Project Trap

Project Trap by Elvies
https://elvies.itch.io/projecttrap

This is a Game Boy style remake of P.T., the horrible hallway walking simulator that Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro thought would be a good idea to release into the world. Project Trap is a solid 3/5, meaning that's it's good for what it is but doesn't really do anything interesting. I'm happy to play it for free in my browser, but I'm not going to pay to download it.

The game isn't particularly creepy, but you can die if you go up to the ghost and talk to her. Unfortunately, dying puts you back at the beginning of the game instead of the beginning of that particular iteration of the hallway, so I got bored and stopped playing. Also, why wouldn't I go up and talk to the ghost? I'm curious about what she has to say. Don't punish me for trying to make friends.

I actually read an entire book about P.T. (which is also available on Itchio), but I think the definitive version of the game is still the Game Grumps let's play, if only because we share the same reaction to the screaming aborted fetus in the bathroom, namely, that's it's kind of cute actually.

Waking Nightmare

Waking Nightmare by Polyducks
https://polyducks.itch.io/waking-nightmare

Waking Nightmare is a Game Boy [genre redacted so as not to spoil the ending] horror game in which you navigate through a short and simple maze. Every dead end presents you with a nightmare scenario and the notification that you've woken up, thus restarting the maze. The game moves very quickly, and each dead end is creative and worth the trouble of seeing. The game also puts an "xx" in front of a dead end that you've already seen twice in order to minimize frustration.

When you make it through the maze, you're presented with a series of dialog choices that determine one of three endings. The maze layout doesn't change, so it's easy to finish the game and see all three endings in about fifteen minutes. Although the maze screens look like something a kid would build on a graphing calculator, the gritty lo-fi pixel art is great, especially for the three closing screens.

Waking Nightmare makes excellent use of the medium, and I really appreciate that. I always kind of hated 4/8/16-bit maze games, but I'm glad I gave this one a chance.