[[quoteright:322:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paranormal_vaporware.png]]
->''"Hello, my name is Mattel Clark. I'm an artist, and I've come to believe that my house is haunted. Lately, things have been going bump in the night. A lot. So, I've set up cameras around my studio, and I've got one here, and I've started recording things to try and prove to people that I'm'' not ''going crazy."''


''Paranormal'' is an indie-produced horror game for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]]. It entered UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}'s Early Access in 2012, and [[{{Vaporware}} is still there as of 2019]].

The game's style is reminiscent of FoundFootageFilms, as the player directs a new homeowner's attempts to capture his (very) haunted house's ever-intensifying supernatural manifestations via InUniverseCamera. Every running of ''Paranormal'' is unique, as the spooky events and increasingly-dangerous apparitions are generated randomly each time, becoming more extreme as Mattel's investigation stretches out over several nights. Assuming he lasts that long...

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!!Tropes:

* ApocalypticLog: Diary pages from the house's previous owner appear in random locations, providing clues to her tragic fate. Mattel's tapes become this if you die.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: In the full ending, Mattel learns the truth about the haunting and uses the furnace in the basement to destroy the house and the being haunting it, but dies doing so.]]
* BloodBath: One haunting [[spoiler: that's actually important to the plot]] has Mattel get locked in the bathroom while the plumbing pours out blood. It fills the tub and sink as the toilet overflows with red.
* BloodyHandprint: Several, and bloody ''footprints'' too, not always on the floor.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: In the full ending, [[spoiler: Mattel destroys the house, killing the HumanoidAbomination haunting it, but also dying himself]].
* CameraAbuse: It's raining in Mattel's backyard, and smears of distortion slip across the camera's image when he goes outside, representing raindrops on the lens. In one [=CCTV=] scare, a soda can is flung into the camera hard enough to crack the lens.
* CreepyChangingPainting: Several paintings and murals around the house change their appearance and/or swap places between one night and the next.
* CreepyDoll: The puppet-like mannequins Mattel uses to visualize space for his work are creepy enough ''before'' they start moving around the house.
* DeathOfAChild:
-->"[[spoiler: The baby is gone.]]"
* DramaticSlip: Mattel occasionally trips and falls, which can be alarming if he's sprinting back to bed before the camera's battery times out.
%%* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: The ghost.]]
** HumanoidAbomination: When it does appear it is by no means less frightening.
* ElectromagneticGhosts: The haunting messes with the car's lights and the radio, sometimes the television also.
* EvilDetectingDog: Mattel's dog Cory evidently had a run-in with the haunting before his master did, and subsequently sat staring at the foot of the steps, as if watching for its return. [[spoiler: By the time Mattel starts recording things and the game begins, the dog has wasted away and died.]]
* FacialHorror / {{Jawbreaker}}: A sex slave's body was found in the house many years ago with her jaw torn off. [[spoiler: Her ghost still shows this mutilation.]]
* FantasticallyIndifferent: Even when objects are floating in midair, the plumbing is bleeding, and mannequins are creeping around behind him, Mattel's reactions tend to be muted at best.
* FoundFootageFilms: Done in the style of such films.
%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: The best ending.]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: If Mattel dies, a mannequin appears before the InUniverseCamera in a corpse-like pose in lieu of an actual corpse.
* GuideDangIt: The full ending (which actually explains what's going on and [[spoiler: lets you stop it]]) is very difficult to get if you don't know what you're doing.
%%* HauntedHouse
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The last night of Mattel's recording is the night of July 4th (Independence Day in the USA).
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: How the body of one of the house's previous owners was found. [[spoiler: Also how the kitchen apparition appears, pinned to the wall by a large pipe.]]
* InUniverseCamera: Mattel carries a camera with him while exploring his house at night; by day, while he's sleeping, closed-circuit cameras monitor cut-scene hauntings elsewhere in the house.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Mannequins suddenly appear in places Mattel ''just'' turned away from, a second ago.
* OuijaBoard: There's one in the bedroom that spells out threats.
%%* {{Poltergeist}}
* RedHerring: The previous owner's notes show her becoming convinced that her late husband is the being haunting the place. [[spoiler: It's not. It's some kind of HumanoidAbomination summoned by a previous owner.]]
* RoomFullOfCrazy: Red writing appears on the walls and floor, sometimes when Mattel is sleeping and other times when he merely turns his back.
* StoryBreadcrumbs: The diary pages tell the previous owners' story, while cassettes and phone messages tell Mattel's.
%%* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: The ''best'' available ending for Mattel is this trope.]]
* TimedMission: You have to get Mattel back to his room and into bed when his camera's battery runs low, giving it a chance to recharge while he sleeps (and the game, time to prepare the next night's scares).
* YouAreAlreadyDead: When the battery reaches it's last bar, that's your signal to get to bed ASAP. Dawdle long enough for the red bar to start blinking, and you're doomed; the house will supernaturally-trap you in whatever room you're currently in, shortly before suffering a room-specific scripted death. [[spoiler: This also happens if you go to sleep on the final night instead of taking the necessary steps to get the best ending - you'll promptly be dragged out of bed and torn apart by the entity.]]
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Mattel states at the beginning that he's making these tapes so others ''will'' have to believe him, rather than assume he's crazy and/or perpetuating an Internet hoax to get famous.
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