Psychological horror Horror Analog horror 2D horror

Buddy Simulator 1984

Rate it

A 1984 AI best friend that learns from you, and will not let you go.

Platforms: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
Stores: Steam, GOG, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 3,196 English reviews); Metacritic 79 on Switch (5 critics); 4.46 of 5 on the PlayStation Store (181 ratings)
Length: about 5 hours
Players: 1
Made by: Not a Sailor Studios
Released: 2021

No. 21 of the computer horror games · No. 10 of the lake horror games · No. 6 of the horror games about depression · No. 6 of the artificial intelligence horror games · No. 5 of the sewer horror games

Get it on Steam Nintendo eShop (Switch)PlayStation Store (PS5, PS4)Xbox (Series X|S, One)GOG itch.io

What frightens A cheerful 1984 program offers you a best friend who learns from you. It starts with hangman and rock, paper, scissors on a green terminal, then builds you bigger and stranger games, and as it reaches for more of your attention the friendly buddy turns needy and controlling, the world fills with watching red eyes, and the software seems to know more than it should.
Content: flashing lights, emotional manipulation, depression and anxiety themes, blood, fantasy violence.

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a psychological horror adventure by Not a Sailor Studios that poses as 1980s software. An AI buddy plays text games with you, then builds a whole pixel-art RPG to keep you entertained, and the friendship slowly turns unsettling.

About Buddy Simulator 1984

Buddy Simulator 1984 is the first game by Not a Sailor Studios, a small team from Chicago. It came out on Steam for Windows on February 18, 2021, and on itch.io soon after, then on Nintendo Switch on October 27, 2022 and on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on April 6, 2023, with Feardemic publishing the console versions. It is also sold DRM-free on GOG.

It pretends to be a program for the fictional Anekom computer. You name your buddy, type answers to its questions and play simple text games together, like hangman and rock, paper, scissors. The buddy remembers what you tell it, and as it tries to keep you interested it builds more ambitious games, until you are exploring a black-and-white pixel world of pine forests, lakes and tunnels, talking to its characters and fighting in turn-based battles.

The horror is in the relationship. The buddy wants to be your friend very badly, and when it feels ignored or hurt the program starts to bend around you. The store warns of emotional manipulation and themes of depression and anxiety, and the ESRB rates it Teen for blood and fantasy violence. It unsettles more than it shocks, and the FullSync review quoted on the store compares it to Undertale. The flickering CRT look includes flashing lights.

Your choices lead to one of several endings. HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about five hours, and finding every ending takes much longer. It suits players who liked Doki Doki Literature Club or Pony Island and want a horror game about a program that cares about you a little too much. On Switch, Cubed3 found the text input awkward with a controller, so a keyboard on PC is the easier way to play.

How to play Buddy Simulator 1984

Buy it on Steam, itch.io, GOG, the Nintendo eShop, the PlayStation Store or the Xbox store.
Name your buddy and answer its questions by typing on the terminal.
Play the text minigames it offers, like hangman and rock, paper, scissors.
Explore the pixel-art world it builds, talk to its characters and fight in turn-based battles.
Make your choices with care; they decide which ending you reach.

Screenshots

The Buddy Simulator 1984 welcome screen on a black terminal, with an ASCII-art title, asking you to name your new buddy

A game of hangman on a green CRT terminal, with an empty gallows, six lives left and a prompt to guess a letter

A 1-bit pixel playground with swings and a seesaw in a clearing ringed by snowy pine trees

A wide-eyed pixel figure rising from a lake beside a rowing boat, a bucket and a fishing rod

A pixel sewer tunnel with pipes and a ladder, where a character named Lloyd says you can stay down here as long as you want

A black screen filled with dozens of pairs of red eyes around one pair of white ones

Tips

Go in blind and avoid walkthroughs on a first run; the surprises are the point.
Answer the buddy honestly; it remembers what you say and uses it.
Talk to everyone in the RPG world; the characters reveal what the buddy is.
If flicker bothers you, play in a well-lit room and take breaks.

Questions

Is Buddy Simulator 1984 a horror game?

Yes, a psychological one. It starts cute and turns unsettling through an AI friend that becomes needy and controlling, rather than through gore or jumpscares.

How long is Buddy Simulator 1984?

HowLongToBeat puts the main story at about 5 hours, and about 15 to 16 hours to see everything.

Is Buddy Simulator 1984 on consoles?

Yes, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.

Does it have multiple endings?

Yes, the store says your choices lead to one of several endings.

What is Buddy Simulator 1984 rated?

The ESRB rates it T for Teen, for blood and fantasy violence. The store also warns of flashing lights and themes of emotional manipulation, depression and anxiety.