Analog horror Horror Short horror Mystery and detective horror

Sara is Missing

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A stranger's phone, and the last days of the woman who owned it.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Android, iPhone
Stores: itch.io
Price: Free
Rated: 4.4/5 from 358 ratings on itch.io; 3.7/5 from 2,805 ratings on the App Store; PC Gamer: worth playing any way you can
Length: about an hour
Players: 1
Made by: Monsoon Lab (published by Kaigan Games)
Released: 2016

Get it on itch.io App Store (iPhone, iPad; free)

What frightens You pick up a missing woman's phone and dig through her messages, photos and videos while its assistant, IRIS, keeps asking where Sara is; the trail leads to her friends' dealings with people who watch others being killed live, to calls from mysterious strangers and to live-action clips the phone was never meant to show you.
Content: violence, strong language, mature themes.

Sara is Missing is a short found-footage horror game played on a mock smartphone. You find a missing woman's phone and search her messages, emails, photos and videos to learn what happened to her, while the phone's assistant and some unknown callers push you on.

About Sara is Missing

Sara is Missing, often shortened to SIM, is a horror game developed by Monsoon Lab and published by Kaigan Games. It came out in October 2016 for Windows, macOS and Android on itch.io and then on the App Store, and it led to Kaigan's longer Simulacra series.

The whole game is a stranger's phone. You have found it, and its built-in assistant, IRIS, wants to know where its owner Sara has gone. You open her chats, notes, emails, gallery and videos, unlock password-protected files, recover lost data and reply to people who message or call her. The makers say it is about the horrors of mobile technology and the voyeuristic pull of prying through someone else's things.

What you dig up gets darker the further you go: friends caught up in something they should not have been, live-action video clips, mysterious callers and a crime that happened on camera. Kotaku found it most frightening when it messes with its own interface and rules. Your choices in conversation lead to different outcomes and endings.

It is short, about an hour by ComicsVerse's count, and free to try. It suits players who like found-footage horror and games told through a device, such as Simulacra or Lily's World XD.

How to play Sara is Missing

Download it from the maker's itch.io page for Windows, macOS or Android (name your own price, including nothing), or get it free on the App Store.
Unlock the phone and talk to IRIS, the assistant, by choosing or typing replies.
Open Messages, Mail, Gallery and the other apps to look for clues about Sara.
Find passwords in what you read and use them to unlock hidden files and videos.
Answer the calls and messages that come in; your replies change how it ends.