Nightmare Fuel / Yandere Simulator

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...

For a game that's a Deconstruction of the Yandere and Stalker with a Crush character archetypes and has been in development for well over ten years, Yandere Simulator is no slouch when it comes to serving up Nightmare Fuel... and honestly, it's not a surprise.

Whether it's all the cruel, crazy, messy or abrupt ways of eliminating your rivals, temporary dev stuff that looked creepy for a while, the weird, disturbing, and freaky phenomena that pops up at school or the things around the game that just seem weird and off-putting, the game certainly does not lack in grotesque and macabre stuff (as the length of this page can attest).

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Development Videos

• The video “Driving Your Rivals To Murder”. The fact that Kokona of all people could be angered so much as to kill is terrifying. Also the fact that Musume, Kokona’s victim, has the guts to insult and belittle the daughter of the man her father is extorting. And Yan-Chan gets away with causing all this!
• The "I Want My Senpai Back" video, helpfully earmarked at the really fun part, where Yan-chan angrily confronts Osana (whom Senpai is cowering behind). What you hear after the Smash to Black will haunt your dreams — Ayano draws a knife, then unleashes a burst of psychotic laughter as she stabs Osana thirty-six times (yes, we counted), all while Osana is screaming in pain and terror. Then there's the end where, if you listen closely, you can hear a panicked Senpai nervously whisper for help as Osana bleeds out next to him, and a bloody Yan-chan squeezes his arm possessively with a blissful expression that is Dissonant Serenity incarnate.
  Ayano: "I love my Senpai."
• The Christmas videos... dear God, the Christmas videos. The songs themselves are nice and all, but some of the images are downright horrifying. One particular visual from "Yandere-chan is Coming To Town" gives us Ayano with what appears to be the dismembered bodies of Rival-chan^†(Osana's original appearance, who later became Raibaru) and Oka Ruto, with the latter's head impaled on top of a Christmas tree. The cherry on top of the gory cake? Both Rival-chan's and Oka's eyes have been gouged out and there's a skull on a snowman in said picture.
• The Promo Concept video. Some girl confesses her love to Senpai. That's nice, right? Well, she did it without realizing Yan-chan was standing less than ten feet away. Yan-chan does not take it well – she stabs the poor girl in the chest multiple times right in front of Senpai. Then she stabs Senpai. Finally, she plunges the knife deep into her own neck. All while set to a cover of "Tsubasa wo Kudasai".
• The mid-April 2016 video reveals that Midori took the news about the Gaming Club being little more than background decoration worse than we thought. And when YandereDev asks about the knife in her hand, she makes up an excuse and hands it over. What YandereDev does next is shocking, yet somehow expected.
  
  Just seeing Midori Gurin, of all people, so utterly unhinged is frightening in and of itself. And given how the Dev treats her, one gets the feeling she's had it bottled up for a long time.
  Midori: "Background decoration... Background decoration... Background. Decoration. YandereDev, YandereDev..."
• In the December 2016 update video, YandereDev uses a picture of Osana having apparently melted and Came Back Wrong while discussing the problems with rushing to complete her.
  "If I tried to squeeze out Osana before January 1st, it would be a broken, busted, half-finished version of Osana, and I know that nobody wants to see that." *Beat* "……Except Yandere-chan. She would want to see that."
  • For what it's worth, the artist who created the "Melting Osana" picture has several variants on her art page, most of which are way more grotesque than what ended up in the video – jutting-out ribs and other sundry bones, an eyeball falling out of its socket, scalp sliding off to expose her skull, you get the idea]]. When asked why, she explained that she was just in a phase of really enjoying drawing Osana melting.
  • That update finally adds audible footsteps to the game. Why? Just to make sure that running in the halls during Mission Mode alerts Nemesis to come kill you, though it will eventually serve a purpose in the main game as well.
• In the January 2017 Osana Progress Report Part 2, YandereDev goes over how Ayano's actions can take a toll on Senpai's sanity and how this can affect the ending the player gets. Then he wonders what might happen if Senpai was pushed to the brink of his sanity and then found out that Ayano was the one to cause him to see all his friends dying. Cut to a red outline of Senpai raising a knife at the screen... cut to black.
  • At the end of the video, YandereDev has to explain to Midori about why there is no lock on the garden shed, despite it now being locked. After this, Midori tries to ask another question, but the screen cuts to black as wet stabbing noises are heard. The screen fades back in to show Dev's avatar typing at his computer again, the only difference being that he's now covered in blood.
• YandereDev's reveal of Snap Mode in its entirety is pretty terrifying, but by far the most horrific part is when he teases expanding it to other Game Overs, especially the Expelled one. In it, Ayano attacks Genka, and kills her in a such a brutal way that it sounds like she crushed her head like a grape, with her bare hands. Currently, it's completely impossible to harm, much less kill the Guidance Councilor, and after being driven over the edge, Ayano found a way to do it.
  Genka:Ugh... What do you think you're doing? How dare you raise your hands against me?! Agh, let go of me this instant! Stop! DON'T! Rgh, rgh! AAAAHH!!-*crunch*
• The "Wait, I've got it!" sound effect in "Preparing You for Tomorrows Announcement" can be very jarring. The look Dev has right after is a bit unnerving as well.

• The game's premise as a whole. You play as a teenage girl who will do anything to keep her rivals away from her beloved Senpai, and the only limits you're bound to are the ones that you, as a player, impose on yourself. This includes murder, exploiting their secrets (including domestic abuse and hinted-at pregnancy and drug addiction), bullying them until they commit suicide, and other things. Discussed by the developer.
  "After all, at its core, Yandere Simulator is a horror game, where you are the monster."
  • It's particularly disturbing if you look at it from the other side, as the creator has. He describes his game as a stereotypical upbeat slice-of-life Dating Sim where one of the background characters snaps and starts killing everyone… and we get to see/play from her perspective.
• The laugh. It was the very first piece of voice acting to appear in the game, all the way back in April 2014, and it actually came from a different girl than Ayano's regular voice actress.
  • The video about how Hitman has inspired the game has YandereDev showing how the laugh/giggle can be used to lure students away, with an example shot of a greyed out hallway and Ayano creepily laughing to demonstrate.
• Go ahead, press the space bar at the title screen. It will turn into a darker version of the usual screen, with Ayano sporting Empty Eyes, covered in blood, and holding a knife alongside distorted Background Music and dead bodies in the background that are still twitching. Even worse is that it will periodically change by itself every now and then, which could give the player a shock if they're not expecting it.

  • The original concept for the title screen is just as bad. Looks fine, happy music playing and looking like nothing but a simple school-based Dating Sim game about to begin… only for the screen to go dark, the music stopping suddenly and Ayano is shown killing students in various fashions, only for the screen to return to normal and the music to start up again.

• Info-chan as a whole qualifies.
  • Her very nickname came about because she collects information on literally everyone (she flat-out states in the 2014-era intro that finding Ayano's number was an easy task). While her exact motivation for doing so has changed between intros, she encourages Ayano to start killing her rivals without a trace of guilt, and even offers her assistance. She also isn't new to morally dubious acts, as she blackmails girls and sells their panty shots to boys.
  • She spends all day in the Info Club room (which is locked from the inside) staring at a six-screen computer. Trying to peek in causes her to tell you that she knows you're there and that you should leave. How does she know? There's a CCTV camera right outside her room.
  • In the Student Info screen, one of the profiles available right away is that of Info-chan, who appears as silhouette with red glasses. If you try to check her profile, the UI goes static-y and the additional information box has Info-chan describing that there is nothing Ayano needs to know about her.
  "Trying to look up my information? Don't bother. You're a client, and I'm a provider. That's all you need to know about me."
  • She was originally supposed to be the final rival, and was simply using Ayano to eliminate the rivals so that her chances of getting Senpai for herself would be made significantly easier. The only rival at that point would have been you.
• You know a game is horrific when the Contact Page on the website manages to be terrifying. It's in the form of a Visual Novel conversation with Yan-chan. It's mostly tame throughout, until you click an option that says you didn't read the FAQ or the warning at the beginning. At which point, the page turns red and black and Yan-chan pulls out a knife to berate you in large text.
  YOU DIDN'T LISTEN!
• If, in the "Titan Mode" Easter Egg, you opt to kill one of the giant Titans, they'll start glitching out horrifically. There's a disconnect between the actual size of a Titan and the size the game thinks it is when it goes ragdoll. Basically, when a Titan dies and ragdoll physics (iffy at best even without Easter Eggs) goes into effect, the game assumes the corpse is normal-sized and tries to force the much-larger body into that space. This causes the insane contortions, which in turn cause the body to bounce around.
• When School Atmosphere drops, the entire game rapidly degrades from bright and happy anime to something out of Silent Hill, complete with Ominous Fog. It's shown in the September 1st 2015 video that even the calendar screen starts looking gloomy. Students also start visibly shaking and looking around them from sheer paranoia. The teachers will also fear for their lives. It will also be much harder to kill and sneak, as their AI is increased.
  • Killing a student council member will also invoke this, as Megami goes ahead with installing strict security measures that include metal detectors and security cameras. Once this happens, the school atmosphere will stay at the lowest level, and the added features are permanent. You can't remove them unless you start a new game entirely.
• YandereDev has explicitly stated that he intends to make death animations as disturbing as possible to contribute to the game's horror aspect.
  • Poisoning a student's lunch results in them going into a catastrophic coughing fit, falling to the floor and struggling for their last breath.
  • The June 16th 2015 update allows Ayano to drown people in the fountain or the toilet. It's pretty disturbing to hear the girl gurgling while her head is forced under the water and is trying to fight for her life before she finally goes limp.
  • If you push a girl off the roof, you get to hear a Sickening "Crunch!".
• If you take a photograph in the darkest bathroom on the third floor, you can see a ghost girl, with a glowing yellow eye being the only thing visible of her face. 1980s Mode reveals that this girl is Sumire Saitozaki, who was killed by Ayano's mother, and its fair to say that she wants Revenge. No matter where you are when you take the photo, she'll always be looking directly at you.
• If you have the teachers chasing you they can give you a good scare if you don't pay close attention to them.
• It's possible to dismember your rivals' bodies so you can transport them more easily. The video illustrating this has Ayano stuff the pieces into a guitar case, walk past a group of girls gossiping none the wiser, and then toss them into the incinerator. Another demo shows the specific animation used for it: Yan-chan is smiling, but that's an old Sanity mechanic.
• Being visibly insane. Ayano's posture turns into a slouch, she gets Empty Eyes, a Slasher Smile, and starts twitching. This isn't helped by the Background Music, which is a distorted, ambient version of the normal school theme. It's also most often triggered by killing enough people, so you'll probably see it when Ayano is surrounded by dead bodies and covered in blood. It's also in-universe Nightmare Fuel, as not doing anything about it will have negative consequences (such as a game over or making you more of a suspect).
  • As of the January 15th 2016 build, the top part of Ayano's face takes on a darker and darker pallor as her sanity lowers.
• The August 12th 2015 build introduces the ability to dump a bucket of liquid onto a girl on the toilet or from the school rooftop. But this isn't limited to just water. The same build changed the water in a bucket so that as you dipped a bloody mop into it, it would become increasingly bloody. Just imagine being in a girl's position when that happens. The only girl this can happen to is Kokona. Then again, her routine is now different, so this may not be possible anymore.
  "What is this?! Is this blood?! Where did all this blood come from?!"
  • Said build also allows you to fatally electrocute a student using nothing more than a screwdriver and a bucket of water. Think about it from the student's perspective: they've just been soaked and they're sitting in the dark. They grope around for a few moments until they find the light switch. The next thing they know, they have more than a hundred volts running through their body. That's the last thing they experience, because they're dead before they hit the ground.
• With an addendum to the August 2015 update, we can now count the second introduction. Supposedly, Ayano felt nothing before she met Senpai, whereupon she felt "love" (really more a strong sense of desire). But now that someone else wants him, she feels yet another new emotion: Rage. While this is only temporary, the complete blankness somehow makes it worse.
  "Senpai will be mine. He doesn't have a choice."
  • June 2017 saw YanDev speculating about giving Ayano actual motivation and backstory rather than having her be a totally blank emotionless character. Giving Ayano emotions and morals, and having her reject them out of fear of losing the only thing that has ever made her feel "complete", is arguably more terrifying than the above characterization (as well as more in-line with what a yandere is meant to be). However, that doesn't mean a possible male protagonist would have the same personality.
• In the September 1st 2015 update, students now scream when they are murdered or see a body. It doesn't sound pleasant.
• In the "Friendship, Gossip, & Bullying"^note (October 8th, 2015) video, the last two minutes or so detail the new bullying feature added to the game, starting with the potential to isolate the student to either kill them alone or to have Senpai reject them. Then the last 50 seconds shows a cutscene explaining how you can have the whole school bully the victim to suicide, all culminating in a horribly defaced student desk and Kokona's look of horrified shame. Then the scene slowly transitions… to Kokona with a noose around her neck and her feet gone slack, hanging lifelessly. The video ends with a blood-stained shattered mirror, reflecting Yan-chan staring with red eyes… And all of them with terrifying build up music and the ending video with an effectively placed Scare Chord.
  YandereDev: "Remember: Yandere-chan is NOT a good person. She's a monster."
  • Another fact the dev points out is that the "pushed to suicide" part is completely unnecessary to attain your goal to get Senpai, since you need to sour someone's reputation well past the point where Senpai will have already rejected her. The only reason you would do so would be because you wanted to.
  • The February 2018 progress update expands on this with Horuda Puresu. She has a Fragile persona and exhibits a unique reaction to bullying. Instead of being Driven to Suicide, it is possible to drive her to murder instead, by first pushing her to a breaking point, and then making a target (usually your rival) look like the source of their suffering. The video may cut to black when it demonstrates the results, but the sound effects make it clear as to how brutal the murder is. For those who know people who have been driven to violence by bullying, this concept can strike too close to home.
• The easter eggs seem like silly fun, but then you realize something chilling: this is the first time Ayano has been able to (without glitches or mods) kill not only the teachers, but Senpai himself. Drunk on the power of danmaku, she can destroy the only thing she's ever loved, and be perfectly fine with it. ^note Of course, in an Obvious Rule Patch, Senpai automatically respawns the next day as if nothing happened.
• The "Torture, Mind-Breaking, & Murder-Suicide" Update^note (October 17th, 2015) that introduced the ability to kidnap and psychologically torture a victim. Fun stuff! More specifically, the demonstration video showed Saki Miyu, the girl from the "missing bra" quest, kept in Ayano's basement where she was tortured for three days straight^† (YandereDev only used the most effective options for presentation's sake) until her mind was completely broken. And at the end of the video, an unsuspecting Kokona is stabbed to death by her best friend who'd been missing for several days. Saki then slams the murder weapon into her forehead and slumps to her knees. Ayano looks on, likely feigning the same stunned horror that everyone else is feeling for real.
  • It's difficult to think which possibility is worse: that Ayano broke someone to the point they'd kill themselves on command, or that murdering her best friend gave Saki a moment of lucidity and she chose to end it while she had the chance. However, the former is more likely, as they say "I should die" as some of their idle chats.
  • The torture itself isn't any better. Upon picking an option, the camera zooms in closer on Saki's face while she screams her head off and the screen cuts to black.
    "What are you doing? Don't come any closer! Stay away! STOP! NO!"
    "No! Not that! Anything but That!! Not again!! Stay away!! No!!!"
    • Made scarier by the sound at fade to black. It almost sounds like it cuts off at the beginning of screaming.
    • It gets even worse when Ayano picks a torture that takes Saki's sanity to zero. Instead of looking up at you and screaming, Saki droops her head and tearfully begs you to not go through with it.
    "Please... no... Why are you doing this...?"
    • The next time you see her after that, she has been completely broken and can only speak in a Creepy Monotone, and her eyes are blank and white.
    "I'll do anything. I'll do whatever you say. I'll obey any command. Let me out of this chair. I want it to end."
    "I'm useless. I'm worthless. I'm nothing. Nothing matters. I should die."
    "Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... (etc.)"
    • Easily the worst part of the video is how poor Saki's head just starts twitching after the first round of torture. It would be disturbing enough as a bug, but Dev's commentary indicates it's intentional. And it gets worse after you've broken her and she stops twitching.
    • He's even considering adding a reference to Marie-Antoniette Syndrome, which is when stress turns hair WHITE.
• At the end of 1980's mode, after being declared innocent, Ryoba decides to kidnap her Senpai, Jokichi Yudasei, and tie him up in the basement because she thought he would only see her as "that girl who was accused of murder on national TV" and reject her. The first basement tape reveals that it's as bad as it sounds.
  Jokichi: "I'm sorry. I don't know you well enough to—"
  Ryoba: (sound of knife) "Say. My. Name."
  • After the above exchange, when Jokichi says her name, Ryoba moans orgasmically and says she's been waiting for him to say that and that she's glad to have caught it on tape. It is exceedingly creepy beyond words.
  • And as long as we're on the subject of Basement Tape #1, there's this other way that the whole thing is pure Nightmare Fuel: Unsurprisingly, Jokichi asks if he's Ryoba's next victim, only for her to reveal that this wasn't the case and that he was the one she was "protecting this whole time" (which is code for "Oh, don't worry, darling! I simply got rid of every girl who had a crush on you so I can have you all to myself!". After the realization of what exactly Ryoba is, his tone of voice is flat and lost. Poor, poor guy.
  • And the whole thing is made worse since Ryoba claims her own mother did that to Ryoba's father. Now consider what will happen when the game is over and Ayano didn't use any peaceful elimination methods.
  • And it's even MORE terrifying when you consider the possibility that Ryoba raped Jokichi; hence why they have a child. To be fair, it's also possibly that he wasn't raped at all at that point.
    • Being forced to have sex with someone because you know there's no point in trying to resist or being held captive long enough that you're dead inside is still rape. Because, you know, duress and all.
• This game is packed to the gills with the ability to do really nasty things to your fellow students. Some of the most horrific (which is saying a lot) are only possible in the test builds due to their requiring the debug-only teleport function — you can tranquilize a girl, teleport her out of the locked room, put her in a wood-chipper, and turn it on.
  • July 2016 saw the debut of the "bury a body" mechanic. Sure enough, players quickly realized that they could abuse debug mode to bury an unconscious girl alive. However, the results of doing so were bizarre.
• The mid-November 2015 update video has relatively little nightmare fuel in it, thankfully. However, near the end, a shot of Ayano standing in the Occult club room twitching wildly is shown for a few seconds.
  • The way it's introduced is freaky. YandereDev starts off with a "There's a few other things I could show you, but..." Beat. Then back to the cheerful, "I think you'd have more fun if you just discover those things on your own."
• The December 2015 update introduced the Framing mechanic into the game. Now even the innocent are not safe from being accused for Ayano's actions.
  • Also, YandereDev brings back mention of the Occult Club released with the November update video. He apologizes for the lack of "secrets" in the Occult Club, but he mentions he's got "plans" as the screen fades to black... and we see Yan-chan doing... something with the room all blood-splattered and HANDS REACHING OUT FROM THE GROUND.
• The tenth Basement Tape heavily implies Ryoba keeps Jokichi in her sight constantly to keep him in line, and she's hoping for her daughter to find the tapes so she'll be motivated to continue her family legacy.
  • What makes this Basement Tape scarier is that she forces her husband to accompany her on her trip to the US. Why is she going to the United States, you ask? Well, it's because that's where the journalist is. Ryoba is obviously intending on killing him once and for all. And given every failed attempt by the journalist to bring Ryoba to justice so far, she might actually win. And then Jokichi will have no chance of escaping Ryoba's tight grip on him. Obviously, since the game is still in development, this is all speculation. But just imagine this ending badly for two of the very few decent people in this game.
  • The way she describes having run into an old friend (the journalist) to her husband is chilling. Specifically that it wasn't the first time she's seen him in the last two decades, but rather he's seen her. Has she been spying on her old enemy that whole time, watching for signs that he might try something?
• The December 15th 2015 Progress video for the most part is pretty tame, just showing off new locations, possible weapons, and character personalities. However, there is one moment where Ayano is crouched in front of a laptop, being talked to by a girl with long hair and her eyes censored. What she says is… ominous, at best.
  "Do you even know who I am? I know who you are. I know what you are..."
  • With no context for this conversation, it is very unsettling. Is this girl going to try to stop Ayano? Or help her? Which would be worse?
    • It's later revealed Megami Saikou, the Student Council President and final rival of the game. Her official description shows she is aware of a danger in the school, meaning she may indeed be talking to Ayano.
• Playing as any character from the Easter Egg menu. Imagine the powers of Saitama, Captain Falcon, Cirno, and Sans in the hands of an emotionally unstable teenage girl.
• The Yokai Story manga is an in-universe form of this. The series is about five young women who all have various body parts stolen from them by evil spirits: the first loses her mouth, the second her right eye, the third her right hand, the fourth her heart, and the fifth loses her blood. How scary is this series? Reading them increases Yan-chan's Numbness stat, which will reduce the amount of sanity lost from killing. Yes, this manga actually manages to make an already-emotionally-dead sociopath even more apathetic toward killing.
• The February 1st 2016 update added the "Placeholder Club Leaders". Their sole purpose is to provide functionality for the club mechanic. Sounds fine, right? It would be if not for the fact that they're completely gray, have hair that totally covers their eyes, speak in a reverberating Creepy Monotone that makes them sound like robots, don't react to anything (unless you specifically engage them), and are basically empty shells. Oh, and there's a constant clicking sound around the one representing the Photography Club.
  • What really sells the nightmare aspect of it is with how much dark glee YandereDev describes them in the update video, and how the music changes from a feel of cheeriness to that of doom. And that music you hear at that moment? Yup, your ears aren't deceiving you - that's the music for SNAP Mode. Four years before it was added to the game.
    • At the same time, though, they're all gone now that all the club leaders have been put in the game.
      YandereDev: To join a club, you must speak to the club leader. However, most of the club leaders are not implemented yet, and adding new students to the game is very time-consuming. So for now, I've implemented a set of "fake students" to serve as placeholder club leaders. These empty, hollow, vacant husks will allow you to join clubs and test out their abilities before the true club leaders are present. These nameless, faceless, soulless beings will not react to murder or show any signs of emotion. They exist purely so you can test a gameplay feature. There's no more meaning to their existence.
• There are currently 15+ student personality types implemented (with at least a couple more planned). One of those is "Spiteful". Spiteful students will flee upon seeing the murder of most students, but if the murder was of someone with low reputation or someone who was bullying them, they'll keep their mouths shut.
  "They had it coming! Don't worry... I won't tell anyone what I saw."
  • If you kill someone in front of a "Social Butterfly", they'll beeline for the nearest crowd for safety (and ring the cops for good measure). Kill in front of them again and they'll curl up into a ball on the floor, begging you to stay away. It's rather heartbreaking to see these teenagers go from Genkis to irrevocably traumatized in less than five minutes.
• The Photography Club will transition from fun-loving goofballs to Amateur Sleuths searching for clues on who is killing everyone if the school's atmosphere drops below 80%. Ayano can join the club beforehand. Can you imagine finding out that someone who you trusted was actually a maniacal serial killer?
• Because enterprising fans have been known to scour through the game's files hoping to find any secrets^note  (the delinquents were first revealed this way, intentionally or not), YandereDev put one in for them. If you look through the files in the February 8th 2016 build, you will see a file titled "Fun". Change the numeral value inside to a number between 1-10, and then launch the game. Instead of showing the game's menu, you will get creepy screens featuring a Nightmare Face where we're told of a girl whose father tested a machine on her, only for her to be lost throughout time and space. It will then provide a Jump Scare and close the game. If you input "666", it will change to a red version of said Nightmare Face, with the text "Your idea of fun seems very very interesting". The fact that it's another Undertale reference doesn't help any.
  • Trying to do that in the next update will give you only one message: But Nobody Came. The fact that it references a certain creepy aspect of Undertale doesn't help either.
• The February 15th 2016 build reintroduces the long-awaited Dismemberment mechanic. Naturally, several things about it run afoul of this.
  • The update video showing it off ends with Yan-chan walking slowly towards the camera, eyes blood-red from using her Aura Vision, cradling Kokona's severed head.
  • The circular saw has a unique killing animation – Yan-chan slices her victim lengthwise while the victim screams, drowned out by the saw's motor.
  • Dismemberment itself shifts the camera into an extreme close-up. We see only Yan-chan's smiling face as she carves the poor girl's body into six pieces, slowly becoming more insane with each pass of the saw. After that, you may carry individual pieces of the former student around school. Their disembodied heads have the same lifeless expression Yan-chan's torture victims get after she breaks them.
• The absolute carelessness in YandereDev's voice as he describes his more violent updates. The almost emotionless tone of his voice borders on sadistic after a while.
• The totally normal February 21st 2016 build. What the hell is this place you can enter by killing a student with the newly added ritual knife and putting it back into the skull?
  • Just see what happens if you kill the members of the Occult Club, drag them inside the Circle, and dismember them.
    • It's even easier now. You just need their severed arms.
• YandereDev is considering adding a feature where you can fool a fellow student into helping you dispose of a corpse by stuffing it into a garbage bag and leaving it for them to find. They will toss it into the incinerator, completely oblivious to the fact that they are destroying the corpse of someone who could possibly be their best friend. Dev's excited tone while discussing this makes it all the more disturbing.
• The old delinquents were pretty unsettling. How? Let's count the ways.
  • Before the April 26th build, their AI was only half-completed, thus they didn't have an actual routine. There was a timer by the incinerator that counted down for them to spawn and despawn. When spawned, they never moved, instead just sitting/standing around. If you walked around close enough to them, their heads would follow your movements and they would shout at you — without subtitles, by the way.
  • Oh, and if you tried to kill one of them? He or she would use their weapon, cracking your skull and putting you in a coma. And if you carried a corpse or body part near them, they'll CHASE YOU DOWN and crack your skull. This, accompanied with their unusual appearances (the guys have 50's pompadours, the girls have dyed streaks in their hair and colored dust masks) made them very surreal and eerie. Doesn't help that their leader is stated to be the single toughest student in the school, stronger than even martial arts master Budo Masuta. And she's the eighth rival.
  • If you goaded one of them into chasing you and abuse debug's teleport function to get away from them (disabled in later builds, sadly), they would literally run through walls and sky to get to you.
• The Info Club. It's easily the most mysterious club, even more so than the Occult Club. No one can join it — not even Ayano — because it is Info-chan's secret hideout. But she can peek inside through a gap in the curtains – it is a VERY dark room with its only source of light being a computer with six monitors being controlled by none other than Info-chan herself. Also sticking out like a sore thumb is the presence of a security camera outside of it. Already this can make a player feel uneasy knowing how out of place it is in the school, but if you peek for long enough, Info-chan will directly address Ayano (and by extension, you).
  "I know you're there. Run along now. There's nothing for you to see here."
• A delay in obtaining necessary animation assets meant there was no build for mid-May 2016. As penance, YandereDev promised to post a teaser screenshot each day until the build came out. However, he never promised context, and some of the previews are pretty disturbing in isolation (and might be just as disturbing with context).
  • The second teaser shows Ayano tied to a bed, Bondage-style. Even assuming that Ayano herself is just there as the base model, it makes one wonder…
  • The fourth teaser is a neat little animation that shows a girl brushing something off her arms, then falling over dead. Dev decided to let fans speculate about what exactly was happening to the girl. It's the "burning" animation, implemented in the mid-June 2016 build. See below.
  • Preview #7 takes the cake by introducing a wood-chipper. And yes, one of the two screenshots is Ayano about to put Kokona into it. The other screenshot shows the chipper turned on as it starts pouring out blood.
  • Preview #9 includes a test with Ayano wearing a new raincoat while walking, well, in the rain. It doesn't sound that scary, but the dark shadows, coupled with no sound except the pouring rain, makes the whole video put you on edge, just waiting for something to pop out and scare you out of your wits.
• This◊ is what happens when you mess with the polygon count on the character models.
• In the final game, there will be "challenges" that you can beat. While most of the images are cartoony, silhouetted^†(you'll get color versions if you complete them) depictions of various elimination methods and abilities, some manage to be creepy.
  • One◊ has Ayano and her rival holding hands and happily frolicking together… while Ayano has a knife hidden behind her back.
  • This◊ one appears to show Rival-chan as a mindslave in the middle of a Murder-Suicide.
  • Another◊ features Ayano standing inside a circle of various female students' severed heads.
• The June 1st 2016 update features a few examples:
  • The main content of the video involves ways to approach and help Kokona with her problem – her dad is deep in debt to a loan-shark. Yan-chan can put her skills to use by kidnapping Musume (the loan-shark's daughter) and threatening to dismember her finger by finger until her father agrees to the demands. While not as brutal as torturing someone into despair, it is still terrifying in its own right.
    Musume: ...Daddy... Please... Help... I'm scared... I don't wanna die...
    • Imagine what would have happened if the loan-shark had decided to not believe Ayano.
    • No matter how Ayano handles the event with Kokona, Musume will be traumatized by the whole ordeal – her arrogant yet bubbly personality permanently replaced by a Shrinking Violet demeanor, she will spend all of her free time sitting alone on a bench.
  • This update marks the first time Ayano has extensive spoken dialog as opposed to the intro or supplementary videos, and also the first time Yan-chan has interacted with anyone other than Info-chan, a fellow sociopath. Her voice just sounds… off. It's not quite a Creepy Monotone, but there is a distinct lack of emotion that makes listening to her disturbing. She's clearly trying to sound "normal" but failing miserably. The lifelessness in her voice stands out even more against Kokona's very emotional voice.
  • The end of the event triggers a unique cutscene in which Kokona meets with Ayano for a little talk, which could end in Kokona agreeing to back away from Senpai without spilling any blood... but midway through, you get a big tempting "ELIMINATE" prompt as Kokona rambles while "Psycho" Strings suddenly swell.
• As of the June 15th 2016 build, it's now possible for Ayano to fake tripping to throw a bucket of liquid on someone. It also introduced a new liquid into the game, as well as a new item you can get from Info-chan: gasoline and matches. Yes, this is heading exactly where you might think it's heading.
  • Ayano's Slasher Smile as she throws the match.
  • And there's also dumbbells. And they're not only used for bludgeoning someone to death (though you can do that, too). Alternatively, Ayano can load a bunch of them into a bucket and drop it onto someone's head. It would be almost comical if not for the fact your target's corpse starts bleeding, indicating that you've cracked her skull open like an egg.
• A possibly unintentional example. If Ayano is caught stealing the answer sheet in the faculty room when there are teachers in it, every single one will get up and stare at her.
• The late-July 2016 build updated the Murder-Suicide animation. Now, instead of a simple stab to the neck, the mindslave (in this case Saki) tackles the target (in this case Kokona) to the ground and proceeds to stab her thirteen times before driving the weapon deep into her own neck. Turning off the music reveals the mindslave gives out several primal grunts during the act, while the victim stops making sounds after about five seconds. The whole time, all the witnesses stand frozen in horror. Though, admittedly, the horror factor is ruined a bit by the mindslave turning into a blood-geyser when she pulls the knife out of her neck, though even that can still qualify for this trope if you're particularly squeamish (also, later builds toned down the blood-geyser a lot, taking away nearly all of the unintentional humor).
  YandereDev: Much better.
  • At the end of the demonstration video for that build, YandereDev describes a hypothetical means of getting around the challenges posed by burying a corpse. In normal cases, the Police would use trained dogs to sniff out corpses. The way around this would be to find a kitten, kill them, and then bury them. That way, when the dog smelled the corpse, the Police would dig up the kitten buried above it and assume that that's what the dog smelled, delaying the investigation.
    YandereDev: "What? You didn't forget Yandere-chan's true nature... did you...?"
  • However, he ended up abandoning this idea because it occurred to him that not only would police in Buraza Town not likely have a dog trained to sniff out a body, but a non-embalmed corpse buried as-is in a shallow grave would soon begin to smell and be quickly discovered regardless if a kitten was above it or not. This would have required a lot of in-game explanation and new lore to justify a non-required mechanic, which YandereDev realized he didn't want to bother with. Doesn't make this moment any less unsettling, though.
• Mid-August 2016 saw the long-awaited update tying killing-style to sanity — as Ayano's sanity drops, her murders (originally all quick, clean kills) become more sadistic and take longer. As a "bonus", YandereDev made it so that mashing the attack button at the lowest sanity causes the killing animation to loop until you stop pressing the button, letting you beat/stab the crap out of your victims to your heart's content.
  • The animations change depending on your weapon. The repeated kills include viciously bludgeoning someone with the baseball bat, stabbing someone in the stomach with the katana, and dragging the saw through their body.
  • When sanity is at its lowest, Ayano doesn't go for the immediate kill. She first crushes or slices her victim's knee before finishing them off. All while they're trying desperately to crawl away.
  • This update also introduced the stealth-kill. Ayano grabs a victim from behind (making sure to cover their mouth so they can't scream) and either slices their neck, stabs the katana through their torso, or – in the case of the bat/wand – uses it as a fulcrum to break their neck. She can do this regardless of sanity, as long as she's behind the victim.
  • As of this update, it became possible to fight teachers and kill them legitimately. If you win a fight with a teacher, Ayano will plunge her blade deep into the teacher's torso just below the ribcage, and then run the blade up a few inches just to make sure the teacher dies. The whole time, the teacher wears a look of shock.
• The promo image announcing the upcoming arrival of Matchmaking◊ is a stark reminder of who it is we're playing: a sociopath. Regardless of the method, all this means to her is that she's removing any and all obstacles from her one goal; and what better way than making everyone dance to her tune…
• The long-awaited Matchmaking update, introduced late-September 2016, is 95% Heartwarming and certainly earns its spot on that subpage. However, YanDev couldn't resist adding something disturbing. If you walk down the path away from the school towards the town, static will cover your screen while shaky red text appears, reading "No... I must not...". It's quite startling since all previous builds allowed Ayano to approach (though never touch) the street without incident. It makes one wonder, though, what could it mean? Certain Easter Eggs allow you to bypass the barrier, though, if you run fast enough: run far enough and the world turns grey, and you have to reset the day to do anything else.
• After everything she'd gone through over the previous 18 months, the Matchmaking update finally gives Kokona a break and lets her be happy with Riku. Heartwarming, to be sure. So why is it on this subpage? Well, if you change the day to see the lovebirds doing their thing... you can do your thing and kill them.
  • If you invoke certain Easter Eggs, you can kill them immediately after their confession. Seeing their bleeding corpses while the screen is still blurry and oversaturated is a disturbing juxtaposition.
• FUN GIRL is full of Nightmare Fuel with her creepy appearance and her cryptic existence. Who is she? What does she want? Why can she appear on the website's character page?
• To increase the framerate of the game, you can now lower your field of view and add an Ominous Fog to it. This gives an atmosphere akin to Silent Hill. ^note YandereDev's demonstration also includes a brief cameo by FUN GIRL.
• In the Early November 2016 Progress Update, YandereDev mentions a "new environment" for one of Osana's elimination methods. The new environment, judging from the floor plan YandereDev shows, appears to be Osana's house.
• Mission Mode, which takes place in an alternate universe in which Ayano is an emotionless hit-woman who has been hired to kill certain students. The idea that there's an assassin for hire at a school of all places is something very creepy.
  • For a double-dose of in-universe horror: Someone (implied to be the some of the Akademi students) is PAYING for their classmates to be murdered.
  • In order to make Mission Mode more challenging, YandereDev proposed a new character by the name of Nemesis. She was added into the game in December 2016. This character looks completely creepy, with red eyes, black hair, and deathly pale skin. She is stalking you, and if she gets close enough will straight up kill you. The only way to know if she's nearby? Constantly checking around you to see if there is someone stalking you. Dev likened trying to escape them to hiding from the SA-X in Metroid Fusion, itself a terrifying experience. All of a sudden, Ayano isn't quite so powerful…
    • Nemesis is distinguishable from other students only by black gloves, her hands always being clenched fists, and a fast walk speed that gets faster if she sees you. To make it worse, Info-chan can't recognize her, so you're on your own.^†Well, not at first, but if you send Info-chan multiple photos of Nemesis (congratulations on not dying in the process), her reaction is one you do not want someone like her to have.
    • To make Nemesis even more terrifying, there are two additional options for her: She can be unkillable (normally Ayano can kill her from the back), and she can disguise herself as any of the female students (except the Club Leaders, the Bullies, and the Student Council girls) for plenty of Paranoia Fuel (at that point, the only way to pick her out is by realizing that her routine is wrong).
    • The cherry on top of the cake? The Retribution comic reveals that in reality, Nemesis is none other than Hanako Yamada, Senpai's bubbly and happy-go-lucky little sister turned into a complete Serial-Killer Killer. The comic reveals that Senpai was Ayano's first victim in this continuity, and that Hanako went mad with grief upon learning of her brother's death. After one year of mourning, Hanako swore to avenge Taro's death by punishing his killer and became The Dreaded Nemesis to fulfill that promise.
  • Try raising the school population before killing them all. Dead bodies will be everywhere.
  • Even more disturbing (though kind of funny) if the students are Titanized when the kill command is triggered: Meatball-mode happens, but then all the bouncing corpses just freeze in place… because the game has basically given up trying to process everything.
• In the January 2017 Osana Progress Report Part 1, it is revealed that, aside from students being nearly everywhere you go to give you very little window to harm Osana, there will be another person you need to watch out for. He hasn't revealed who it is, and in the video they're shown as an arm reaching for Ayano, body just off screen. It's Raibaru.
  • In the same video, one example shown of witnesses being present around Osana is when Osana runs to the bathroom if Ayano puts emetic in her lunch. As Yan-chan follows her to the bathroom where they would ideally be alone for Yan-chan to drown her in the toilet, the camera turns to some female students who could still be in the bathroom at the time and potentially witness the act. Who are these students? The five delinquent girls, fully armed and standing in a semicircle]] right behind you. It's a pretty startling Jump Scare, especially when you remember that these witnesses can and will make you regret committing murder in front of them…
  • Speaking of emetics, Yan-chan can also put them in Senpai's lunch in order to sabotage one of his interactions with Osana. In other words, she's willing to hurt the object of her affections to improve her chances with him. We already knew she was psychotic and didn't really care for him as a person, but having open proof of that fact is still disturbing.
• What happens when you try adding Osana into the game by editing the JSON file with the game open from January 2017 onward? The moment you enter the school, it immediately goes into low atmosphere mode, and after a couple of seconds, Fun Girl appears from out of nowhere and begins to chase you down. After she catches you (and she will, as she always guns straight for Ayano and moves faster than her), she will crash your game, and trying to open it again only results in a dialogue screen of her mocking you and telling you to put the files back the way they're supposed to be, or she won't let you play the game at all. A pretty effective way to discourage novice dataminers, to say the least.
  • The best part, though? This is only the first layer of defense. There's even more potential for things like that waiting for people that are inevitably going to try to get past that screen.
• YandereDev implemented loading screens that react to the school's Atmosphere. With a high-to-medium atmosphere, it's nothing special, just a white screen with a pink silhouette of Ayano running with a knife. When the school atmosphere gets low, though, it turns into a black screen, the word "Loading..." becoming bright red text, and Ayano is straddling Rival-chan and stabbing her. Their silhouettes are also red, but for a different reason. They're drenched in blood, which is colored white.
• Doubles as a Tear Jerker. In March 2017, YandereDev implemented a new animation for kidnap victims in the basement.^note He created the original animation himself and was never happy with it. The first time you torture her, the girl won't just simply gain Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises while shaking her head, oh no... now she struggles to get out of her ropes as the expression on her face changes from confusion to terror as the camera slowly zooms in on her. And her lips now move with her dialogue.
• On March 8th 2017, YandereDev added an experimental "Yandere-kun" mode to the game. He only wears the third default uniform, and he's constantly frowning.
• The mid-March 2017 Progress Report video has its moments.
  • Just over four minutes into the video, he shows a clip of an animation he's been working on – it involves Ayano climbing up a trellis and into an open window. Coupled with information from previous videos, one can easily infer that she is breaking into Osana's house and this sequence is connected to her unique elimination method.
  • Immediately after that snippet, we're treated to a few pieces of lineart – Kokona reads a note on the school rooftop only to be confronted by Yan-chan^note  (this is already the setting for both the "Push" and "Befriend/Betray" elimination methods). Yan-chan's expression is even more dully demonic than usual and the last panel shows Kokona looking terrified.
  • Late in the video we're shown a shot of Osana standing on the roof in the standard "Push" position. Only this time, the camera shifts to focus on the (newly-installed) air ventilation system, and its safety grate has been removed. In other words, Dev is heavily implying that Ayano will be able to shove a rival face-first into a rapidly-oscillating metal fan, mutilating the girl as she's sliced to pieces. This was later confirmed to be a possible elimination method,
  • The video ends with a bonus skit: Dev is at his computer when Midori pops up behind him, irritates him by saying stupid things, and gets stabbed in the face for her trouble. Business as usual, right? Wrong. The video then cuts to a secret lab where the Science Club's leader stares at a tablet-computer with 35 Midori avatars – 14 of which are red, indicating death (one is green and the rest are shadowed). As the green box turns red, he shrugs it off by saying, "After all, it's not like we have a shortage." The lights turn on to reveal dozens of Midori clones in tubes just waiting to be activated. The one he wakes up takes a few seconds to realize she's alert... then suddenly presses herself against the glass and says, with full-on Nightmare Face, "YANDEREDEV! YANDEREDEV!" Thanks a lot, Dev. You managed to turn the game's second Butt-Monkey creepy.
• The Male Rival Introduction Video for April Fool's 2017 is mostly adorable, but has some Surprisingly Creepy Moments at the end. The video ends with a rapid-fire slideshow of artwork showing the male rivals, including two of what appears to be Nemesis-kun. In one drawing, he's shirtless, has claw marks on his shoulders, a bite mark on his hand, glowing red eyes, and is holding a jar containing two eyeballs suspended in some fluid. In the other, he appears to be kidnapping Ayano, with his hands over her mouth and her struggling to get them off as she looks downright terrified.
• The April 9th/10th 2017 build was mostly bug fixes (of which there were several), but it also added a unique animation for tranquilizing a girl – for two years, the animation was identical to the stabbing one, minus the blood; now, Ayano grabs the girl from the back, covers her mouth as she tries to scream, and slowly injects her with drugs, making a satisfying "psssh" sound.
  • If that wasn't freaky enough, the new animation originally had the girl go unconscious with her eyes open. This was fixed in later builds so the poor girl's eyes would close because even the Dev found it too creepy.
• The video discussing the game's character models begins with 20 seconds of footage of Ayano sneaking up behind Osana and removing the safety cover on a ventilation fan. Then she grabs Osana by one of her pigtails, drags her to the AC unit, and feeds her pigtail into the fan, causing her head to get sucked in and soon pop like a grapefruit. This killing method may be a fairly quick death compared to others in this game, but dear Lord is it messy.
  • Someone clearly felt it was too graphic and complained to Youtube, causing this to become the first of Dev's videos to get age-restricted (meaning his large young fanbase was unable to watch it and it was unable to earn revenue), prompting him to release a censored version the next day. ^note The original March 2015 video demonstrating the panty shot mechanic was not age-restricted; Youtube flat-out took that one down. YanDev responded by reuploading the video with Take That! censorship – "UNFAIRLY CENSORED BY YOUTUBE". He did the same kind of censorship with Osana's decapitation, this time using screenshots of Youtube's rejection of his counterclaim.
• The new phone call for Osana implies that whatever situation she had before has gotten worse.
• "The Curious Case Of Kokona Haruka" is mostly a long explanation for why the character ended up the way she did^note  (her resemblance to Kizana was a bizarre coincidence; her status as test rival was originally because she was the most visually striking character but quickly became a running gag just for the hell of it), and how shocked YanDev was that Kokona became so beloved by the fanbase that he couldn't remove her from the game without causing a backlash. Instead, he's strongly considering using her to help the player learn basic mechanics before Osana's week begins. However, towards the end of the video, YanDev speculated on a potential DLC starring Kokona – a girl who comes to realize she's trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop where every week, she is murdered in some horrific way by Ayano (whom she thought was her new friend). So what does Kokona do to try and break the loop? She waits until Ayano is alone in a dark hallway, and then jumps out of nowhere and stabs her to death. After all Kokona's gone through at Ayano's hands, it's immensely satisfying, especially if you're a big fan of hers, but it's still unnerving, especially if you weren't expecting it.
• Go to the official website's character page and put in the Konami Code. Go on, we'll wait. It shows the profile for the FUN Girl, with one creepy little message written in Japanese. It simply translates to how much fun she'll have with you. If you haven't had enough after that, put in Konami Code one more time on the same page.
• The mid-June 2017 update video has YandereDev go into detail about Ayano's character – or lack thereof – and wonder whether or not she should be made "deeper". It makes one wonder which would be more frightening: a simple sociopath who has no backstory, feels no emotion whatsoever, and doesn't care even after encountering Senpai, or a girl who does have a backstory, spending her entire life feeling lost and empty, longing for something to "complete" her and finally make her happy, which Senpai does, but her fear of losing that causes her to snap.
  • He added the backstory. See it a few spaces below here and make your own judgement.
• On July 25th 2017, Dev posted Yandere-chan's Childhood. It is narrated by Ayano herself, detailing her early life and her mental condition, with a tinkling music box playing in the background. From the time she was a small child, she was empty and "broken", unable to feel any emotions. Her father was distressed by her condition and her classmates bullied her for being different. She states that she felt pity for her father and that the bullying was "inconvenient", so she pretended to be a normal girl. Deep inside, she desperately wanted to feel emotion — happiness, sadness, anger, anything. But no matter what she did, no matter how extreme, she still could not feel anything. Her mother told her that one day she would meet someone who would make her feel "complete" for the first time. For years, the thought of meeting that person was her only reason to continue living. Then on the first day of her second year of high school, she met Senpai and felt genuine happiness for the first time... but then she saw him standing next to Osana, and this dialogue happens…
  "I found him."
  "I must not lose him."
  (Yan-chan joyously smiles with a Luminescent Blush)
  "I must protect him."
  (Yan-chan's smile disappears, replaced by massive Dull Eyes of Unhappiness)
  "I must make him mine."
  (as Yan-chan watches Senpai and Osana)
  "I must not let anyone take him."
  (Yan-chan's hand clenches into a fist)
  "I need him."
  "He is everything."
  (the Background Music takes on a fast-paced, distorted sound)
  "He is worth any sacrifice."
  (the pupils of Yan-chan's eyes turn red)
  "Nothing else matters."
  (Yan-chan's face becomes splattered in blood)
  "NO ONE else matters."
  (music stops entirely)
  "He. Will. Be. Mine."
  (fade to black)
  "He doesn't have a choice."
  • The video ends on a slower rendition of the music box, displaying the credits in red on a black background and the game's logo with two broken hearts and blood-red text with a low-pitched, thunderous Scare Chord.
• Shortly after the pool was added to the game, a new prompt was added next to a sun lounger by the pool. It simply reads "Murder". As of this writing, it doesn't actually do anything, but merely speculating about what it might do all on its own is scary enough. In fact, several leaks and hints show this may be an elimination method for Osana by tying her ponytail to a weight, and then shoving the weight into the water.
  • If you pore through the animations available in Pose Mode, you'll find one with the title "sunbathe murder". What's the animation? The victim reacts to something at the back of their head, then they slide backwards and vanish into the water. An update on Osana found by curious fans implies that Ayano ties one of Osana's pigtails to a 50kg weight and knocks it into the water, taking Osana with it. Just imagine sunbathing and minding your own business, only to suddenly get trapped underwater, slowly running out of air. Christ! It's a shame you wouldn't have scissors to cut yourself free…
• The August 1, 2017 details an optional feature that Yandere Dev has had on the shelf for a long time: a Yakuza contact. While Info-chan requests panty shots for her favors, the Yakuza's favors are far more grisly: kidnap other students for human trafficking, which he'll demand more and more as you request his favors. One of Yandere Dev's notes suggests that he can also be paid in snuff films. His purpose is to provide all the services that even Info-chan can't provide, from hard drugs to weapons, or even outright eliminating a rival and dooming them to a grisly fate. Yandere Dev suggests that her organs may get harvested and sold on the black market, or she herself might be shipped to Eastern Europe for even worse. You don't know, and as Dev says, "some things are best left to the imagination". In comparison, the Yakuza makes Info-chan's favors look like they're done with kid gloves, being up there with the game's already existing Video Game Cruelty Potential. Good thing this is entirely optional.
• In the August 17th 2017 video, YandereDev had a picture of Osana in progress, illustrated as him putting together an Osana doll, holding one of her eyes in a pair of tongs. There's no blood or gore, but it's still creepy as hell.
• The August 20th 2017 update (yes, since the switch to C# Unity 5, bugfix builds often come out every few days) had a nice little Easter Egg or two for anyone who tried to mod the game to add Osana – both versions show the "LoveSick" logo superimposed over the YanSim one. The first shows a blood-soaked hallway with half a dozen girls suddenly dropping dead and the player unable to do anything except delete the offending mod and redownload the game. The second is obviously the completed version – the music is an insanely creepy version of the opening theme, the girls are already dead while the camera (at a Dutch angle) slowly moves down the blood-caked hall where we find Ayano at the end facing the wall while holding Osana's severed head… and then she turns and shoots a sideways glance directly at you. Jesus!
• LoveSick's version of the Senpai-creation screen shows Ayano silently creeping up right behind him. Combined with the greyscale graphics, it looks like footage from a horror film. In fact, when YandereDev reconsidered LoveSick mode a few days later, one of the things he considered keeping was the Senpai creation screen. Apparently so many people thought it was so creepy that it should be in the game. Sure enough, the main game got a pink version of said screen.
• In the Driving Your Rivals To Murder video, Kokona Haruka snaps and kills a tied up Musume Ronshaku with a baseball bat. And she was set up by Ayano to do so, so that Kokona could get arrested for murder and therefore be out of the way. What's worse is that despite Kokona's insistence that Ayano had been involved, the police are unable and unwilling to pursue it because there's no solid evidence that ties Ayano to the case, and they don't want another 1989 incident on their hands (especially since she's the daughter of the one who was accused on flimsy evidence).
  • The scene ends with Ayano looking at a photo on her bulletin board that shows Kokona watching Senpai from afar. She tears off the part of the photo with Kokona and strokes the torn photo of Senpai, whispering, "You're safe now..." The screen fades into the blood-red Yandere Simulator logo with cracked hearts and cuts to black. Just before the video ends, the screen abruptly flashes red and a wet cutting sound is heard.
  • After Kokona kills Musume, we only see her body from the shoulders down for the rest of the video. While this was probably to avoid having to censor the video like others, Nothing Is Scarier is in play, as the framing of the scene and the amount of blood implies that there isn't much of her head left and/or recognizible after Kokona is done with her.
• In the October 2017 Progress Report video, YandereDev discusses the possibility that you may be able to drive all of your rivals to murder and get them arrested. No matter how nice they are, if their buttons are pushed in just the right way, you could get them to snap with just a few well-placed words. The video illustrates his point by featuring an image of a smiling Amai, carrying plates of pastries and a loaf of bread...then the image fades into a different one, showing her in the same pose, but (spoilered for Nausea Fuel) covered in blood splatters and carrying a severed human head on a plate with a stitched-up mouth and a spoon stuck in its exposed brain, a plate of intestines, and a basket containing a severed human arm. Yikes!
  • The only characters known to get on Megami's nerves are Ayano, and Megami's referenced younger brother Kencho. Could she be driven to killing her own sibling?
• Past the October 1, 2017 build, the Headmaster is implemented in the game. Should Yan-chan enter his office, he'll be afraid of her, recognizing her as her mother's daughter (who was also a Yandere). Should you get too close to him, he will point a taser at you. Should you get even closer, he unleashes the taser on you. Let that sink in. THE HEADMASTER OF A SCHOOL WAS SCARED ENOUGH TO USE A TASER ON A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL.
  • Plus, after he shocks you with the taser, he says ominously "Mr. Saikou, the deal is off." Until anything is confirmed about the headmaster, the meaning of this statement is left to the imagination. The Game Over screen even shows an onimous ???????? on the top of the screen.
• We got another Halloween mini-game, and this time it's a Slender parody with copies of Midori. When you hear that, you expect a goofy Slender parody, right? Not really... The Midori clones are giggling and are chanting "Yandere Dev", they float (yes, there're floating) and, of course, they are your chaser. By the way, you are on a time limit, so searching for this game's pages (which are laptops) is gonna get stressful.
• The March 2018 build expanded the low reputation Game Over to include a full cutscene of Yan-chan walking through a black environment with faceless girls giggling and laughing at her. They multiply more and more until Yan-chan sees Senpai standing in the middle of them, and he disgustedly shakes his head and folds his arms. In one update, a simple game-ending text wall was changed to what feels like a nightmare sequence.
• Hunger Mode, being a reference to Little Nightmares, is quite horrifying. Your objective is to eat as many people as possible.
• Ryoba gets more messed-up in the video "A Childhood Lesson". It was a known fact that she essentially enabled Ayano's Yandere tendencies to begin with. But here we see her nick her finger while cooking as a way of teaching a young Yan-chan how to efficiently clean up blood. Note that it's likely that she may have done so on purpose specifically so she could have this lesson. Also, Jokichi is explicitly mentioned to not have come home from work yet.
• After introducing the Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki minigame in one update, YandereDev introduced a "Hard mode" in response to someone who thought the original game was "too easy". Simply pressing the "H" key on the minigame title screen turns the whole game into something out of a Creepypasta. Complete with eyeless Miyuki art, blood ocean, distorted music and voices, and harder-to-kill enemies.
• The October 14th, 2018 has two new sets of nightmare fuel, in the form of two new demons in the demon realm.
  • The first addition looks like a man made entirely of darkness, but then he tells Ayano that he's familar with her work and that she's been feeding him well, and that although he was supposed to make his debut before Ayano, who's caused him a delay by appearing first, that everyone will acquainted with him in time. He then finishes by telling her that he looks forward to seeing how she will overcome her hardships in the future.
  • The other new demon looks similar to the placeholder club leader, only with longer and inhuman looking bangs, however when you get closer her hair retreats, to reveal not just a Face Framed in Shadow, but spider like features, with glowing Extra Eyes and multiple fangs in true Slasher Smile style.
    • Her ritual's been added: kill all the club leaders with the ritual knife and sacrifice them to her. This gives Yandere-chan the power to send clones of the demon to eat the students alive. The only thing scarier than that is that the club leaders Yandere-chan killed come back to school with the hair and soulless nature of the now-removed Placeholder Club Leaders.
• A new elimination method's been added: crushing a student's head with the school gate. It's quite unsettling, the head just...disappears with only a tiny nub at the neck where it was. The saddest part is right now the method only works on one student, who was completely innocent, has no crush on Senpai, and was only running late for school when he tripped and Yandere-chan pushed the button.
• The "Threaten" option during Genka's "minigame". Picking it will result in Yandere-Chan delivering a furious rant against Genka, twitching more and more with each passing word. Needless to say, it's a very unsettling performance, and proves that one of the few emotions Yandere-Chan can feel is rage.
  • Also, she ends the rant by telling Genka to let her go "before. you. get. hurt." While it doesn't phase Genka, it still terrifying that Yandere-Chan is willing to hurt/kill an adult to get she wants.
• The Black hole-chan Easter Egg sucks anyone into Yan-chan when she gets close to Ayano. That doesn't sound too bad, until you try it out and hear them screaming in terror when they get sucked in. Not to mention that they go Off-Model in their sucking animation, which makes it look like their bones painfully shift and their face gets distorted, with their eyes not being visible.
• The April 30th update causes Yandere-chan to completely lose her grip on reality when her sanity drops below 33.33%. She begins hallucinating herself brutally killing her current rival in various painful ways, she loses the ability to distinguish between other people other than Senpai, and she starts automatically attacking anyone who gets too close.
• On Ayano's computer at night, you have the option to chat with somebody by the username of "Selene2005". Sounds innocent, right? Well, said user has a rather disturbing interest in talking about murder for the sake of a world of peace. The way the conversations progresses through the week gives the impression that she wants to commit a genocide. Even worse, Ayano has the option to encourage them.
• The prototyped intro animation is nothing short of chilling. Especially with Senpai and Osana being shown through Ayano's metaphorical lack of a heart and the intro showing a bloodstained corridor at the very end.
• The July 2019 update introduces Raibaru Fumetsu, the long-hinted Mysterious Obstacle in killing Osana. At first glance, she seems like a pretty harmless cute girl who follows Osana around. Except you can't kill her, and if Ayano is captured by Raibaru, which will happen if she sees you kill anyone in front of her or you try to go after her, she'll take the opportunity to break Ayano's arm with a Sickening "Crunch!" before wrestling her to the ground. Not only does the animation look and sound painful, it's especially startling to hear after all the times of being silently pinned by teachers and students. Do not underestimate this girl.
  • Osoro Shidesu has also been shown to perform the same arm-breaking technique when apprehending Ayano. Osoro have a fearsome reputation within Akademi for a very good reason.
• Yandere Dev has installed the small main street in the game, and it seems mundane enough. Except if the player has Ayano stare through the binoculars on the pier, where you will see a man (possibly Kencho Saikou) far out on a boat, watching you through his own pair of binoculars. Why is he watching her? What is he planning?
• The March 2020 update, the sixth anniversary of Yandere Simulator's development, added an anticipated since day one feature... SNAP Mode. And it is just as dark as you've been expecting, if not even moreso. (It's probably pretty telling that YandereDev didn't say a word when he first introduced it, letting it speak for itself.)
  • While in this mode, the game's colors turn pure black and red. Ayano loses all sanity and care about anything at all (demonstrated by the game's interface vanishing), loses the ability to run (in its place is the ability to move forward in time, which functions identically to a short range teleport), automatically (and brutally) kills anyone who crosses her path (and they can do nothing about it but yell in horror, the reveal video shows that even Raibaru is no match for Ayano in this state!), and finally she gains a new set of objectives: Find a knife. Kill Senpai. And finally, Kill herself. And you get to control Ayano throughout all this. Fun.
  • For the record, But Thou Must! is in play throughout in a disturbing way. Snap mode has a time limit, and if you try to avoid doing anything the game asks you in this state, you will be nudged in the right direction... and eventually it will simply proceed without your imput. Don't get a knife? The screen will fill up with static and then teleport you to one (a variant occurs if the timer runs out when you already have a knife, in which case you'll be teleported to Senpai). If you still refuse to play along? Static again, and the scene where Ayano kills Senpai plays automatically. Finally, if you refuse to press the button when the game tells you to "Do it" ("it" being stabbing yourself in the neck), Ayano will eventually do so anyway on her own.
• The first ending has been added to the game. To trigger it, Ayano has to kill everyone in the school on the first day of school^note barring those without hitboxes like Info-chan and the Headmaster, all without Senpai noticing. Senpai notices that it's too quiet at the school and is confronted by Yandere-chan, who cheerfully admits that she killed everyone so they could be alone. Then… something happens, and it cuts to Senpai tied up in Ayano's basement.^note For those that want to try this themselves: using Easter eggs doesn't trigger the ending.
  • A now fixed glitch initially allowed the player to trigger the ending by using SNAP Mode to kill everyone. Think about that from Senpai's perspective.
• A voice over plays during YandereDev announcing the Osana release date. It sounds like Osana has her own Yandere stalker. As it turns out, he's convinced that Osana is Miyuki from Magical Girl Pretty Miyuki, a popular anime in the game's universe, due to Osana's resemblance to the titular magical girl and is determined to make her his, even to the point of kidnapping her pet cat and threatening to kill it should she call the police to get her to come over and force her to dress as Miyuki and be his girlfriend.
• Now that Osana has been released as of August 31st, 2020, there are two direct-murder methods of elimination that, while awesome to pull off due to the difficulty of having to come up with a way to deal with Raibaru first, are disturbing to watch:
  • Osana's exclusive elimination method. To recap: you lure Osana onto the roof, unscrew the fan behind her, grab her ponytails, and shove her into the running fan. What happens next is one of the bloodiest elimination methods so far - she is forced into the fan, decapitated by the running blades, and reduced to Pink Mist as blood sprays all over Ayano. What makes it worse is that Ayano's sanity drops to 0%. From that one attack.
  • Another method is to tie one of Osana's pigtails to a heavy weight and then throw the weight into a pool, so Osana screams as she's dragged into the pool along with the weight. And death doesn't even take long, there's no (visible) thrashing or splashing around, one moment Osana is laying peacefully in a pool chair...and the next moment, she just disappears into the water, not to be discovered until a faculty member finds a corpse later that day.
• After you eliminate Osana, the cutscene where Amai befriends Senpai and takes him to her parents' bakery to cheer him up is incredibly cute... until you see Info-chan watching them from outside. As a Scare Chord plays, she snaps a picture, sends it to Ayano, and informs her she has new competition. Just like Osana, she outright states she wants Amai to suffer for one reason or another—she claims her reasons are more complex than pure sadism, but it's still incredibly disturbing that she wants to send multiple, innocent girls to a potentially violent end with zero remorse.
  Info-chan: Eliminate her, or Senpai will never belong to you.
  Ayano: He already belongs to me. He just doesn't know it yet.
• If one finishes 1980s Mode with a S+ rank they're treated to a timeline of events in the game that reveals two horrifying facts not previously known: this mess with the Aishis has been happening since 1780, when the first Aishi was born, and Ryoba has a sister who found her own senpai.
  • There's also a hidden cutscene where Ryoba finds out Jokichi disappeared, and is freaking out, when she finds a note revealing Saikou Corp kidnapped him in order to talk to Ryoba for some reason. Also, think about it from Jokichi's perspective. He probably thought he was getting 'rescued' at first, but only ends up being bait for Ryoba. It's likely they don't know-or worse, don't care-about what he's suffering with Ryoba.
• The fact that unlike Ayano (who has a choice to become a pacifist), Ryoba was a genuine yandere. At the beginning, she kills a girl who liked her senpai named Sumire (who becomes the ghost you see in one of the bathrooms). YanDev took the complaints about Ayano not actually acting like a yandere and stuck it to the fans.
• Canonically, Ryoba killed five of her rivals (not counting Sumire, who dies in a tutorial) and disposed of the other five with non-lethal methods. She made a point to make it look like all deaths after Sumire seemed like accidents.
  • Moeko, who starts fires in a barrel as a hobby, burns to death after Ryoba fills the watering can she uses to put out the fire with gasoline.
  • Ryoba puts sleeping pills on Ritsuko's lunch, which causes her to fall asleep while sunbathing at the pool. Ryoba then pushes her into the water, where she drowns to death.
  • Ai, an upcoming pop idol, has her micropohone sabotaged by Ryoba so it electrocutes her while singing a song that uses electricity metaphors titled "Ai will Shock you"
• The "Evil Photographer" that victimized every single one of the rivals. He started a rumor that an insane asylum in Buraza town was haunted and that it was a good place for people to test their courages in, causing many teenagers to explore it at night. The moment a female victim enters the asylum, the photographer goes after them at knifepoint and orders them to take off their clothes so he can take naked pictures of them and later on sell them for a profit, after which he simply lets the victims leave. While he never touches the girls himself, being forced to strip all of your clothing and then have a stranger take naked pictures of you doesn't sound really fun.
  • The Befriend task is probably even creepier than Osana's in the present day. Ryoba has to infiltrate the insane asylum at night, which in addition of the photographer now houses a lot of homeless people and drug addicts, and destroy all of the photos the man took of his victims.
    • Getting spotted by the stalker's family in Osana's befriend task is nothing compared to getting spotted by one of the drug addicts, as the text heavily implies that they are going to harm Ryoba due to drug-induced allucinations.
      ..who are you?! Are you a demon?! YOU WON'T KILL ME, DEMON!
    • If the Photographer catches Ryoba before she burns the pictures in the room he is in, he orders her to take off her clothes so she can take pictures of her as well. However, if he catches her after she has burnt the photos, he immediately tries to kill her.
• The 'Happy' Ending of 1980s Mode: find a way to get rid of Ui as a witness and get away with murdering Sumire, peacefully eliminate the rivals without bloodshed, finally confess to Jokichi and Ryoba gets her happy ending. Sounds great, right? Well, the only way this can happen is through a time paradox, when Ryoba calles Ichikou's number (a number she canonically doesn't find out until 1990, but can be discovered in 20xx mode from a discarded letter), FUN GIRL is able to talk to her and tell her how to get her happy ending...at the cost of Ayano's existence. If Ryoba follows FUN GIRL's instructions exactly and wins Jokichi, it causes Ayano to exist outside time like FUN GIRL...and enables FUN GIRL to take over Ayano's body.

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