Night shift horror Sci-fi and space horror

Security 51

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Check the papers at Area 51's elevator. Make sure everyone who comes back up is still human.

Platforms: PC, Mac
Stores: Steam, Epic, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (72% of 543 reviews). The Wand Report gave it 6/10.
Length: about 4 hours to the first ending, around 16 for every branch
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse to inspect, drag and stamp. Full controller support.
Made by: Alawar
Released: 2026

No. 16 of the quarantine horror games · No. 22 of the plague horror games · No. 16 of the elevator horror games · No. 13 of the bunker horror games

Get it on Steam GOG Epic Games Store

What frightens At a checkpoint deep under Area 51, you check every worker's papers, scan their bodies and test their blood, looking for rotting organs, a skull under UV light or a face that does not match; let the wrong one out and the infection reaches the city, and some cells are found ripped open from inside.
Content: partial nudity (body scanner), violence (pegi 16), disturbing imagery.

Security 51 is a pixel-art security guard simulator by Alawar, inspired by Papers, Please and SCP paranoia. On duty at the elevator of an underground Area 51 bunker, you check passes, clearances and bodies, and decide who goes down, who comes up and who goes to quarantine, while some of them may no longer be human.

About Security 51

Security 51 is made and published by Alawar and came out on August 12, 2026, on Steam and GOG for Windows and Mac and on the Epic Games Store for Windows. Its makers name Papers, Please and SCP paranoia as its inspirations.

You are a security officer at the checkpoint of an underground bunker at Area 51. Behind you is an elevator whose shaft goes down for miles to levels you are not meant to know about: laboratories, anomalies, inhumane experiments, perhaps something alien. Your job sounds simple. Everyone who passes carries papers and passes, and you check names, positions, clearance levels and times, and make sure the number going down matches the number coming up.

The manual's rules grow stranger: call security if you see rotting internal organs, or a skull showing under UV light on the papers. With experience you get better tools, a body scanner, blood tests under a microscope, photographs that may show a phantom hound. When in doubt you can quarantine a suspect. Sometimes you lock up an ordinary janitor; sometimes you find a titanium cell torn open from inside. Some mistakes come back several shifts later, and the worst ones let the infection out into the city.

It's lighter than it sounds. Between shifts you buy overpriced sandwiches to keep your brain and stomach meters up, read joke headlines in the daily paper and pick operations on a City Operations screen, where a fungal zombie outbreak creeps up a percentage bar. Later days hand you Rorschach cards, fingerprint checks and a camera with thermal and spectral views of the elevator. The Wand Report found it fun but too easy to feel real pressure, since you get a set number of visitors and plenty of time, and a wrong call mostly costs you a fine. Thumb Culture's reviewer took about four hours to reach the end of the first timeline, then around sixteen to clear the extra branches it opens.

Players rate it Mostly Positive. The store notes that the body scanner shows partial nudity as part of the checks. It suits players who liked That's not my Neighbor or No, I'm not a Human and want the same paranoia in a secret facility, with more jokes than dread.

How to play Security 51

Buy Security 51 on Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store and start your first shift at the checkpoint.
Check each person's passport and pass: name, number, photo, position, clearance and time.
Follow the manual's rules, and use the scanner, UV light and blood tests as you unlock them.
Let in those with access, refuse those without, and quarantine anyone who seems wrong.
Between shifts, buy food to keep your brain and stomach meters up and pick operations to slow the outbreak in the city.

Screenshots

Security 51 screenshot: the checkpoint desk with Li Wei's passport and pass, a newspaper, a UV light and the manual's rules on rotting organs and skulls under UV

Security 51 screenshot: a bearded man in a yellow vest at the checkpoint, with the rules manual, an X-ray poster and a skull scan on the green monitor

Security 51 screenshot: a blood sample under the microscope with one cell framed in green

Security 51 screenshot: a suited visitor at the desk while the manual is open on a Rorschach test with three inkblots

Security 51 screenshot: camera mode on the green monitor, two figures in the elevator in spectral view, with Let out, Exterminate and Isolate buttons

Security 51 screenshot: the anomaly guide open at Phantom Hound in the Photo, showing a dark dog with glowing eyes

Security 51 screenshot: the City Operations screen with soldiers and zombies in a desert town and a bar tracking a fungal zombie outbreak

Tips

Read the manual again at the start of each shift: the rules change.
Count who goes down and who comes up. A mismatch is a warning.
You get a set number of visitors and time to spare, so slow down. A wrong call costs more than the small speed bonus you lose.
Quarantine when unsure, but remember that locking up innocent staff has a cost too.

Questions

Is Security 51 like Papers, Please?

Yes. Its makers name Papers, Please as an inspiration: you check documents at a checkpoint, here with SCP-style horror at Area 51.

What platforms is Security 51 on?

It is sold on Steam and GOG for Windows and Mac, and on the Epic Games Store for Windows.

How long is Security 51?

Thumb Culture's reviewer reached the end of the first timeline in about four hours. Clearing the extra branches that open after that took them about sixteen hours in all.

Is Security 51 scary?

Not very. There are rotting organs on the scanner and creatures in the cells, but reviewers found it more funny than frightening. It is rated PEGI 16 for strong violence, and the body scanner shows partial nudity.