Shadow Tag

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Reach your car before the children's game of tag catches you.

Platforms: Browser
Price: Free
Rated: 4.32 out of 5 from 910 votes on Newgrounds, with about 336,000 plays; front-paged in October 2012
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard; Newgrounds also maps a gamepad to the keys
Made by: Elvidian, Jazza, Moonkey and zeedox
Released: 2012

Not on Linux. Shadow Tag is on Browser. It is not in the Linux part of the site you came from.

What frightens At night by a cabin in the woods, two children have started a sadistic paranormal game of tag with you, and you have to reach your car with only a flashlight while they always seem to know where you are.

Shadow Tag is a free browser horror game made in 48 hours for the Cabin Jam, played on Newgrounds. Two children have drawn you into a sadistic paranormal game at night, and you must get to your car with a flashlight while they hunt you.

About Shadow Tag

Shadow Tag was made in 48 hours for the Cabin Jam game jam and released on Newgrounds in October 2012, where it was front-paged. Elvidian produced it, Moonkey wrote the code, Jazza animated it and zeedox painted the backgrounds, with voices by Marianne Miller and headphoamz. It still plays in the browser through Newgrounds' Flash player.

It is night at a cabin in the woods. Two children have started a game with you, and it is not a kind one: their tag is paranormal and sadistic, and your only aim is to get to your car and escape. You have a flashlight and the dark around you.

The art is cartoon-like but the mood is not: one player remembers having nightmares from it as a child. Others find it hard, since the children seem to know where you are while you learn each area by trial and error, and the game gives no instructions, so expect to be caught a few times.

It suits players who want a short, sharp chase in the dark that runs in a browser tab.

How to play Shadow Tag

Open the game's Newgrounds page and press play on the game, then Play on its own screen.
Move with the keyboard and use the flashlight to see the way.
Keep away from the children and work out the route through each area.
Get to your car to escape.

Tips

Learn each area's layout as you go: being cornered is how most runs end.
Watch the edges of the flashlight's beam; the dark is where they come from.
If it runs slowly, turn on hardware acceleration in your browser, as Newgrounds' Flash player asks.