A free, creepypasta-like game

Game Found is a free-to-play adventure from Jivapeira. In this survival horror game, you start out in a seemingly normal home. However, things start becoming weird around you, eventually ending in an inevitable conclusion. It effectively uses its environmental designs as well as well-timed horror sequences to keep you uncomfortable across its surprisingly short playthrough.

Its vague storytelling and use of cel-shaded design style make Game Found similar to Veinless Property, although more colorful. Additionally, the lack of a linear storyline and the use of an unreliable narrator makes it feel like The Stanley Parable with a Fallout context.

Feel free to make sense of the game

Game Found combines sci-fi elements such as living inside a simulation, a nuclear end-of-the-world scenario, and video game-inspired creepypasta. Essentially, the game revolves around a mysterious video game related to a series of deaths. You play as one of the main suspects connected to the notorious video game. All these elements are dropped at hints and references throughout the game, leaving you to make sense of it before it ends.

As mentioned, this indie game uses cel-shaded designs in the entire game. This gives a weird appeal that is between 2D and 3D, or a feel that lets you move around in a comic book. While it gives a break from the photorealistic design that has become the standard, it also serves to keep players on their toes–with the jumpscares arriving when you least expect them.

The game also appears to break the fourth wall a couple of times during the game, making it feel like a game within a game. Also, the game manages to rapidly build up tension, culminating in an ending that will leave you wondering. While the game ends abruptly, its vagueness will make you want to play it again, especially after realizing that it has such a short playthrough.

A short, confusing experience

Through its story, or lack thereof, Game Found is an indie game you have to try at least once. Its mix of suspense and science fiction, delivered through comic book-like visuals, will definitely leave a mark especially as its short runtime abruptly closes your game. Whether you’ll piece the story one game at a time or leave it as is after the ending, this is a game that pushes boundaries.