Lights Out Please is a collaborative, text-driven horror game that features 13 disturbing stories by 13 diverse authors.

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Unlike most kinds of horror though, the creators responsible for Lights Out Please have decided to derive their scares not from the supernatural, but from the everyday kinds of fear many experience and even more ignore. The horrors of assault, violence and abuse have thus been turned into playable ghost stories and urban legends.

Well, okay, playable might be too strong a word as many of the interactive stories on offer are generally low on interaction. Experience-able is what I mean – and filled with thought-provoking and atmospheric words is what I should add. As expected, not all stories are equally well-written, though most I consider good, even great.

Among my favourites is one about being buried alive, Kitty Horrorshow’s story about the carnival that reminded me of Billy Holiday’s Strange Fruit, and the one about the basement. This latter adventure is one of the most interactive Twines of the collection and offers intriguing choices and some blood-curdling writing.

Lights Out Please can be played online or downloaded (and possibly supported by donations) via itch.io.