Psychological horror PS1 horror Short horror

IMSCARED

Rate it

A pixelated nightmare that crashes on purpose and leaves notes on your desktop.

Platforms: PC, Android
Stores: Steam, GOG, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (95% of 4,028 reviews); 4.7 of 5 on itch.io (83 ratings); 4.9 stars on Google Play (75 reviews); 3.8 of 5 on GOG (10 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Ivan Zanotti's MyMadnessWorks
Released: 2016

No. 10 of the basement horror games · No. 13 of the computer horror games

What frightens A pixelated first-person nightmare that reaches outside its window: White Face hunts you through dark rooms and corridors, a sound warns you it is coming, the game fakes crashes, and new files appear in a folder on your desktop to taunt or guide you.
Content: suicide themes, loneliness, chases in the dark, fake crashes, creates files on your desktop, may be flagged by antivirus software, rated 16 (pegi 16 on google play).

A short meta-horror game by Ivan Zanotti. You search blocky, dark rooms for keys and the exit while a being called White Face hunts you, and the game breaks the fourth wall: it pretends to crash and writes files to your desktop that you need to read to go on. The main story takes about an hour and a half.

About IMSCARED

IMSCARED, first released as freeware in 2012 as Imscared: A Pixelated Nightmare and on Steam in 2016, is a horror game by the Italian developer Ivan Zanotti, made with Game Maker. It went viral through let's plays on YouTube and is an early example of meta horror. In 2022 it was remade for its tenth anniversary with a higher resolution and frame rate. On Steam you can still pick the 2016 version from the game's properties, and itch.io offers both the 2022 and 2016 downloads. An Android port followed in October 2024.

On the surface it is simple. You walk through crude, blocky first-person rooms, small and dark with narrow corridors, find keys, open doors and look for the way out. You start in a room with a door marked Exit that will not open without a heart. The store page asks you to read the explanation at the start of the game carefully, and warns that the game will try to deceive you as many times as it can.

It keeps its word. The game creates a folder on your desktop and drops notes and pictures into it as you play, some of them helping and some mocking you. Early on it asks for a name you will only find by looking at your desktop. White Face hunts you through the dark, a sound tells you it is near, and if it catches you, you lose. The game also fakes crashes, each one leaving more clues behind, and to finish you have to work with the files outside the game as much as the rooms inside it.

The scares come from that uncertainty and from being chased in the dark, more than from gore. The maker warns that it deals with heavy themes such as suicide and loneliness, and that Windows may flag the game as a virus; the maker says it is virus free. It suits players curious about early meta horror that plays with your own computer, and who do not mind rough movement and pixel graphics.

How to play IMSCARED

Read the explanation at the start of the game carefully, as the store page asks.
Walk the first-person rooms, picking up keys and items and opening doors.
Check the folder the game creates on your desktop when something changes.
Listen for the sound that warns you White Face is near, and get away; if it catches you, you lose.
Use what you find in the files to get past the places the game will not let you through.

Screenshots

IMSCARED screenshot: a pixelated brick wall and grass with a small red flower, and the text There's a flower over there. Crouch by pressing the CTRL key and pick it up

IMSCARED screenshot: a dim room with a wooden floor, a door with Exit painted in red and a wardrobe in the dark

IMSCARED screenshot: a dark grinning face with hollow eyes behind grey and yellow striped bars, with red stains on the floor

IMSCARED screenshot: a dark basement with brick pillars, a tall thin dark figure on spindly legs and a white machine with red buttons

IMSCARED screenshot: a dark contorted figure in fog between tall blocky walls

IMSCARED screenshot: an empty pixelated shop with stocked shelves, a black counter and dark glass doors

Tips

When the game asks for a name, check your desktop.
Keep the desktop folder open in a window you can check quickly.
If your antivirus blocks the game, the maker suggests whitelisting it and then turning your protections back on.
The maker notes that OneDrive can cause problems with the desktop files.
Crouch with the CTRL key to pick up small things on the floor.