Gore is an element of body horror that exists in a particularly strange space. In small doses, it can amount to a genuinely unsettling experience, reminding you that you’re nothing more than a pile of flesh and organs suspended in a bag of skin. Conversely, too much of it yields the opposite effect.
The human body is nothing more than a bag of goo to splatter against things, something akin to a cream pie used in slapstick comedy routines. What happens, then, when oodles of over-the-top gore wrap back around to being unnerving? You end up with CRUELTY, an independent horror game developed and self-published by 838s Maniacs.
Touted as a “Japanese-made splatter horror” in its official description on Steam, CRUELTY certainly lives up to its namesake in terms of presentation. It’s a game whose violent content is so extreme, it even comes with a peculiar set of streaming guidelines:
“We are not responsible for any damages arising from posting or streaming gameplay footage of this product on video sharing sites. Please carefully review the policies and guidelines of video sharing sites before posting or streaming gameplay footage. The contents of this guideline are subject to change without notice.”
Even if this kind of advisory isn’t wholly necessarily, it’s certainly a morbid selling point. Does CRUELTY deserve such an ominous warning? Or is this gritty horror game just full of hot air?
A Japanese Gorefest

CRUELTY is fairly straightforward in terms of plotting. After a severe accident, a man whose face is obscured by a burlap sack is forced into the confines of a desolate rural compound. You awaken, confused and scared, hearing the sounds of screaming and viscera hitting the floor below. After freeing yourself from your bindings, you’re left to explore the compound, solve some minor puzzles, and avoid the gaze of the mysterious forces that brought you here. From there, you’re able to discover the true extent of the horrors you’re stumbling around, with loose notes stitching together a story of sorrow and monstrous bloodshed.
Many prominent horror games, especially in the indie space, benefit from having an intriguing story. For instance, the Five Nights at Freddy‘s series managed to engulf an audience of all ages via its hidden lore and community-driven investigations. Other games, like Ib, utilized a combination of gorgeous aesthetics and spine-tingling plot reveals to drive further engagement from their respective audiences. This is especially true when you remember that Ib was made in the RPG Maker engine, which isn’t necessarily suited for a linear horror adventure.
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Does CRUELTY do something similar? Kind of. Whereas CRUELTY‘s story isn’t anything to write home about, its unrelenting lack of restraint when it comes to violent imagery is nothing short of memorable. It’s as stomach-churning as its promotional screenshots imply. Everything is either slick with blood or caked in gross grime. The aftermath of varied torture sessions can be found throughout the compound, and references to cannibalism are frequently prefaced with a particularly perturbing methodology. If CRUELTY has anything going for it, it’s certainly nailing its grotesque atmosphere.
Performance-wise, CRUELTY has some minor issues, the biggest being that graphical settings are fairly limited. It has one fullscreen resolution, one windowed resolution, hard limits on either 30 or 60 FPS, and no Vsync option, which means that screen tearing has been a noted issue. The player character’s movement may take some getting used to as well, as moving from side to side or ducking down into a crawl presents some notable stuttering from the game’s camera. It’s tolerable but worth mentioning for those who don’t meet the game’s system requirements. A special mention should also be made for the game’s sole accessibility setting, allowing you to turn off certain flashing lights.
A (Not So) Cruel Game

CRUELTY is a game, after all. How does it play? In short, it’s fine.
It is an incredibly brief game, lasting around an hour once you know what you’re doing. The bulk of the game is focused on exploration, light puzzle solving, and escaping a pair of monstrous pursuers that can’t be killed. One of them is a lanky but intimidating farmer whose shining glasses are as bright as the edge of his cleaver. The other is a mysterious little girl in a raincoat whose unorthodox means of giving chase may put you on edge.
It’s all fairly straightforward, feeling more like a guided tour of a haunted house than something with a bit more ambiguity. Signposting can be a little vague at points, but what you’ll have to do to proceed will usually come to light as soon as you explore your surroundings. The few times you backtrack through the compound, it’ll be to open a door or unlock something you weren’t able to previously. Things get a little more interesting when you throw in the game’s enemies — even if they’re not all that interesting mechanically.
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They fall into one of two camps, which we’ll call “persistent” and “scripted.” The “persistent” pursuer (the farmer) is your typical indie horror game monster: he wanders around crucial areas, kills the player if they’re not careful enough, and otherwise acts as a mobile obstacle that needs to be avoided, either by hiding or by running far enough away. The “scripted” pursuer (the little girl) accompanies scripted chase sequences, wherein as long as you get to a certain point before dying, they’ll vanish until their next specific appearance.
It’s not terribly easy, but it’s not obscenely difficult either. Puzzles are routine, a few moments of interesting experimentation end just as quickly as they begin, and given the game’s short length, you won’t really find any sense of building tension or terrifying escalation. You’ll find that the game’s atmosphere is carrying you further, melding more than a handful of horror tropes together into a morbid, if not messy whole.
Should You Play CRUELTY?

Is CRUELTY worth its asking price, ultimately? If you’re a horror aficionado who doesn’t mind something a little rough around the edges, we’re more than happy to recommend it. 838s Maniacs has been receptive to critique on the Steam store page so far, incorporating some suggested features and noting others for their inclusion in a pending sequel. The pieces for something genuinely fascinating are all here and accounted for — they just need to fit together a bit better.
CRUELTY is available on both Steam and itch.io.
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