The Little Red Lie

About The Little Red Lie

The Little Red Lie is a free 2D horror adventure by Tired Moon Studios, a small team whose first game it was. It began as an entry for My First Game Jam: Winter 2021 on itch.io and was released on Steam in April 2021.

The story picks up ten years after Little Red Riding Hood. Red's grandmother is dead, the wolf was killed by a hunter, and Red has come back to the forest to honour her memory. There she meets a mysterious cat who tells her something disturbing, and she sets off to find out what really happened that day.

You walk Red left and right through hand-drawn woods, a house and a cave, all in black and white with red picking out her dress, blood and the moon. Pale, grinning creatures roam the forest, and getting caught costs you hearts, so you crouch in the darkest shadows and let them pass. Along the way you collect items, brew a potion and solve small puzzles, and the cat's information leads to one of three endings.

Players praise the art, the wolf's design and the music, and call it creepy rather than terrifying; some find the backtracking slow. It suits players who want a short, free fairy-tale horror story with a twist.

How to play The Little Red Lie

1. Download it free from Steam or itch.io and play on a Windows PC.
2. Walk Red through the forest and talk to the cat to start the story.
3. When a creature appears, crouch in the darkest shadows until it passes.
4. Collect items and solve the small puzzles, such as mixing the right potion.
5. Follow the story to one of the three endings, then play again for the others.

Tips

• Crouching is the key control; the game does not stress it, so learn it early.
• Only the darkest shadows hide you from the creatures.
• The game saves automatically and has no manual save, so do not quit mid-section.
• Pay attention to what the cat says; it shapes the ending.

Questions