Emily Wants to Play

About Emily Wants to Play

Emily Wants to Play is a first-person horror game made by Shawn Hitchcock, released on Steam for Windows and Mac in December 2015 and later sold on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A free official mobile version for iPhone and iPad followed in 2018.

It is 11 pm and you are at the last house on your pizza route. The windows are boarded up and the grass is overgrown, but the lights are on and the front door is open. You step in out of the storm and the door closes behind you. A whiteboard inside says Let's play at midnight.

As the hours toll by, three dolls and a strange girl named Emily start roaming the house, one after another. There is a ventriloquist dummy in a suit and a grinning clown in a top hat among them. Each one is a different danger: you stay away from them when you can, and when you end up in a room with one, you have to work out how to stay alive. You can roam the house freely, sit still or run, and turn the lights on and off.

The store says there is no blood or gore; the fear comes from the dark rooms, the sounds of the house and the dolls appearing close to you. In the mobile version a storm knocks the power out right away. It suits players who like learning the rules of a single, tense night.

How to play Emily Wants to Play

1. Enter the house and explore the rooms while you can.
2. Watch the clock: each hour, a new doll or Emily begins roaming the house.
3. Stay away from them as they move through the rooms.
4. When you meet one face to face, work out what it wants to stay alive.
5. Survive until morning to get out of the house.

Tips

• Use the early hours, when the house is empty, to learn its layout.
• Listen for the clock and for sounds of the dolls moving.
• Pay attention to what happens each time you meet a doll; each one is handled differently.

Questions