Sci-fi and space horror Horror Short horror Horror escape

Cryohazard

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Wake from cryosleep in a facility full of mutants, and choose carefully.

Platforms: Browser
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: 4.6 out of 5 from 54 ratings on itch.io; players praise its creature art and soundtrack, and wish for a way to skip text on replays
Players: 1
Controls: Arrow keys move the cursor, Z interacts and uses items, Enter opens the inventory
Made by: burst_error
Released: 2022

What frightens You wake from cryogenic sleep in a dilapidated research facility full of monstrous mutants, drawn as grinning, fanged close-ups in four shades of Game Boy green, and nearly every wrong choice ends in one of many gruesome deaths shown in graphic gore.
Content: gore, violence.

Cryohazard is a short horror adventure by burst_error, made for the original Game Boy and playable in the browser on itch.io. You wake from cryogenic sleep in a crumbling research facility full of mutants, and make your way through it point-and-click style, toward one of several endings or one of many gruesome deaths.

About Cryohazard

Cryohazard is a horror adventure by burst_error, who made its design, story, art and music in GB Studio and Aseprite for the original Game Boy. It came out on itch.io in 2022 at a price you name yourself, plays in the browser through an emulator, and can be downloaded as a ROM for emulators, real hardware and the Analogue Pocket. The painted cover is by A. Vaccarelli, and the soundtrack is on Bandcamp.

The maker lists its inspirations as classic point-and-click games, Choose Your Own Adventure books and B-grade horror films, and sums it up in a line: sleep when you're dead. You wake from cryogenic sleep in a dilapidated research facility full of mystery, mayhem and monstrous mutants, and you have to find out what happened and get out.

You move a cursor over each scene, pick things up and use them, and choose what to do when something comes for you. The pictures are the draw: lockers and washrooms in Game Boy greens, and close-ups of mutants with dripping fangs and wide grins. The wrong choice is usually fatal, and the maker warns of graphic violence and gore in its many deaths. There is no save, on purpose, so each death sends you back to the start.

It is short, built to be replayed for its several endings, and suits players who like Game Boy horror and the deadly branching of old gamebooks.

How to play Cryohazard

Open Cryohazard on itch.io and press Run game; it plays in the browser.
Use the arrow keys to move the cursor over the scene.
Press Z to look at, take or use what is under the cursor.
Press Enter to open your inventory and pick an item to use.
Choose carefully when danger comes; a wrong choice usually means death and a restart.

Tips

Expect to die; the deaths are part of the fun, and each run is short.
Note which choices worked; there is no save, so a good route saves time on the next run.
Try different answers to the same danger to find the other endings.
Download the ROM to play on a Game Boy emulator or real hardware if the browser feels slow.