History VideoGame / Imscared

* DaylightHorror: The brightly lit dormitory area is still creepy because White Face is always watching...

* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:This game has false endings. Players will know that the game has ended for good once they encounter the ending that involves killing themselves.]]
** Expanded upon in the Steam version. [[spoiler:After attempting to hang yourself, the ending gives you another name to input after collecting the heart: HER.]]

** Accessing the new content in the 2022 update is a tad esoteric. Specifically the part where you have to [[spoiler: play an Imscared 2022 Test Build and solve the puzzles within in order to receive a file that allows you to clip through the gates in the Street map to talk to the update's new character, Restorer. One of the few hints you're given is a .txt file that generates in your imscared folder when you enter the post-Door ending version of the Street map, which gives you a link to the aforementioned Test Build.]]

* TorturedMonster: White Face says certain things indicating it to be this, such as "I'm suffering" and "I'm crying."

* SurpriseCreepy: Who knew that a game with such low pixel count could produce so many screams and nightmares?

* PlayableEpilogue: [[spoiler:If you kill White Face, then you'll be able to walk around through the various areas again, which are now free from any spooky elements.]]

This game can be downloaded [[http://gamejolt.com/games/other/imscared-a-pixelated-nightmare/10058/ here]], if you dare to interact with the sentient game glitch yourself. A sequel is in the makings as well, information about that as well as instructions to download the demo found [[http://mymadnessworks.itch.io/imscaredworkshop here]]. A [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/429720/ new version of the game]] was released on Steam on January 31, 2016.

** Taken UpToEleven when [[spoiler:you try deleting White Face. Hope your volume is low when it happens.]]

** [[spoiler:White Face [[UpToEleven literally is one in the door ending]]]].

--> Achievement Unlocked: [[spoiler:Loneliness]]
--> '''Steam''': You've unlocked every single achievement. Congratulations!

--> '''White Face''': ''I love watching you.''

-->'''White Face''': ''I didn't mean to do that.''
-->'''The Player''': (likely response) ''...You didn't mean to do ''what?

--> '''Attention.txt''': ''There is a way to turn an entity into data. They have a life of their own, and it is difficult to distinguish them from normal computer files. In our actions of everyday, while we sit at the computer, this byte entity observes, and studies our every move and fear.''

* MinimalistCast: Aside from the FirstPersonGhost, there is only one real character- White Face itself. There is also the ArcVillain HER, but White Face claims that she is [[IHaveManyNames the same being with another name]]. Other than that, there is possibly the unknown author of all those outside text files, who never makes an appearance, [[spoiler:except it is revealed to be White Face yet again]].

--> [[spoiler:'''0.txt''': ''It's alive. It's real. Sorry... I'm really sorry. I didn't have any other choice. I'm scared. I don't want to die. From now on remember this: the sound predicts its arrival.'']]
* TheMostDangerousVideoGame

-->'''White Face''': ''Help me. I don't want to die.'' '''I'm scared.'''

--> [[spoiler:'''0.txt''': ''It's alive. It's real. It's changing again, like the last time. What form will it take? It's just a phantom of deception.'']]

''Congratulations. You made it to the end. [[TvTropesWillRuinYourLife But you can't escape from here.]] Stay with me. I will always be here. Looking at you.''

* VillainShoes: [[spoiler:The player takes control of White Face itself when shooting HER. WordOfGod reveals that White Face is essentially killing off HER due to her [[SpotlightStealingSquad stealing it's spotlight]] in a FinalBattle-like fashion to appease the player]].

* WalkingBackwards: Players may do this upon seeing the game's horror scenes.

[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WhiteFace_9613.png]]
[[caption-width-right:259:Hello! Do You know my name? I made something for You.]]

** The player might feel this way after [[spoiler:deleting White Face's heart, erasing it from the game forever.]]

* AlienGeometries / EldritchLocation: All the in-game locations. Everything is darkly lit and the unrelated, bizarrely constructed locations seem to blend into one another. At times the darkness turns blindingly bright for no apparent reason or morphs into a darkened WombLevel. Available entryways can appear and vanish in an instant, and their destinations can be variable.

* ChekhovsGun / EasterEgg: While in the room containing the rusted key, if the player is observant enough they may notice a line of pixels on the concrete wall that are darker that the rest of the gray textures. When the player inspects this darkened spot more closely, it turns out to be the game's rendition of a crack in the wall. What can the player see through the crack? [[spoiler:A pitch-black room with only a chair and noose in view.]] The latter is also the game's file icon. These items have immense significance near the end of the game.

* DownerEnding / DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The final ending of the game requires the player to interact with the chair and noose in White Face's room. Presumably, the player must commit suicide in order to leave White Face's exitless domain. After this, the game will always immediately crash when opened. The final appearing text file also implies that White Face may still be dwelling within the player's computer despite the game file having crashed.]]

* FeaturelessProtagonist / FirstPersonGhost: Who are you playing as? What made your character trapped in a weird room that has a bloody wardrobe and an exit that requires a still-pulsating heart to open anyway? No one ever knows.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou / HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler:The longer one plays this game, the more likely sinister files will show up on the computer and the more likely White Face will "hijack" the computer.]]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent / ElectromagneticGhosts: While White Face is actually considered an entity, it can certainly be considered a "ghost" due to its appearance and behavior. It seems to enjoy following and scaring the player, [[spoiler:as well as doing freaky things to their computer outside the game.]]

* [[spoiler:UndeathAlwaysEnds: See DeathSeeker above]].

* HundredPercentCompletion: The Steam version has 11 achievements, [[spoiler: and you're required to get the first ten in order to get to the final decision. You only get the last one when you purge White Face from your computer.]]
--> Achievement Unlocked: [[spoiler: Loneliness]]

* AlwaysNight: Once the player does get to look out some windows, it's pitch black most of the time just like every other area of the game. [[spoiler: The darkness outside is also where White Face prefers to watch the player.]]
** [[spoiler: The beginning room gets even darker in the door ending. This is no longer the case after deleting White Face, which suddenly makes the entire area sunny.]]
** Averted [[spoiler: in the ending. The entire sky becomes clear blue instead of the dark fog that covers the rest of the game. Considering the context, it doesn't make the place anywhere near happier looking.]]

** In the Steam release, [[spoiler: BURY HER]] and "Six will do". The former is the name of the game's Website/YouTube channel and appears in title screens. The latter is used to promote the game on Twitter and shows up exactly once in the game.

* AuthorPowers: [[spoiler: Upon digging around looking to reset the game to play it from scratch, players can find a note from Ivan himself asking the player to not mess with the files, and to let White Face do it itself. He also thanks the player for playing. Doubles as Heartwarming, because at the end of the note, Ivan writes "You're great and so is your life! Don't commit suicide, okay? [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything I love you :)]].]]

** [[spoiler: The door ending involves deleting White Face's heart from your computer.]]

* BookEnds: The message "Forgive me" appears as the last sentence in the game's instructional text in the game's beginning as well as [[spoiler: the last sentence in the last text file given after the player achieves the final ending.]]
** The phrase [[spoiler: "Bury Her"]] appears when you start encountering HER and appears again in the credits.
** The game's beginning and ending both involve [[spoiler: a heart]].
** Both the beginning tutorial and the ending involve [[spoiler: giving White Face a flower.]]
** The phrase [[spoiler: "Choose wisely, for it is irreversible"]] appears both at the very beginning of the game and during the ending.
* ChekhovsGun / EasterEgg: While in the room containing the rusted key, if the player is observant enough they may notice a line of pixels on the concrete wall that are darker that the rest of the gray textures. When the player inspects this darkened spot more closely, it turns out to be the game's rendition of a crack in the wall. What can the player see through the crack? [[spoiler: A pitch-black room with only a chair and noose in view.]] The latter is also the game's file icon. These items have immense significance near the end of the game.
** The [[spoiler: flower from the tutorial]] comes back in a big way during the game's ending.

** Also, when you first enter [[spoiler: White Face's room]], you are unable to move, only look at White Face slowly approach you.

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler: HER]] begs the player [[spoiler: to shoot them... with a revolver that has no bullets. Initially.]]

* DiedStandingUp: [[spoiler: HER dies like this after you shoot her six times]].
* DownerEnding / DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: The final ending of the game requires the player to interact with the chair and noose in White Face's room. Presumably, the player must commit suicide in order to leave White Face's exitless domain. After this, the game will always immediately crash when opened. The final appearing text file also implies that White Face may still be dwelling within the player's computer despite the game file having crashed.]]
** The Steam release has an even more depressing ending. [[spoiler: Choosing to leave the game involves literally deleting White Face's heart from your computer, killing "it" and lifting the curse from the game]].

* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler: This game has false endings. Players will know that the game has ended for good once they encounter the ending that involves killing themselves.]]
** Expanded upon in the Steam version. [[spoiler: After attempting to hang yourself, the ending gives you another name to input after collecting the heart: HER.]]

** Inputting one of the achievement names [[spoiler: ("Loneliness")]] in the text field results in this message:
--> [[spoiler: "No you don't want to."]]

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou / HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler: The longer one plays this game, the more likely sinister files will show up on the computer and the more likely White Face will "hijack" the computer.]]

** [[spoiler: HER ultimate goal is to be put to rest]].

** In the Steam version, the labyrinth area, where at one point, [[spoiler: you have to edit a certain file to unlock a gate. You are given no indication that you could do this, aside from a very cryptic hint]].
** Also from the Steam edition, [[spoiler: the Market area.]] Specifically, [[spoiler: rebooting the PC in the office.]]

* ImColdSoCold: This quote isn't said outright, but [[spoiler: White Face mentions how cold and dark its room is. In this pitch-dark and enclosed area there is a chair and noose in the background, and the skull-like White Face is slowly approaching the player who cannot move away. The player would certainly feel like they're about to die in this eerie situation...]]
* InterfaceScrew: White Face [[spoiler: disables your run key in two separate rooms in the valve area]].
* InterfaceSpoiler: An interesting example in the Steam version. [[spoiler: After getting the rope, you receive an achievement called "Don't touch me". If you're the type of person that checks achievements immediately after getting them, you'll note that there actually is no achievement by that name. Another fake achievement pops up moments later, giving you a hint on how to escape HER.]]

* ItWontTurnOff: Even after beating the game [[spoiler: and getting the final ending, 0.txt suggests that White Face may still be "haunting" the player's computer.]]

** Taken UpToEleven when [[spoiler: you try deleting White Face. Hope your volume is low when it happens.]]
* LawOfDisproportionateResponse: Being too loud in the parlor? [[spoiler: You'll get a warning]]. Do it again, [[spoiler: and you'll have to reopen the game]].

* MindScrew: Is White Face hiding in some of those [[NothingIsScarier shadows]]? [[HellIsThatNoise Ugh, what is that horrible sound?]] [[spoiler: Did this game give my computer some sort of virus, or is it actually possessed by a malevolent spirit?]]

** [[spoiler: If you move right after you kill HER, you can briefly see that the player character looks nearly identical to White Face before the screen fades to black.]]

--> [[spoiler: '''0.txt''': ''It's alive. It's real. Sorry... I'm really sorry. I didn't have any other choice. I'm scared. I don't want to die. From now on remember this: the sound predicts its arrival.'']]
** The player might feel this way after [[spoiler: deleting White Face's heart, erasing it from the game forever.]]

** HER, which is basically White Face but worse, since she has a wide SlasherSmile and ManiacTongue. [[spoiler:Especially when she warns you to be quiet]].
* NoNameGiven: HER. White Face indicates that it is one of it’s many names.

** In the [[spoiler: Market area]], sounds such as breathing and items being knocking over are heard in the darkness until you turn the power back on.

** The same thing happens when HER chases you twice: once through the parlor, and again in the Station. [[spoiler: There is a checkpoint in the parlor chase, though.]]
* OurGhostsAreDifferent / ElectromagneticGhosts: While White Face is actually considered an entity, it can certainly be considered a "ghost" due to its appearance and behavior. It seems to enjoy following and scaring the player, [[spoiler: as well as doing freaky things to their computer outside the game.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The unknown author of the outside text files was White Face all along.]]

** [[spoiler: In the valve rooms, one sign (presumably left by White Face) announces "I'm Right Behind You".]]

* TheScream: [[spoiler: White Face lets loose an absolutely '''''HORRIFYING''''' one in the door ending. [[https://youtu.be/tphByxyqltk?t=5m Keep your volume WAY down when listening to it.]]]]
* SealedEvilInACan: Apparently White Face [[spoiler: is a glitch/virus/spirit who was sealed into ''Imscared's'' game file]].
* ShapeshifterSwanSong: [[spoiler: During the door ending, White Face chaotically flickers through each form it has taken through out the game as it pursues the player.]]
* SilenceYouFool: At one point, you are told to be quiet. Failing to heed that warning [[spoiler: results in a quick image of a red face saying "Quiet I said" Get too loud again, and the face suddenly gets much bigger and louder before closing your game]].

** [[spoiler: HER may also be this, if her pleading to be put down is any indication.]]
** [[spoiler: White Face [[UpToEleven literally is one in the door ending]]]].

** HER has the Touch of Evil variant as well. It's implied that she doesn't like doing this, but has to anyway. This is most evident when [[spoiler: she begs you to kill her as she lunges towards you]].

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: White Face goes through a particularly terrifying one in the door ending.]]

* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: [[spoiler: White Face's "room" simply consists of White Face, a chair, and a noose. It's cold, dark, and seems to have no walls or boundaries.]]
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler: White Face has this ability, and has another major form known as HER.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''0.txt''': ''It's alive. It's real. It's changing again, like the last time. What form will it take? It's just a phantom of deception.'']]

* WombLevel: Either some of the areas are this, or all the walls, floors, and ceilings are covered with blood or rust. [[spoiler: One such location near the end of the game even has accompanying distorted moaning and gurgling sounds.]]

* YouMonster: [[spoiler: White Face calls you out for wanting to erase it and end the game. To say it doesn't take it well is an understatement.]]

* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler: White Face also goes by HER and Ivan Zanotti.]]

* MinimalistCast: Includes the nameless player character, White Face/HER, and possibly the unknown author of all those outside text files.

** White Face, of course.
** HER. [[spoiler:Especially when she warns you to be quiet]].
* NoNameGiven: HER.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: HER.

* [[spoiler: UndeathAlwaysEnds]]: [[spoiler: See DeathSeeker above]].

** In the Steam release, [[spoiler: BURY HER]] and "Six will do". The former is the name of the game's YouTube channel and appears in title screens. The latter is used to promote the game on Twitter and shows up exactly once in the game.

''Imscared: A Pixelated Nightmare'' (also spelled as the more grammatically correct ''I'm Scared'') is a short [[IndieGame indie]] horror game produced by the independent game developer [[http://gamejolt.com/profile/ivan-zanotti/16513/ Ivan Zanotti]] in October 2012. At first, this game appears to be an experimental project made by a novice at best. The novella-length introductory text includes a profuse apology for any errors or glitches that will inevitably appear in the game. The game's graphics themselves look like they were either drawn in Microsoft Paint or otherwise came right out of a [[FauxFirstPerson3D Windows 95 screensaver]]. During the first few minutes of gameplay the player encounters half-hearted scares such as pixelated blood and some creepy music that doesn't even continue playing for more than a minute. And then the game abruptly crashes when a monster ambushes the player. Well, this game definitely lives up to its title of [[StylisticSuck "pixelated nightmare"]] all right...

* AlienGeometries / EldritchLocation: All the in-game locations. Everything is darkly lit and the unrelated, bizarrely constructed locations seem to blend into one another. At times the darkness turns blindingly bright for no apparent reason, or morphs into a darkened WombLevel. Available entryways can appear and vanish in an instant, and their destinations can be variable.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: If you've near the end of the Steam Version ([[spoiler:specifically, when you've placed the three valves and activated the device]]), a bunch of shortcuts to the various stages open up in the first stage's basement.
* ApocalypticLog: When compiled into chronological order, the game's introduction as well as the text files the player receives outside the game can be considered this.

** In the Steam release, [[spoiler: BURY HER]] and "Six will do". The former is the name of the game's YouTube channel and appears in title screens. The latter is used to promote the game on Twitter, and shows up exactly once in game.

* AuthorPowers: [[spoiler: Upon digging around look to reset the game to play it from scratch, players can find a note from Ivan himself asking the player to not mess with the files, and to let White Face do it itself. He also thanks the player for playing. Doubles as Heartwarming, because at the end of the note, Ivan writes "You're great and so is your life! Don't commit suicide, okay? [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything I love you :)]].]]

** The phrase [[spoiler: "Bury Her"]] appears when you start encountering HER, and appears again in the credits.

* DaylightHorror: The brightly lit dormitory area is still creepy, because White Face is always watching...

* DownerEnding / DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: The final ending of the game requires the player to interact with the chair and noose in White Face's room. Presumably the player must commit suicide in order to leave White Face's exitless domain. After this the game will always immediately crash when opened. The final appearing text file also implies that White Face may still be dwelling within the player's computer despite the game file having crashed.]]

* MindScrew / ParanoiaFuel: Is White Face hiding in some of those [[NothingIsScarier shadows]]? [[HellIsThatNoise Ugh, what is that horrible sound?]] [[spoiler: Did this game give my computer some sort of virus, or is it actually possessed by a malevolent spirit?]]

* LostForever: There is nothing particularly valuable or coveted to be searched for in this game. However, [[spoiler: once this game has been beaten, the game file will never open again, since it will always crash when it does so.]]
** Not necessarily true. [[spoiler: the game seems to track your progress by the text files it generates, so if you delete those files then the game resets and can be played again.]] But ''why would you want to!?''
** Played with in the Steam version. [[spoiler: White Face gives you the option to reset everything in the endgame, which results in lost progress. If you go for the door ending instead, you have to permanently erase White Face itself from the game, making ''it'' LostForever... unless you backed up your save beforehand and/or know how to edit the game's save values.]]

* NightmareFace: White Face, of course.
** HER. [[spoiler: Especially when she warns you to be quiet]].