[What is this? Are we playing a horror game today?]
[Have we been stuck on one game for too long? LOL]
“…Yes, after our three-person experience, we believe sticking to one game for a long time might be a bit tiresome. If you all want to continue with the previous game—”
[Actually, that’s fine!]
[Are you trying to sneak something in?]
[Whose idea was this?]
“…It was Claire’s idea.”
[Well done, Crown Princess!]
[Excellent thought!]
“Hehe.”
“…”
I can’t believe I have no allies here.
Of course, I understand why. I used to watch those streamers who played horror games religiously when they uploaded videos.
I rarely watched live streams, but no streamer would neglect to upload good content to YouTube. Many who dislike horror games end up playing them due to audience demands; after all, if they’ve painstakingly cleared a horror game, they might as well make a video out of it.
In fact, horror game videos tend to get pretty good views.
There’s a reason these videos rack up views on YouTube. It’s not just about the streamer’s reactions; people find the story and setting intriguing while having a natural reluctance to play due to the horror genre’s entry barrier.
But if someone else plays through the horror game, and even gives hints about jump scares in the video, it becomes much easier to watch.
That’s why horror games might not sell as well, but their videos do quite well.
Since I’m already playing, why not edit it a bit and upload it?
Thinking about it, I could probably cut and piece the full version together.
…Well, let’s just keep that thought for now. Starting something simple is often way more annoying and involves more learning than expected.
“Thanks to Claire’s determination not to teach me, I’m still unaware of what kind of game she has installed.”
The fact that “it’s not selling well” applies to both horror movies and horror games. Occasionally, there are those rare hits, but they’re typically the minority.
Thus, on both sides, the number of works made by major production companies that cost hundreds of billions is surprisingly low.
And the cheaper productions usually release on PC first since they are easier to publish.
The game Claire prepared is one of those.
“I’ve selected popular titles, so look forward to it!”
With Claire’s excited voice, Alice next to her couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Alright then…”
“Ah, wait!”
Claire shouted and suddenly jumped up, dashing somewhere.
And—
click.
The lights in the room went out.
But the light from the monitor wasn’t too dim, so our faces were still visible on camera. It was just that the noise increased and the frame rate dropped.
“…”
So this means she’s determined to make this a scary environment, huh?
Well, fine. Since we’ve come this far, I’ll grit my teeth and endure it.
I launched the game platform program that Claire had prepared.
There was no background music on the main screen.
[Oh!]
[Isn’t this that trending one?]
“Do you all know what game this is?”
[Hmm?]
[Bzzz bzzz bzzz.]
[Ban this user!]
“…”
Well, that’s a spoiler from the start.
That’s fine. After all, horror games generally share similar concepts. I’ve played a few before. Sure, it’s been a while, so I’m bound to get startled, but let’s see how long I can hold out.
The main screen without background music displayed the entrance of a decaying hospital.
The protagonist who decided to enter there during a stormy night surely wasn’t normal.
Moreover, every time lightning struck the sky, the interior of the building became partially visible, showing that there was definitely someone in a corner of the hospital’s highest floor.
“…Are we starting?”
Alice, who was next to me, asked.
[Scared?]
Someone in the chat poked at my weak point.
“…I will start.”
With those words, I had no choice but to proceed.
*
And about 30 minutes later.
“…Claire.”
“Yeah?”
“Is there no means of attack in this game?”
“Yeah. There’s none, it’s a horror game, right?”
No.
Even horror games usually give you at least some means of attack! There are numerous famous zombie game series, or those settings where humanity transforms due to some indescribable alien device.
There are so many games like that! You can still be scared even if you have weapons!
Yet here I was, playing for a full 30 minutes without receiving a single weapon.
The only thing I had was a flashlight with limited battery.
And why does the battery for this flashlight run out so quickly? Flashlights that take two AA batteries usually last for hours, but it seems this game only lasts about 10 minutes.
“What’s scary about holding an offensive tool?”
“…”
Alice next to me asked, leaving me speechless.
True.
Most horror games I’ve played so far have protagonists wielding weapons.
Even if the ammunition is limited and sometimes it’s better to run away than fight, simply having something in hand provides a great psychological comfort. Plus, in those games, offensive tools usually increase as you progress, or you get mechanisms to upgrade the weapons, thus the action often becomes more intense than the horror in the later stages.
But not in this game.
This game even had stamina limits for running!
“You’ve shot a gun before, haven’t you? Wasn’t that scary?”
“…”
[Were you even a high school girl? LOL]
A donator ridiculed me.
[Didn’t you try bravery training as a child?]
Another donator made fun of me.
Well, still, most bravery training doesn’t happen in a closed mental hospital!
[Scared?]
“…”
I clutched the mouse tightly with my right hand while pressing the W key down with my left.
*
“AHHH!?”
Yeah, I expected that.
If there weren’t any jump scare moments in a game like this, that would be a problem in itself.
The story was extremely simple.
The protagonist, who is a streamer, enters a mental hospital seeking some views, but ends up trapped as the interior keeps changing, a story that feels oddly familiar.
The objective was to rummage through the unnecessarily maze-like hospital, unlocking keys and descending stairs.
And of course, there were monsters roaming around that maze.
The monsters didn’t just pop up directly to scare you; they reacted to player sounds or casually wandered into your line of sight, which, though not a triggered event, was enough to startle someone.
With gritted teeth, I pressed the W key down.
“Pressing the button hard won’t make the character go faster, you know?”
But the way Alice said that while gripping my arm and focusing her gaze on the screen was a sight to behold.
Didn’t she say horror films aren’t scary?
By the way, Claire, who chose the game, also quietly watched the screen.
From behind, there were unpleasant sounds of moans and breaths, mixed with an icky atmosphere. The fact that I was wearing headphones made it feel like those sounds were coming ‘from behind me.’
It was visually displeasing as well, this being that its eyes were stretched wide with a stapler jammed through, nearly skull-like and dressed in constraints.
If it had just looked like that, it might have been better, but its abdomen bulged unnaturally. Anyone could tell it was luridly excited seeing the protagonist, even though he was a guy.
THUMP!
But fortunately, the game had lockers the player could hide in, so if I hid there, the monsters would turn around and go away.
“Phew…”
That genuinely startled me.
Having no means to fight while feeling something following me from behind was extremely unsettling.
Additionally, since there was simply no time to observe the monsters properly, I had to gauge their appearance based on quick glimpses that got burned into my mind, almost like I was taking glimpses of photographs.
“…Claire.”
“Yeah?”
“At the very least, could we turn on the light?”
As I asked while hiding in a locker, Claire thought for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah, then—”
Ding!
[Play in the dark until it ends – 20,000 won]
“…”
Claire, who had been about to stand up, slowly sat back down.
No.
“…Then, since I’ve run once already, how about we switch turns now?”
Ding!
[Crown Princess Sylvia to play until the end – 30,000 won]
“…”
I raised my hand and pressed my temple.
“Everyone, did I do something wrong? How about negotiating?”
[Scared?]
[Lol! You’ve mostly been playing alone until now!]
…Well, I mostly played, true.
But that was just how the broadcast format had been set up! It’s not like I wanted to do it alone! Initially, they couldn’t even read Korean!
But no matter how I try to justify it, they wouldn’t believe it since they had resident IDs.
“Everyone, please don’t—”
Ding!
With increasing stakes for me to keep playing until the end, another 20,000 won was added to the mission.
“Everyone, calm down—”
BANG!
“AHHH!?”
As I was talking to the audience, a sudden noise ringing in my ears caused me to turn around in a panic and there was a muscular guy, not a shred of skin left on him, opening the locker and pulling me out.
“Does this game… have a time limit?”
[Lol!]
[Lol!]
“No, not really—”
As I reacted, the screen jerkingly turned in a strange direction, and then I saw myself fall to the ground.
And slowly the screen blurred until—
“…”
It went back to the very first screen, meaning about an hour ago.
“…Does this game have saving options?”
[It’s manual.]
“…”
I pressed my forehead with my hand.
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