Survival horror Psychological horror PS1 horror Horror

Lone Survivor

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Survive a city ravaged by disease, and your own mind.

Platforms: PC, Mac
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (85% of 1,306 reviews for The Director's Cut; 93% of 86 for Super Lone Survivor); Metacritic 81 on PC
Length: about 4 to 6 hours per path
Players: 1
Made by: Jasper Byrne (Superflat Games)
Released: 2012

Get it on Steam Steam (The Director's Cut, legacy version)Official site

What frightens A masked survivor in a city emptied by disease scavenges his crumbling apartment block for food and bullets, slipping past faceless, twisted creatures in the dark, while hunger, exhaustion and the pills he takes blur what is real.
Content: violence, drug use, disturbing imagery, mental illness themes.

Lone Survivor is a 2D pixel-art survival horror game by Jasper Byrne. As a masked man alone in a city ravaged by disease, you scavenge food and supplies, sneak or fight past twisted creatures, and look after your body and your sanity, toward endings that reflect every choice you make. Super Lone Survivor is its 2022 remaster.

About Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor was made by Jasper Byrne over five years and released in 2012, then expanded as The Director's Cut and released on PlayStation too. In 2022 it was rebuilt in a new engine as Super Lone Survivor, with new areas, sidequests, foods and enemies, three difficulty settings, controller support and remastered audio; the Director's Cut is kept on Steam as a legacy version.

The city has been ravaged by a disease, and the masked protagonist may be the last one left in his apartment block. He is starving and exhausted and has begun to question how much of what he sees is real. You explore the building and the streets in side view, searching rooms for food, batteries, bullets and odd items, cooking meals, sleeping, and listening to voices on tape.

The creatures are faceless, twisted people. You can sneak past them in the dark, distract them with rotten meat or shoot them, and the game tracks how you behave. Eat well and sleep, and his mind stays clearer; take the pills, kill everything, ignore the people you meet, and the story and its endings turn darker. An invisible psychologist watches every move.

Its pixel art and music, by Byrne himself, give it a sad, dreamlike tone that owes a lot to Silent Hill. It suits players who want a short, thoughtful survival horror game where how you live matters as much as whether you survive.

How to play Lone Survivor

Explore the apartment block and the city in side view, searching rooms for food, batteries, ammunition and other items.
Eat, cook and sleep to look after your body and your mind.
Use the flashlight sparingly; sneak past creatures in the dark, distract them, or shoot when you have to.
Talk to the few people and voices you meet, and choose how you treat them and yourself.
Play again for the other path and endings.

Screenshots

Super Lone Survivor key art: a large pixel-art portrait of the masked survivor in a white surgical mask against a dark blue sky

Super Lone Survivor screenshot: the survivor's light picks out a pale, faceless figure in a purple room with a tree growing through it, another figure lurking at the edge

Super Lone Survivor screenshot: a voice on tape says the outbreak has been hard for everyone, above a purple-lit room with a teddy bear and a crate

Tips

Cook food instead of eating it raw; it does more for your mood.
Rotten meat makes a good distraction for creatures in narrow halls.
Avoid relying on pills if you want the better endings.

Questions

What is the difference between Lone Survivor and Super Lone Survivor?

Super Lone Survivor is the 2022 remaster, rebuilt in a new engine with new content, difficulty settings and controller support. The Director's Cut is kept on Steam as a legacy version.

Is Lone Survivor like Silent Hill?

It shares Silent Hill's dreamlike, psychological survival horror, with scarce supplies and creatures in a decaying town, told in 2D pixel art.