Slasher horror Short horror Psychological horror PS1 horror

Calm Time

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A quiet dinner party at a lonely country house, and the host has a knife.

Platforms: PC
Price: Free
Rated: 95% positive on Game Jolt (999 ratings), with 951 likes, about 2,200 followers and over 600 comments; an 8 out of 10 from the RussnRuss review blog
Length: under an hour: one reviewer finished it in under 10 minutes, and a slow full Let
Players: 1
Controls: WASD to move, E to interact, CTRL to calm yourself, left click to interact in a different way
Made by: GoosEntertainment (Revolab, Ivan Zanotti's MyMadness Works and Bellini Virgil)
Released: 2013

What frightens A lonely man invites guests to his country house for dinner, and within minutes the quiet evening turns to murder with you holding the kitchen knife. The lights go out, wounded guests limp and bleed as they flee through the dark rooms, unsettling piano chords and screams replace the calm music, and the ghost of a dead woman appears at the edge of your view.
Content: graphic violence and blood, murder of helpless people, including a child, static noise, dead body in chains.

Calm Time is a short, free first-person horror game made in one week in 2013 by Revolab, Ivan Zanotti (IMSCARED) and Bellini Virgil. A man who lives alone in the countryside invites people to dinner, and you play him as the evening turns to murder in a dark, pixelated house.

About Calm Time

Calm Time was made in one week for Game Jolt's Contest 10 in November 2013, as a joint project between Revolab, the maker of 7Days, Ivan Zanotti's MyMadness Works, the studio behind IMSCARED, and Bellini Virgil, released under the name GoosEntertainment. It is a free Windows download on Game Jolt, made in GameMaker, and its makers describe it as an experiment: simple, a bit slow, and short.

It opens on a starry sky over a small house, with the host talking about how much he loves the peace and quiet of living far from everyone, and how lonely it can get. So he has invited some guests. You walk his blocky, dim rooms in first person, past a long dinner table and into the kitchen, and talk to the people who came.

The game soon shows what kind of evening it is. You are not the one being hunted: you are the host, and the guests are the ones who run. A stabbed guest does not fall at once but limps away bleeding, so you have to follow them through the dark house, corner them or creep up behind them while holding CTRL to stay calm. The calm dinner music gives way to stray piano chords and screams, static breaks in, and a woman in white appears at the edges of your view.

What makes it disturbing is less the shock than the role. The guests are helpless, one of them is a child, and the host's soft voice frames all of it. Reviewers and Let's Players warn that it is very disturbing for its size. It suits players who liked IMSCARED or 7Days and want a short, rough, pixelated experiment that puts them on the wrong side of a slasher story.

How to play Calm Time

Download the zip from the game's Game Jolt page and extract it before playing; run the game from the extracted folder.
If the game has no sound, move the game folder into C:\Program Files, as its makers advise.
Follow the on-screen text: move with WASD and talk or interact with E.
Hold CTRL to calm yourself and move quietly when you need to get close to someone.
Use left click to interact in a different way, and follow the guests through the house until the night is over.

Screenshots

Calm Time screenshot: a blocky woman stands in a pixelated kitchen beside a bowl of red fruit, saying she is supposed to babysit the kid but came to the party

Calm Time screenshot: a dim dining room with a long table set with plates and cups, chairs pulled out and a fire in the hearth

Calm Time screenshot: an iron gate in a stone wall at night, with green grass and a path in front

Calm Time screenshot: looking down a dark stairwell through a hole in a pixelated floor

Tips

It is slow by design; let the opening monologue and dinner scene play out.
Guests are fast once they run, so cut them off in rooms with one exit instead of chasing them down corridors.
Wear headphones but keep the volume moderate; the static can be harsh.
It was made in a week and may have bugs; the makers ask players to report them in the comments.

Questions

Is Calm Time free?

Yes. It is a free Windows download on Game Jolt.

Who made Calm Time?

Revolab (7Days), Ivan Zanotti's MyMadness Works (IMSCARED) and Bellini Virgil, together as GoosEntertainment, in one week for Game Jolt Contest 10 in 2013.

How long is Calm Time?

Under an hour. One reviewer finished it in under 10 minutes; a slow full Let's Play takes about 40.

Why is there no sound?

The makers say that if the sound does not work, move the game folder into C:\Program Files. Extract the zip first rather than running it from inside the archive.

Is Calm Time on Steam or itch.io?

No. It is only on Game Jolt.