RPG Maker horror 2D horror Short horror Slasher horror

Julia Was Alone

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Home alone for an hour, with a maniac loose in the neighbourhood.

Platforms: Browser, PC, Mac
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: 4.6 out of 5 from 120 ratings on itch.io; Chapters 2 to 4 are rated 4.6 to 4.9
Length: about 24 minutes (maker's estimate)
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard or mouse in RPG Maker style; playable on phones in the browser
Made by: A. V. Dossow and NewmoniaCute

Play on itch.io Chapter 2 (itch.io)Chapter 3 (itch.io)Chapter 4, the final chapter (itch.io)

What frightens Julia, a 19-year-old horror fan, is left home alone for an hour while her mother goes to the store, just as a deranged maniac escapes from the local asylum and heads for her neighbourhood; drawn in glowing cyan on black like an old monitor, she thinks she sees someone watching from behind the fence, and one player says they freaked out every time he came.
Content: chase scenes.

Julia Was Alone is a free retro horror game made in RPG Maker by A. V. Dossow, with art by NewmoniaCute, playable in the browser. In this first chapter, a 19-year-old horror fan is home alone in the 1980s while a maniac who escaped from the local asylum heads for her street; three more chapters continue the story.

About Julia Was Alone

Julia Was Alone is an episodic horror game by A. V. Dossow, the maker of Doppelpartment and Mausoleosis, with portraits and art by NewmoniaCute. It is made in RPG Maker MZ with no tilesets: every map is a hand-drawn parallax in a limited, glowing cyan-and-blue palette, set in the 1980s, with an original soundtrack by Dossow. Chapter 1 plays free in the browser on itch.io, including on phones, with Windows and Mac downloads at a price you name, in English and Spanish.

Julia is a 19-year-old horror fan who dreams of becoming a novelist. Her mother has gone to the store, and Julia will be alone for about an hour. Meanwhile a deranged maniac has escaped from the local asylum and is heading for her neighbourhood. What could possibly go wrong? You walk Julia through her house and yard, talk with her mother before she leaves, and start to notice things, like someone watching from behind the fence.

The set-up is a classic slasher night, and the scares come from the intruder and the chases; one player says they freaked out every time he came. The maker puts this first chapter at about 24 minutes.

The story goes on in Chapters 2, 3 and 4, each on its own itch.io page, and it turns far stranger: by the third chapter there is a father Barbathiel, a man with a scalpel and a messiah, and the fourth chapter is billed as the end of the world. One player reports a browser bug in a chase on Android. It suits players who like short, stylish RPG Maker horror and Dossow's other games.

How to play Julia Was Alone

Open the itch.io page and press Run game to play in the browser, or download Chapter 1 for Windows or Mac at a price you name.
Walk Julia around the house and talk to her mother before she leaves.
Explore the house and yard and look for what is out of place.
When something comes after you, run.
Go on to Chapters 2, 3 and 4, each on its own itch.io page.

Screenshots

Julia in her backyard by a tall fence, thinking she could swear someone was looking at her from behind it

Julia's mother tells her to stop wasting her time with horror, in a cyan living room

Julia insists she is already 19 and can take care of herself and the house

Close-up of the grinning man with wide eyes, drawn in cyan line art on blue

Tips

Keep each chapter's download in its own folder; the maker warns that overwriting Chapter 1 with Chapter 2 breaks it.
Use the desktop download if a chase stutters in the browser; one player hit a bug on Android.
Look out of the windows and toward the fence; the house is not as empty as it seems.