Free indie horror game
Experiment: Groceries is a free indie horror game for Windows by Nihilanth's Games. This game centres around the experience of being an alone shopper in a grocery store late at night. You’ll feel the rush of tracking down various items on a grocery list night after night.
Astoundingly, the horror genre isn't completely devoid of games taking place in unexpected locations. If you enjoy psychological thriller mechanics, try Fears to Fathom. If creepy situations are more to your taste, give Partum Artifex a download.
The experiment
Experiment: Groceries is an intriguing game full of long stretches of exploration. Completing the most menial of tasks as the world around you gets more and more bleak and disturbing. Each night, you'll wake up outside in a dimly lit parking lot overshadowed by a dimly lit grocery store. But there's a catch: every night, the store looks a little worse for wear, the shelves are a little emptier and the eyes of the cashier who watches your every move look more soulless.
Advertisement
Graphics
The graphics in Experiment: Groceries are low quality which, in this case, adds to the mysterious nature of the game. It also brings to mind the classic console games of the 90s. Most of the assets are well textured and don't have any modelling glitches or issues. The game also plays around with light and shadow to make the environment you play in as creepy as possible.
Gameplay
Experiment: Groceries features well-designed gameplay. Even though you only have a few items on your grocery list, you can interact with as many as you want. There are numerous places to explore within the store and many doors to open. Each door leads to another asset or situation that seems less than savoury. Nearing the end of the game, no matter how you have played up to that point, the game will guide you to the end with yellow lights showing you where to go. Experiment: Groceries is relatively short, doesn't have any real jumpscare payoff and instead seeks to keep you slightly off-balance while playing.
Nothing scarier than shopping
Experiment: Groceries exists more as an observational thriller than anything that will give you sleepless nights. By the end of the game, you’ll feel as though you've been watched the entire time. Questions like who was watching you, why your grocery habits were so important and why the entire place is so highly secure are up for interpretation, which adds to the game's intrigue. This is the kind of game you'll play over again to see if you get different results.
