The Mantis

The Mantis is a short horror game where looking at the creature slows it down, creating tension. It delivers a chilling psychological experience in a dark house.

A terrifying yet haunting experience in The Mantis

This is a short indie horror game, but it offers a tense and memorable experience thanks to its extremely subtle psychological development of the player.

The game's setting takes place in a familiar house with everyday tasks like taking out the trash, checking the electricity, or moving between rooms. However, that normalcy is quickly shattered when a bizarre creature, resembling a humanoid praying mantis, begins to appear.

Confronting fear in gameplay

The game's biggest highlight is that creatures slow down when you look directly at them.

This mechanism creates a tense paradox:

• To survive, you must look at what scares you the most.
• But the more you look, the more danger you find yourself in.

Heavy and haunting atmosphere

The game focuses on building a prolonged sense of anxiety through:

• Disjointed and unpredictable environmental sounds
• Cramped and dimly lit spaces
• Silence that keeps the player constantly on alert

The result is an experience where, even when nothing happens, you still feel uneasy.

PSX graphics style: Rough but effective

The game uses a graphics style inspired by classic PlayStation:

• Low-poly images, slightly distorted and noisy
• Unstable lighting
• Creates an unrealistic yet very unpleasant feeling

How to control

• WASD to move
• Mouse to look around
• E to interact with objects

Other horror games

• Dr. Psycho: Hospital Escape 2
• Schoolboy and Granny 2: Survival in the Forest
•  Shift At Midnight