Horror shooters and action horror Short horror

Project Lunky

Rate it

Teleported into a lab where everything wants to kill you. Find the key.

Platforms: PC
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: 4.8 out of 5 on itch.io (169 ratings)
Length: about 2 hours
Players: 1
Controls: WASD to move, Shift to sprint, left click to attack, right click to block, scroll wheel to switch weapons, E to interact, Q to heal, R to reload
Made by: LixianGames

What frightens You are dragged against your will into a dark lab where everything wants to kill you. A dim flashlight shows blood on the walls, a body behind boarded planks and long-necked, spined creatures in the gloom, and you have to fight through them to find the key out.
Content: blood, corpses.

Project Lunky is a short first-person horror roguelite by LixianGames, based on characters created by Markiplier. You are teleported into a lab where everything wants to kill you, and fight through randomly generated levels with an axe and a revolver, collecting coins for upgrades and looking for the key to escape. A run to the end takes roughly two hours.

About Project Lunky

Project Lunky is a free (name your own price) horror game for Windows by the indie developer LixianGames, made in Unreal Engine. It is based on characters created by the YouTuber Markiplier, and its cover shows a long-necked creature whose head splits open in a mouth of spines.

The setup is simple. You are unwillingly teleported into a lab where everything wants to kill you. To get out you need the key, and to survive long enough to find it you collect coins, spend them on upgrades and fight. The levels are randomly generated, so each attempt lays out the lab differently, and the maker gives a length of roughly two hours to reach the end.

This is a fighting game more than a hiding one. You carry an axe and a revolver, switching between them, can block with the right mouse button, reload, and heal with medkits. The screenshots show the lab as a place of dim corridors, metal walkways and tiled rooms lit by a weak flashlight, with blood spraying from what you hit, a body lying in the dark behind boarded planks and creatures moving in the shadows.

The horror is in that darkness and in the things that live in it, rather than in a long story. Small rooms and signs, like a glowing letter over a red ring or a sign that just says Fall, hint that the lab has its own rules.

It suits players who like short horror roguelites where you can fight back, and fans of Markiplier's characters who want to meet them in a game of their own.

How to play Project Lunky

Download Project Lunky for Windows from itch.io, paying what you like or nothing.
Move with WASD, sprint with Shift, and use left click to attack and right click to block.
Explore each randomly generated level of the lab, picking up coins and pressing E to interact.
Spend your coins on upgrades, heal with Q and reload with R between fights.
Find the key on each run and use it to escape; the whole game takes about two hours.

Screenshots

Project Lunky cover: a red-lit creature with its head split open into a spined mouth above the glowing title

Project Lunky screenshot: a bloodied body lies on the floor seen through gaps in boarded-up planks

Project Lunky screenshot: the player fires a revolver down a dark metal walkway in a spray of blood

Project Lunky screenshot: a glowing letter M hangs between red rings of light in a black room

Project Lunky screenshot: the player holds an axe before a sign reading Fall in a yellow-lit tiled room

Tips

Block with right click when a monster closes in rather than trading blows.
Save your medkits for the harder fights instead of healing small scratches.
Switch weapons with the scroll wheel: keep the revolver for things you would rather not meet up close.
Search each level fully for coins before moving on, since upgrades make the fights easier.