Chilla’s Art is a Japanese development company started by two brothers that makes games about the mundane horror of everyday life. These games regularly feature minimum-wage jobs, the vulnerability and isolation of working alone, and a fear of strangers.
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Chilla’s Art specializes in unsettling horror that capitalizes on some of their game design’s more ‘janky’ or unpolished elements. The games’ eccentricities have resulted in a style that is instantly recognizable in short-form video game horror. Chilla’s Art has 22 games available on Steam and here are the best of the bunch.
8
The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件
No Job Is Worth This
Those who have played The Convenience Store and given up midway through because of the slow pacing and the bugs may be surprised to see this game on the list. But the creeping dread that the game creates is worth following through to the end. There is also no save function, so it takes some dedication to get through the one-to-two-hour experience.
It helps establish two common tropes of Chilla’s Art games, late night minimum wage work and a bleak vision of a hostile urban environment. The protagonist works at a convenience store and begins to receive strange VCR tapes. It quickly becomes apparent that there is something deeply wrong with the convenience store and her new job.
7
The Caregiver | 終焉介護,
Beware The Raven
The Caregiver is a supernatural horror that follows aged care workers as they try to survive a terrifying house call. Souichi is an 83-year-old man whose health is failing and needs in-home care. But workers who go to check on him mysteriously disappear. It is a creepily atmospheric game that draws inspiration from yōkai as its folkloric inspiration.
It is a much more intuitive gaming experience than The Convenience Store, but still has some annoying bugs and no save feature. It is recommended to set aside two hours to play the game in its entirety, just in case.
6
Jisatsu | 自撮
A filmmaker is tasked by his boss to get footage of creepy urban exploration of abandoned buildings. Unfortunately, the filmmaker has stumbled upon a supernatural mystery, complete with demon possession and creepy dolls.
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It relies on analog horror and found footage to instill a sense of dread and uncertainty in the player. The player must locate five tapes to uncover the truth about what happened in this abandoned home. As one of the more recent games from Chilla’s Art, the gameplay is more player-friendly, but the head bob is a little disorientating.
5
Shinkansen 0 | 新幹線 0号
Wait, Was That Lady Smiling Before?
This is the developer’s foray into the anomaly-hunting genre that has taken off in horror over the past few years. Reminiscent of Exit 8 but with a spin all its own, the anonymous player-character must walk through moving train carriages looking for changes in the environment and the passengers. Some of these changes are impossible to miss and others are diabolically difficult.
The goal is to make it through the carriages safely until the player reaches their station. It can be seen as a spiritual successor to their earlier game, The Ghost Train. It’s a similar narrative and first-person perspective of someone just trying to get home, rather than a derivative departure from Chilla’s Arts’ typical narrative style.
4
The Bathhouse | 地獄銭湯 Restored Edition
Free Accommodation. Shower Not Included.
Those who played the old edition may be aware that there was a game-breaking patch, and it was taken from the store. But the developers restored it, and it’s back in all its horrific glory. The Bathhouse is the most narrative-rich game from Chilla’s Arts. Maina takes a job at a bathhouse in the countryside. One of the perks is free accommodation, which seems to be ideal for her, even if she does have to shower in the bathhouse. As with many of the games on this list, the NPCs are generally unpleasant, and the work is monotonous.
However, it doesn’t take long for things to start getting weird. Apart from the awkward encounters with patrons straight from the uncanny valley, the bathhouse appears to be haunted. Maina must continue to go through the motions of her job, even as the mysterious voices of long-dead employees and the screeches of supernatural monkeys echo through the empty rooms of the bathhouse. There are two endings to unlock and it’s worth replaying to see both.
3
Parasocial | パラソーシャル
The Horrors of Doxing
Parasocial is a game that has a paratextual dimension. It gives a nod to Chilla’s Art’s popularity with streamers and gaming YouTubers. It is the strongest game in terms of meaningful branching narratives and replayability.
The protagonist is a Vtuber who hides her face in live streams, representing herself as an anime avatar. This appears to be a safety precaution that works to preserve her anonymity until one day she is hacked, and her face is revealed on stream. It is a doxing and stalker narrative full of tension and foreshadowing that maintains the suspense until the very end.
2
The Closing Shift | 閉店事件,
I’ll Have A Matcha Chillappuccino To Go.
The Closing Shift is one of the best entry points to Chilla’s Art games. It showcases everything that makes these games so unique. The protagonist is a young woman who is rostered on the closing shift at a café. The game emphasizes the vulnerability of people working on their own at night and the particular fear of unwanted attention some women face.
In The Closing Shift, a violent man is stalking the young woman. She must navigate the mundane routine of a minimum wage service job in addition to the ever-present threat of an unsettling and predatory figure that fixates on her every move.
1
The Ghost Train | 幽霊列車
Don’t Get Off On The Wrong Platform
The Ghost Train tells the story of an insurance broker named Kensuke who does the same thing day in and day out. He is a creature of habit who has a set routine after work; he goes to the toilet, he gets a drink, he has a cigarette, and then he catches the subway home. He even has a favorite seat in the second carriage. But on the 25th of July, things start to go horribly wrong.
The Ghost Train is an eerily atmospheric game that shows Chilla’s Art at its J-Horror finest. It has branching narratives, memorable characters, and a haunting sense of loss. Kensuke is a man who feels as though he is wasting his life away and the supernatural horror of the ghost train could be just the thing to bring him back to life. It’s an absolute must-play for horror game fans.
Parasocial | パラソーシャル is a Japanese horror game about a live streamer.
Key Features:
Immersive experience: An atmospheric, believable environment intensifies the horror experience.
VHS film aesthetic: VHS aesthetic emulates the look and feel of CRT screens, including phosphor screen trail and bleeding, VHS tape noise, interlacing, and jitter in the analog video signal adding extra immersion to the horror experience.
Psychological horror: The game will drive you insane.
Japanese Theme: Environment art inspired by Japanese horror films.
AutoSave: Autosaves every chapter.
- Released
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August 26, 2023
- Developer(s)
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Chilla’s Art
- How Long To Beat
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2 Hours