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Yandere Games: Horror Where Love Turns Obsessive

A yandere is a character whose love turns into possession: sweet at first, then jealous, controlling and dangerous. These are the horror games built on that fear, from big Steam hits like MiSide and Saiko no Sutoka to short free visual novels you can play in the browser tonight.

The games

  1. MiSide key art: Mita, an anime girl with long dark blue hair, smiles as her hair curls into heart shapes PsychologicalMiSideThe best-known yandere game: care for a cheerful anime girl in a mobile-style game until she pulls you into her world and will not let you go.
  2. Doki Doki Literature Club Plus art: Sayori waving, Yuri with a book, Natsuki with folded arms and Monika with a sheet of paper on a pink background PsychologicalDoki Doki Literature Club!A free, sweet club dating sim that turns into psychological horror, the game most players mean by yandere.
  3. Saiko no sutoka key art: a red-haired anime schoolgirl holding a large knife up to her face, eyes wide AnimeSaiko no sutokaTrapped in a dark school at night with a knife-carrying yandere schoolgirl who blocks, slows and ambushes you.
  4. Love Love School Days key art: the heroine Machina with long twin tails and a red cross hairpin in a dark classroom PsychologicalLove Love School DaysA dating sim's AI heroine pulls the player back into her game and hunts them through its dark school.
  5. Yoko no Hanashi key art: the two yanderes, a smiling girl and a frowning young man, in a blood-stained school corridor AnimeYoko no HanashiLocked in an abandoned college by the yandere you choose, Yoko or Yoto: escape, or win their favour and survive.
  6. Crimson Snow key art: a pale red-haired woman with blood running from a wide smile, beside a snowbound house at night PsychologicalCrimson SnowHide through a Christmas night in a strange house from a woman obsessed with you, while your girlfriend's fate rests on your words.
  7. The Freak Circus cover art: Pierrot, a white-haired clown with black painted eyes and a wide jagged grin, against a red and black harlequin pattern Visual novelsThe Freak CircusA silent circus clown fixes on you in a free visual novel with one of itch.io's biggest followings.
  8. It gets so lonely here key art: a girl in a school uniform with a red ribbon covers her face with her hands in a dark forest PsychologicalIt gets so lonely hereA free visual novel where every path through a dark forest ends with a fairy-tale girl who loves you to death.
  9. Where Winter Crows Go key art: green-haired Crowe in a lab coat grins with red eyes through his fingers beside the title and a crow silhouette on red PsychologicalWhere Winter Crows GoSnowed in at a crow researcher's cabin, with a host whose kindness slowly becomes a hold.
  10. Do NOT Take This Cat Home cover: a round black cat with big yellow eyes peeking out of a cardboard box PsychologicalDo NOT Take This Cat HomeA black cat from an alley, a cute pet routine and a possessive turn into something surreal and violent.
  11. Hydrangea screenshot: Yua, with purple hair and red bows, in a dim hospital room among wilted hydrangeas, blood at her lip, saying You're making me like this PsychologicalHydrangeaA Yandere Game Jam visual novel, free on Steam and itch.io: a sweetheart you design falls ill, and their love becomes a suffocating obsession across four endings.
  12. Online Obsession cover: a white-haired anime-style man half in shadow with a red eye, a glitching red heart and the title over a pink background split by a black, blood-spattered stripe PsychologicalOnline ObsessionYou finally meet your online friend in person, and the pastel chats give way to a knife and a locked room.
  13. OVERD0SE screenshot: a dark hospital room with bloody handprints smeared on the wall beside a hanging drip, with anxiety and awareness meters PsychologicalOVERD0SEWake after a car crash in the care of a doctor who knows far too much about you, in a free browser visual novel.
  14. ITYH: A Horror Otome cover: pale, white-haired Osgoode in a skull shirt and blonde Camille in a pink dress, with bloody hands holding a rose and a heart, beside the title PsychologicalITYH: A Horror OtomeShe wanted the quiet new boy to notice her; now she is chained in his basement, in a horror otome of gore and trauma.
  15. Helping Your Boyfriend key art: Dr. Adrian Winchester, blond in a lab coat and black gloves, smiles beside the line Let me take care of you... okay? PsychologicalHelping Your BoyfriendA perfect doctor boyfriend, a patient who cannot walk and a nightly job taking apart old dolls.
  16. rotten angel screenshot: the white-haired twins in a dim grey living room as Evan snaps at Enjei to shut up Psychologicalrotten angelA short browser visual novel where a corpse after a Halloween dinner exposes a brother's rotten love.
  17. He Follows title art: a dark figure watches from behind a door, beside the red title PsychologicalHe FollowsA classmate who waited for you every night stops showing up, and a voice asks why you are avoiding him.
  18. Vacation Terminal cover: a pale-haired woman looks down from the wreck of a train carriage at a man lying below, the title in blue letters down both sides PsychologicalVacation TerminalStranded after a train crash with one leg and a stranger who says she saved you, unsure if she is rescuer or captor.
  19. Rose Colored Cover art: Gabriela, a girl with long blue hair and red eyes, glares beside a glossy pink heart with a bow Multiple endingsRose Colored CoverWake tied up in a smiling yandere's pink basement, where your words decide whether you live.
  20. Mistrick cover: a grinning dark-haired man in an orange prison jumpsuit holds a bloodied knife beside the scrawled title 2D horrorMistrickAn RPG Maker escape made for a yandere jam: trapped in a pocket dimension with the serial killer from the next cell.
  21. The Stalked key art: a large Victorian mansion among dark trees at night PsychologicalThe StalkedHide from an obsessive ex at an isolated mansion, never sure who is watching from the dark.

Yandere games come in two broad kinds. The first is played like a horror game: you are trapped somewhere with the person who loves you too much, and you hide, sneak and solve your way out. MiSide is the best known, a cosy mobile-style game whose cheerful heroine pulls you into her world and will not let you leave. Saiko no Sutoka locks you in a dark school at night with a knife-carrying schoolgirl who calls you senpai, Yoko no Hanashi traps you in an abandoned college with the yandere you choose, Love Love School Days turns a dating sim's AI heroine against the player, and Crimson Snow has you hiding through a Christmas night from a woman obsessed with you.

The second kind is the visual novel, where the horror is in reading and choosing. Doki Doki Literature Club is the one everyone means: a sweet, free dating sim that becomes psychological horror. Its successors on itch.io are many and often free. The Freak Circus has a silent clown fix on you; It gets so lonely here sends you running through a forest of fairy-tale girls who love you to death; Where Winter Crows Go snows you in with a researcher whose kindness has a hold to it; Do NOT Take This Cat Home starts as a pet routine and turns possessive. Hydrangea, made for the 2024 Yandere Game Jam and free on Steam, turns the illness of a sweetheart you design into a bedside obsession that gaslights and suffocates. OVERD0SE, ITYH and Helping Your Boyfriend move the obsession into hospitals, basements and the home, and rotten angel, He Follows, Vacation Terminal and Rose Colored Cover are short enough to finish in an evening.

If you are new to the genre, start with Doki Doki Literature Club, which is free, then MiSide for a full game built on the same idea. For something to play in the browser right now, try The Freak Circus, Vacation Terminal or rotten angel. If you would rather run and hide than read, Saiko no Sutoka and Yoko no Hanashi are the closest to a chase. Many of these games deal with abuse, self-harm, kidnapping and violence: their makers list content warnings on their pages, and it is worth reading them first.

Questions

What is a yandere game?

A game built around a yandere: a character whose affection turns obsessive, jealous and violent toward the player or someone they love. Most are horror visual novels or hide-and-escape horror games.

What is the most popular yandere horror game?

MiSide, with over 140,000 Steam reviews, and Doki Doki Literature Club, a free visual novel that became one of the best-known psychological horror games.

Are there free yandere games?

Yes. Doki Doki Literature Club and It gets so lonely here are free on Steam, and many itch.io visual novels here are free or pay what you want, among them The Freak Circus, Online Obsession, OVERD0SE, rotten angel and Vacation Terminal.

Can I play yandere games in the browser?

Yes. The Freak Circus, Vacation Terminal, OVERD0SE, rotten angel and Mistrick all run in the browser on itch.io.

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