Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror Short horror Horror

It Needs Care

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A virtual pet toy whose cute sea creature is growing into something else.

Platforms: Browser, PC
Stores: itch.io
Price: Free
Rated: Rated 4.6 of 5 on itch.io (10 ratings); about 25,800 plays and 303 followers on Game Jolt; 5th place in the Construct Deception Jam 2015
Length: under an hour
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse to click the toy's three buttons and menu icons
Made by: Wolod
Released: 2015

Not on Linux. It Needs Care is on itch.io, PC and Browser. It is not in the Linux part of the site you came from.

Play on itch.io Game Jolt (play in browser)

What frightens You are chosen to test a new virtual pet toy from the Ikura corporation and raise the small sea creature inside it: feed it, clean up after it, give it shots and play cards with it. As it grows it asks you to keep caring for it so it can develop further, the screen starts to glitch, and the cute toy reveals a tentacled thing from the deep that the maker tags as Lovecraftian horror.
Content: glitch effects.

It Needs Care is a free browser horror game by Wolod, made for the Construct Deception Jam in 2015, where it placed 5th. You test a Tamagotchi-like toy from the Ikura corporation and raise the creature inside, feeding it, cleaning up and playing cards with it, while it grows into something you were never told about.

About It Needs Care

It Needs Care is a short horror game by the developer Wolod, first made in 2015 for the Construct Deception Jam, where it took 5th place, and updated in 2019 with an alternative ending, fullscreen mode and a faster pace. It is free to play in the browser on itch.io and Game Jolt, with a Windows download as well.

The game is a virtual pet. A letter from Ikura customer service tells you that you were chosen to test their new toy, and the screen of the device shows a small sea creature in an underwater ruin. You care for it with the toy's buttons and a row of icons: feeding, cleaning, medicine, a game of cards played like poker, sleep and talking. A timer runs at the top of the screen.

The horror is in what the creature becomes. It speaks to you, asks you to keep looking after it so that it can develop further, and grows from a cute blob into a long-tentacled thing, while the picture glitches around it. The maker tags it Lovecraft, and the deception of the jam's theme is the toy itself.

It is a small, quiet game, closer to a creepy toy than to a jumpscare game, and it suits players who like short browser oddities such as Tamagotchi-style horror and slow reveals.

How to play It Needs Care

Open the game on its itch.io or Game Jolt page and press Start.
Use the toy's buttons to open the care menu and pick an icon: food, cleaning, medicine, cards, sleep or talk.
Keep the creature fed, clean and healthy as the timer runs.
Play the card game with it: draw five cards, swap some, and beat its hand with a better combination.
Keep caring for it as it grows and talks to you, and see which ending you reach.

Screenshots

It Needs Care screenshot: the creature says it has to develop further, so you have to continue taking care of it, friend, with the reply Of course

It Needs Care screenshot: the care menu with fork, droppings, syringe, dice, moon and speech icons under the small green creature

It Needs Care screenshot: a small brown creature in the dark water while the left side of the screen glitches into coloured noise

It Needs Care screenshot: the card game, five face-down cards above five grey cards showing your hand

Tips

The card game works like simple poker: pairs, sets and runs beat high cards.
Read what the creature says between care actions; it tells you what it wants.
Play with sound on, as the mood relies on it.
The 1.1 update added a second ending, so a different way of caring is worth a second try.