Chilla's 8 Best Art Horror Games

Chilla's Art is a Japanese development company founded 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.

Chilla's Art specializes in unsettling horror that capitalizes on some of the more “janky” or unpolished elements of game design. The games eccentricities have resulted in a style that is instantly recognizable in short form horror video games. 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 deserves that

Those who played The Convenience store and quit halfway through due to slow pacing and bugs might be surprised to see this game on the list. But the creeping dread the game creates is worth watching to the end. There's also no save feature, 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 store and starts receiving strange video tapes. It quickly becomes apparent that something is deeply wrong with the convenience store and her new job.

7

Caretaker | 終焉介護,

Watch out for the Raven

caretaker is a supernatural horror that follows elderly workers trying to survive a terrifying home visit. Souichi is an 83-year-old man whose health is poor and needs care at home. But the workers who go to check on him mysteriously disappear. It's a creepy atmospheric game that draws on yōkai as folkloric inspiration.

It's a much more intuitive gaming experience than The Convenience storebut it still has some annoying bugs and no save function. It is recommended to set aside two hours to play the game in its entirety, just in case.

6

Jisatsu | self

A filmmaker is tasked by his boss to obtain footage of the creepy urban exploration of abandoned buildings. Unfortunately, the director stumbled upon a supernatural mystery, complete with demon possession and creepy dolls.

It relies on analog horror and found footage to instill a sense of dread and uncertainty in the player. The player must find five boxes to discover the truth about what happened in this abandoned house. Being one of the latest games from Chilla's Art, the gameplay is more player-friendly, but the head is a bit confusing.

5

Shinkansen 0 | 新幹線 0号

Wait, did that lady smile before?

This is the developer's foray into the anomaly hunting genre, which has taken off in horror over the past few years. Reminds of Exit 8 but with a twist of its own, the anonymous player character must navigate through moving train cars looking for changes in the environment and passengers. Some of these changes are impossible to miss, and others are devilishly difficult.

The goal is to get through the wagons safely until the player reaches their station. It can be seen as a spiritual successor to their previous game, The The ghost train. It's a similar narrative and first-person perspective of someone trying to get home, rather than a derivative departure from Chilla's Arts' typical narrative style.

4

The bathroom 地獄銭湯 Restored Edition

Free accommodation. The shower is not included.

Those who played the old edition may be aware that there was a patch that broke the game and it was pulled from the store. But the developers restored it and it returned in all its horrible glory. The bathroom is the richest narrative game in Chilla's Arts. Maina is employed at a rural bathhouse. One of the perks is the free accommodation, which seems to be ideal for her, even if she has to shower in the bathroom. As with many games on this list, the NPCs are generally unpleasant and the work is monotonous.

However, it doesn't take long before things start to get weird. Aside from awkward encounters with patrons straight from the uncanny valley, the bathroom 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 screams of supernatural monkeys echo through the empty rooms of the bathroom. There are two endings to unlock and it's worth replaying to see them both.

3

Parasocial | Parasocial

The Horrors of Doxing

Parasocial it is a game that has a paratextual dimension. It's a nod to Chilla's Art's popularity among gaming streamers and 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 measure that works to keep her anonymous until one day she is hacked and her face is revealed in the stream. It's a doxing and stalker narrative full of tension and foreshadowing that keeps the suspense going until the end.

2

Closing Tower | 閉店事件,

I'll have a Matcha Chillapuccino.

The closing round 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 enrolled in the closing shift at a cafe. The game highlights the vulnerability of people who work on their own at night and the particular fear of unwanted attention that some women face.

In The closing round, a violent man pursues the young woman. She must navigate the mundane routine of a minimum-wage job, in addition to the ever-present threat of an unsettling, predatory figure fixating 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, has a drink, has a cigarette and then takes the subway home. He even has a favorite seat in the second carriage. But on July 25th, things start to go terribly wrong.

The ghost train is a weird atmospheric game that shows Chilla's Art at its J-Horror best. It has branching narratives, memorable characters, and a haunting sense of loss. Kensuke is a man who feels like he's wasting his life, and the supernatural horror of the ghost train could be just the thing to bring him back to life. It is an absolute must for horror game fans.