A Horror Game Where Enemies Die After You Flip Them Off

Some horror games hand the player a gun, while others force them to run and hide. The Night That Speaks goes another route: flipping your middle finger.

Inspired by August’s GBJam, whose theme was Nintendo’s archaic handheld, Adam R. and Guy T.—their last names aren’t listed on the game’s site—created The Night That Speaks. It’s a short but sweet horror game that’s surprisingly effective at creeping you out, despite the limited visual palette it’s working with.

The game even provides a “reason” the middle finger is so useful:

Good enough for me.

There’s no limit to how often you can deploy said finger, so I went right for it.

Take that, lamp

Screw off, cemetery.

I feel better.

The real usefulness of the finger, however, was outlined at the start of this piece, when the enemy disappeared once I’d exerted my “will” on them. You’re forced to navigate a dark ‘n creepy church in The Night That Speaks, and you’ll run into different kinds of enemies while working out the layout. Sounds are a good way to make note of a nearby creature, but your finger is the real weapon.

Sometimes, two enemies can find you at once, and you only have one finger…

Drat.

Simple or not, I’m willing to admit it got me to jump at least a few times, which is way more than I expected when booting up a game inspired by the Game Boy.

If you’d like to watch me actually play (and scream) at the game, have at it:

You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter at @patrickklepek