Father's Day

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A grieving father's plan to bring his family back, told by three people.

Platforms: PC
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (86% of 1,133 reviews)
Length: about 3 hours (the maker's average)
Players: 1
Made by: EMIKA_GAMES
Released: 2022

What frightens A scientist who lost his wife and son works on a secret plan to bring them back, and you follow the fallout as three people through dark houses, cellars and a run-down fairground with mannequins. Scenes of violence and blood, jumpscares and one act where you must survive a threat build the dread around a family tragedy.
Content: violence, blood, alcohol or drug use, flashing lights, jumpscares.

Father's Day is a first-person psychological horror game by EMIKA_GAMES, a prequel and spin-off to Find Yourself. You play in turn as a police sergeant, a scientist and a relative of a missing child, piecing together what Phil did after he lost his wife and son.

About Father's Day

Father's Day comes from EMIKA_GAMES, the solo studio behind Find Yourself, and came out on Steam for Windows in October 2022. It is a spin-off and prequel to Find Yourself, and the maker calls it a psychological thriller. Players and Steam's tags place it in psychological horror.

The story starts with Phil, a scientist whose dream of a happy family ended when he lost his wife and son. Obsessed with getting them back, he works on a plan he tells no one about. You take turns as three characters: police Sergeant Henry, Phil himself, and Jonathan, a relative of a missing child. Each has a line of their own, and the three stories come together in one ending.

The maker is clear about what it is: a walking simulator with realistic, slow play, where the story comes through notes, recordings and what you do. Survival horror elements turn up in only one act. Take your time exploring, since notes and secrets are tucked away in the rooms. The fear comes from dark houses, cellars and tunnels, an abandoned fairground with a carousel and mannequins, scenes of violence, and a story about grief that goes wrong.

It suits players who like story-led horror at a walking pace, in the line of Layers of Fear, and those who have played Find Yourself and want its backstory. Those after a fast action horror game will not find it here, as the maker says itself.

How to play Father's Day

Start a new game; a level select lets you replay chapters later.
Explore each location slowly as the character the chapter gives you.
Read the notes and listen to the recordings you find to follow the story.
Interact with objects and solve the small puzzles that open the way on.
In the act with a threat, keep moving and do not let it catch you; checkpoints bring you back.

Screenshots

Father's Day screenshot: a dim hallway with family photographs on the walls and papers scattered on the floor

Father's Day screenshot: pale mannequins standing among the lit stalls of a dark fairground

Father's Day screenshot: a brick basement corridor with bin bags and stairs leading up to a red door

Tips

Search rooms carefully: the maker says secrets and plot notes are hidden in the locations.
Play Find Yourself before or after; this is its prequel and the two connect.
Turn the lights down and use headphones, since the soundtrack carries much of the mood.
If flashing lights are a problem for you, mind the maker's photosensitivity warning.