Pretend it’s not There shows you that there’s sometimes value in ignoring your problems. At least when they’re lanky, murderous monsters.
You play as a nameless kid walking home from school quite late. While I remember many walks having a nagging feeling something was behind me, this game makes that happen. You find that there’s a large, thin, smirking creature standing right behind your shoulder so close you can likely feel its breath. It leans down to you to ask if you can see it. The protagonist, lacking any better ideas, doesn’t acknowledge the creature. Thankfully that works, but now you need to see how long you can ignore it.
Once you get home, you need to help the kid do some chores, finish their homework, and have some supper without giving that creature the attention it desires. As you pick up toys and walk around, the creature will simply be standing there when you turn a corner or shift your gaze in a room. You need to quickly turn your eyes away from it if you don’t want to die very, very quickly. Still have to carry out all of the stuff on your list, though. If you want the creature to believe you can’t see it, you need to go about your day normally, after all.
Pretend it’s not There is surprisingly chilling for such a simple concept, as keeping a horrifying creature just out of sight feels like purposely turning your back on something that will kill you. It feels like you’re making yourself extremely vulnerable by keeping it out of sight, creating this sensation that you’re constantly in a danger of your own doing. This creates such a tension that I was honestly glad for the short play time. I don’t know how much longer I could handle just staring at the monster’s feet while trying to avoid eye contact.
Pretend it’s not There is available now (for whatever you wish to pay for it) on itch.io.
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