While most horror video games are about zombie attacks, surviving encounters with vengeful ghosts or escaping cursed mansions, some developers are trying new ways to scare players. 

Distinguishable by the pixelated, somewhat low quality graphics, Japanese indie horror game developer Chilla’s Art has been releasing games since 2018. Most of the games that the two man team have created possess a supernatural element to them. However, they have two games that play on horror in a different way: They can happen in real life. 

The newest edition to their catalog is “The Karaoke,” which was released Feb. 3. 

The game starts out in a high school gym where two girls are practicing free throws after school and they have the idea to go to karaoke. From this point on, the game has six different endings, some of which are horrifyingly bad for the player and others that provide a happier ending.

The route that is most likely played the first time around involves the player leaving their friend behind and biking to the karaoke bar. 

Once at the bar, the player “sings” by playing a rhythm game that seemingly has no rhythm. From there, things progressively get weirder – wrong food orders, phone calls from the crying friend and someone watching the player while they’re singing.

That’s not even including the scariest part – playing hide and seek with someone trying to kill the player which lasts four minutes.

Even though it’s only the second game they’ve released like this, Chilla’s Art is able to create an atmosphere that makes the player’s heart race as they progress further in their gameplay.

Much like their other games, such as “The Closing Shift” which deals with a barista and their crazed stalker, the themes are incredibly dark. In one ending of “The Karaoke,” the player finds out that the friend they left behind was sexually assaulted by a coach and the calls they receive throughout the game occur while it is happening. As if that wasn’t enough, some of the other endings reveal this had been happening to dozens of other girls in the school, and in one ending, it can happen to you.

Horror like this isn’t scary because of any apparitions or serial killers or demons, but because this can happen and does happen.

Because “The Karaoke” is their latest project, they have made marked improvements from their last games. The killer that the player ends up running from speaks – something that they haven’t included previously.

The spoken words are in Japanese, with no option to include subtitles. Hopefully the developers will continue growing and include this option. Then, those who don’t understand Japanese can know what the voice actor is saying. 

Although the lines aren’t understandable to English-speaking players, the voice acting is impressive enough to make a player’s heart race as they try to escape certain death.