True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

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A sealed house, candles in every window, and someone who has waited twenty years.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Switch, iPhone
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (93% of 1,254 reviews)
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse or controller (full controller support); touch on iPhone and iPad.
Made by: Goblinz Enterprises
Released: 2016

Get it on Steam GOG Nintendo Switch App Store (free trial, then one purchase)

What frightens You walk a fog-bound street to a house sealed with rust where candles burn in every window and someone has waited inside for over twenty years; inside are bloodstained beds, photographs of a ghostly girl, jump scares and cut-scenes the store describes as an oppressive atmosphere.
Content: jumpscares, blood.

True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 is a dark point-and-click horror adventure, the first of a trilogy. Drawn to a long-sealed house where candles burn in every window, you search its rooms, solve puzzles and uncover the truth about your sister's past and your own. Its hidden-object scenes are optional.

About True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 is the first episode of a trilogy by Goblinz Enterprises, published by The Digital Lounge and released on Steam in October 2016. It is also sold on GOG, Switch and the App Store.

You are walking down a street you do not recognise, fog slowing you to a crawl. A house rises in front of you with candles flickering in every window. Its front door has not been opened in years, sealed with rust and purpose, and you somehow know the candles are for you, and that someone inside has waited more than two decades for you to come. The story follows the clues to your sister's past and to your own.

It plays as a first-person point-and-click adventure: you explore the house room by room, collect and use items and solve puzzles, from logic locks to memory games. You can play with or without the hidden-object scenes, as you prefer. Cinematics between the scenes carry the story. The screenshots show a decayed hallway under a sign reading Welcome, a bed with a blood stain, a sheet over a shape on an iron bed, and old photographs of a pale girl in white.

It is a casual-paced game, but it is built to frighten, with jump scares and a dark, oppressive look rather than the cosy style of most hidden-object adventures. Players who want a slower horror puzzle game with a story to follow will find two more parts after this one.

How to play True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

Buy it on Steam, GOG, Switch or the App Store (the App Store version is a free trial with one purchase to finish).
Enter the house and explore it room by room with the mouse or controller.
Pick up items and use or combine them where they fit.
Solve the puzzles you meet, and choose whether to play with or without the hidden-object scenes.
Follow the story through the cut-scenes to the end of the episode, then go on to Part 2.

Screenshots

A decayed hallway with a Welcome sign over the door and a caged reception window lit green

A rotting bedroom with a blood stain on the bed

Old photographs of a pale girl in white, spattered with blood, on a table

A woman kneeling before an old television with a cracked, glowing screen

A decrepit entrance hall and staircase with stained walls

Tips

If you dislike hidden-object scenes, turn them off: the store says it is up to you.
Read the letters and look at the photographs; they carry the story.
Use the guide or hint only when stuck; the puzzles mostly make sense on their own.
Play with the sound up for the jump scares.