
Learn the layout of a room before triggering its chase.
Read the notes and watch the flashbacks; they explain the school's rules and its ghosts.
After finishing, replay with different choices to find the other endings.