Survival horror Stealth horror Mascot horror Short horror

Baby Blues Nightmares

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A toddler, a tricycle and monsters that hear you cry.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, Epic, GOG, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (91% of 187 reviews); the free prologue is rated 4.9 of 5 from 584 ratings on itch.io
Players: 1
Made by: Steelkrill Studio
Released: 2024

No. 13 of the doll horror games · No. 15 of the dream horror games · No. 6 of the hiding horror games · No. 20 of the horror games about children · No. 5 of the toy horror games

Get it on Steam GOG Epic Games Store itch.io (full game, Windows)Free prologue on Steam Free prologue on itch.io (Windows)

What frightens You are a toddler lost in a nightmare of dim playrooms and corridors, hunting for your five favourite toys while monsters patrol the dark. They hear your footsteps, your breathing and every squeaky toy you step on, and the more scared you get, the closer you come to crying out loud and giving yourself away.
Content: blood, a child in danger, jumpscares, loud sounds, a blinking screen effect (can be turned off), violence, swearing.

Baby Blues Nightmares is a first-person survival horror stealth game by the one-person Steelkrill Studio. You play a toddler searching dark playrooms for five lost toys while monsters listen for every sound, and if you get too scared you start to cry and give away where you are. A free prologue is on Steam and itch.io. The full game is sold for Windows on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store and itch.io.

About Baby Blues Nightmares

Baby Blues Nightmares is a horror game made by one developer at Steelkrill Studio, the maker of The Backrooms 1998. A free prologue came first, on itch.io and then on Steam in August 2024, and the full game followed on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store on 16 September 2024, with an itch.io release a few days later.

You play a toddler caught in nightmares where it is hard to tell what is real. It opens with your mother reading a bedtime story. You love the ugly dolls from a show called Red Belly Friends and have the whole set, except Red Belly himself, and soon a big monster is after you. The world is a facility of oversized rooms: nurseries with playpens and teddy bears, playrooms with ball pits and foam mats, long dark corridors split into sections. Your goal is to find your five beloved toys and learn what this place is, chapter by chapter.

Being small cuts both ways. You can crawl through hidden passages and hide under tables and in lockers, but you cannot fight, and you can't even reach most door handles, so you drag chairs over or climb open drawers. The monsters patrol and listen: footsteps, breathing, a squeaky toy underfoot or a crate pushed too hard can bring them. You can throw objects to pull them away. You watch three bars. Milk tops up stamina and apples heal you. Chocolate keeps your fear down, and that one matters most, because a scared toddler starts crying and crying tells them where you are. A small backpack holds your supplies, and you'll find bigger ones as you go.

Between the frights there's a softer side. You fix, paint and customise a tricycle to ride around and carry toys in its cart, draw on walls with crayons you find, and save by taking a nap in safe rooms, where storage boxes hold whatever doesn't fit in the bag.

Reviews at launch were split on how scary it is. Thumb Culture found it more eerie than frightening and the monster easy to dodge. Screen Hype's reviewer screamed out loud at some scares but lost progress to bugs in chapter two. On Steam most players like it.

It suits players who liked seeing the world from a crib in Among the Sleep, hiding from toys in Tattletail or being small and hunted in Little Nightmares.

How to play Baby Blues Nightmares

Try the free prologue on Steam or itch.io, or buy the full game for Windows on Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store or itch.io.
Explore each area in first person and look for your lost toys and the clues around them.
Pull chairs over or climb open drawers to reach door handles and locks that are too high for you.
Move slowly and watch the floor: squeaky toys, crates and fallen objects make noise the monsters can hear.
When something comes, hide under a table or in a locker, or throw an object to send it elsewhere.
Keep your three bars up: milk for stamina, apples for health and chocolate to stop yourself from crying.
Nap in a safe room to save, and leave spare items in its storage box.

Screenshots

Baby Blues Nightmares key art: the title in crayon letters beside a skull-faced figure in a striped orange coat and top hat, with blood splatters on black

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: a figure in a top hat with arms outstretched at the end of a dark foggy corridor, seen past a wooden rocking horse and hanging chains

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: bloodied, fanged toys, a cat and a bear among them, crowding a dark bedroom

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: top-down view of a toothy creature in a purple bunny suit, spotlit on a yellow and purple foam play mat

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: a red-lit playroom with a bloodstained foam floor and a Section 2 shutter, a creature hanging from the ceiling

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: the toddler's hands on red tricycle handlebars, riding over a purple and orange foam floor in a dim playroom

Baby Blues Nightmares screenshot: a dark playroom of foam mats and toy blocks, with the Hidden eye icon showing in the corner

Tips

Keep a bar of chocolate in reserve for the tense stretches, since crying gives you away.
Lockers you can hide in have a green light on them. Note where they are before the monster shows up.
Turn the volume down a little from the default. Some of the jumpscares are very loud.
If the blinking effect bothers you, it can be switched off in the graphics menu.
Use crayons to mark rooms you have already searched.
Treat every toy on the floor as a possible noise and step around it.