An indie horror game starring a troubled girl? How original. Admittedly, that’s unfair—many similar indie horror titles like Ib, The Witch’s House, and Mad Father paved the way for the kinds of incredible horror games we have today. I could feel their potential influence in Unfriendly Friend, a game developed and self-published by betetiro, when I played its demo during Steam Next Fest.
Though I gave the demo a shot as the event was gradually winding down, I found myself compelled by what it had to bring to the table. From its moody aesthetics to its gloomy atmosphere, Unfriendly Friend managed to captivate me in a fresh and endearingly nostalgic way.
But how does this demo separate itself from the swathes of other indie horror games out there? And how does it set the stage for the future?
Playing Unfriendly Friend
Unfriendly Friend starts out ordinarily enough. You awaken as Dakota, a pale, dark-haired girl whose angsty monologues are made more understandable by her current living situation. Her house is a mess. Her relationship with her mother is seemingly unsalvageable. Her sleep schedule is all but nonexistent. Frankly, it all seems like a bit too much to handle.
This is reflected in her view of the world. Things are unabashedly black and white, hashed out in a colorless, grief-stricken form via scratchy pen strokes, rough shading, and emotional close-ups. I adore this hand-drawn aesthetic, with the game’s slightly shaky typeface only adding to the atmosphere.
However, an ordinary day at school quickly takes an interesting turn when Dakota’s friend group invites her to an impromptu hangout session. In the middle of the night. At an abandoned hospital. Which has been abandoned for decades. What could go wrong?
Unfortunately, the demo stops just short of their initial venture into the hospital, but everything leading up to it thankfully builds some morbid intrigue. Dakota’s friends have their own issues, the hospital itself seems to have its own sordid history lying under wraps, and not one but two fake-out scares did manage to effectively startle me.
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What also took me by surprise was the level of interactivity here. Dakota’s personality isn’t really set in stone, and based on your interactions with friends and acquaintances alike, it’s heavily implied that you’ll have a significant impact on the fates of everyone in the future. Something as simple as letting a friend copy your homework or not could eventually lead to a turn in the narrative later on. Likewise, snapping at someone instead of keeping your emotions in check might negatively affect your relationship with them.
The only thing that felt slightly underwhelming in comparison was the demo’s puzzles. They mostly just amounted to walking around and interacting with anything you come across until you find the solution. A door code leading into the hospital was the last bit of content you get to play around with, and finding it was as easy as finding a loose newspaper on the ground. I’m sure things will become more complex in the full game.
Should You Play Unfriendly Friend?
My only other gripe with Unfriendly Friend mostly comes from the very thing I was praising earlier: its visual style. There were a handful of moments where I couldn’t really tell what I was looking at, or what might’ve been a wall, or what I could or couldn’t interact with. Dakota’s movement speed is pretty glacial compared to similar games I’ve played in the past, so it was a little annoying to move all the way somewhere else just to find that there wasn’t really anything of note. It’s a minor thing, though.
Overall, though, I enjoyed my brief time with Unfriendly Friend. Yes, the actual horror elements in the demo are pretty light (almost nonexistent, really), but I’d like to think that it’s more of an interesting tease for what’s to come. I’m invested in these characters now, and the wait to see what’ll ultimately happen to them is going to be excruciating. Simply put, if you’re interested in gloomy horror games, Unfriendly Friend looks to be a fun contender for your time.
Unfriendly Friend will release on Steam in 2025.
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