Horror puzzle Psychological horror Short horror 2D horror

PRICE

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Wake from a nightmare and search a dark house for your missing sister.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam
Price: Free
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 5,178 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: YETU GAME
Released: 2016

What frightens Ivry wakes from a nightmare in a dim Victorian-style room and has to search a dark house alone to find his sister Iva. Clues such as a worn toy bear, a child's drawing of a man handing a bear to a girl and a set of tarot cards point to something wrong in the family's past, and the quiet rooms, red light and sudden turns of the story build a slow, sad dread.

PRICE is a free 2D point-and-click horror puzzle game by YETU GAME. As the young musician Ivry, you wake in a strange dark room and explore alone, collecting items and combining clues to find your sister Iva and learn what happened to your family.

About PRICE

PRICE is a free 2D puzzle adventure by YETU GAME, released on Steam in September 2016. It is drawn in an anime style and told through comic-style panels, where the pictures and speech boxes move around the screen like a storyboard, with eleven short animated scenes along the way.

You play Ivry, a gentle young musician who wakes from a nightmare in a room he does not know. His sister Iva is missing. To find her you walk through dim, richly furnished rooms, pick up objects, examine them and use them on the world around you, and you also collect clues and combine two of them to form a new one that moves the story on.

The fear is quiet rather than loud. The house is dark and red-lit, the clues are unsettling, from a child's drawing of a stranger giving a little girl a toy bear to tarot cards and a storybook of memories, and the story keeps hinting at a family misfortune that Ivry has not faced. Players praise its art, its music by the independent composer TetraCalyx and its melancholy tone, and some note that the horror moments are few.

It is short and costs nothing, so it suits players who like story-led puzzle games in the vein of Mad Father or Fausts Alptraum and want something to finish in an evening. A New Game+ adds further puzzles that unlock the five parts of the soundtrack one by one.

How to play PRICE

Get PRICE free from its Steam page and install it on Windows.
Click around each room to find objects and examine them in your inventory.
Use items on the scenery to open drawers, doors and locks.
Open the clue screen and combine two related clues to form a new one that moves the story forward.
Follow the memories to their end, then start a New Game+ to solve the extra puzzles.

Screenshots

Ivry looking into a framed mirror in a dim red bedroom, asking where Iva is

The clue combining screen joining a worn toy bear and a child's doodle of a man handing a bear to a girl

A man in a white coat reading a storybook to a dark-haired girl in his lap

A sepia sketch of two children in a memory scene, with a subtitle reading he is my brother and belonged to me alone

Tips

Examine every item closely; its description often holds the number or word a lock needs.
When you are stuck, try combining clues rather than items.
Install an up-to-date video decoder before playing, as the store advises, so the animated scenes play properly.
Play with sound on; the single piece of music is part of the experience.