Summary
Chilla’s Art is one of the top indie devs on the horror scene today, right up there with Puppet Combo and Rayll (of Fears To Fathom fame). With over 20 titles to choose from, Chilla’s Art offers a little something for everyone, at least everyone who enjoys VHS-style Japanese horror.
That being said, with so many games coming from the same creative source, it stands to reason that some of these games are going to be just a little bit better than others. Be it because they’re scarier, more interesting on a gameplay level, or simply iconic to Chilla’s fans, these are the best games Chilla’s Art has to offer.
All of Chilla’s Art’s games are titled in Japanese first, so if there are any cases where there’s significant meaning in the Japanese title that’s not present in the English one, we’ll be sure to provide loose translations.
10The Convenience Store (夜勤事件)
That’ll Be $7.50 Plus Your Soul, Please
Well, well, well, if it isn’t regularpart-time minimum wage laborrearing its ugly head? As scary as the prospect of working the late shift at akonbini(Japanese convenience store) was to begin with, Chilla’s Art has taken that inherent creepiness and somehow managed to make it feel even more unsettling in its 2020 viral hit, The Convenience Store.
The Japanese title translates to ‘Night Shift Incident’.
Working behind the till in the middle of the night, you’ll see all manner of uncanny horrors walk through those sliding entryway doors, and maybe, if you’re especially unlucky, there might be one or two non-customer perils to deal with as well.
9Missing Children
Completely Unrelated To A Robot-Infested Pizzeria
Missing Children might just be the shortest Chilla’s Art experience, at only about 30 to 40 minutes in length. That being said, it’s precisely because the game is so short and to the point that it’s able to be so effective.
With a name like ‘Missing Children’, it should come as no surprise that this game is one of Chilla’s Art’s most disturbing outings in terms of story. Tasked with investigating a particularly rough case involving child disappearances, you play as a detective in Japan who’s about to embark on a chilling journey chock full of gruesome twists.
8Parasocial
Like, Comment, And Survive
If you’re a streamer, or you’ve ever wanted to get into streaming, this game just might convince you to start looking for a new line of work. In Parasocial, you play as an up and coming vtuber, and as such, you’ll need to keep an eye on your stream to keep views and engagement up.
Unfortunately for you, though, the numbers online quickly become the least of your worries. Parasocial does a great job at heightening your sense of suspicion as you play, and by the end of thispsychological nightmare, you won’t know who to trust… or where to run.
7Night Security
It’s Gonna Be A Long Night…
In Night Security, you get to walk around an office building looking for anyone and anything out of place. Floor by floor, room by room. Of course, as with any Chilla’s Art experience, there are absolutely some things and people out of place, and you better hope you find them before they find you.
The cramped and mundane setting might lose points in any other genre, but Chilla’s Art manages to make Night Security’s offices feel remarkably fresh, engaging, and undoubtedly spooky, even if it’s a little easier to get lost here than normal.
6Shinkansen 0
End Of The Line
Exit 8was a viral horror gameabout an endlessly looping hallway where you’re tasked with spotting the differences to continue. While that game was a fantastic twist on a classic ‘spot the difference’ style game, Exit 8 never felt like it took full advantage of the concept’s potential.
Here in Shinkansen 0 though, Chilla’s Art has taken what worked about Exit 8 and taken it to the next level, complete with a burning sense of intrigue in the story, as well as a voluminous buffet of top-tier scares.Spot the differences correctly, and you just might make it off this train.
5Jisatsu
Found Footage Frights
Found footage is quite versatile when it comes to horror.It works great for movies, of course, but games like Jisatsu prove that the found footage style can do just as much for horror games.
Taking control of a man tasked by an uncaring boss to film his adventures ina haunted housein Japan, Jisatsu explores themes of religious beliefs, rituals, and the occult. The pacing of Jisatsu is really what helps it stand out, with a nice flow of scares and an endgame twist that makes the whole experience feel very satisfying.
4The Karaoke（ヒトカラ）
Never Sing Alone
If you’ve ever lived in Japan or seen Aggretsuko, you know that karaoke can be a great way to relieve some stress after a particularly long day at school or work. Unfortunately, this particular karaoke place is about to makede-stressing a whole lot more stressful.
The Karaoke, known in Japanese as ヒトカラ (meaning ‘karaoke all alone’ or ‘karaoke for one’) has everything we’ve come to know and love from a Chilla’s Art game, with a frightening atmosphere, horrifying NPC encounters, and mild puzzle elements, but it’s the addition of aheart pounding survival segmenttoward the end of the game that really elevates The Karaoke above some of Chilla’s other games.
3The Kidnap
Chilla’s Art’s Tearjerking Tragedy
Chilla’s Art has two speeds: paranormal and uncomfortably realistic. Of all of its titles to date, The Kidnap is the one that feels the most grotesquely real, and that’s all thanks to the game’s haunting story, which sees a poor family break down completely and fall apart.
Unlike most of Chilla’s other games, The Kidnap isn’t actually all that scary. It has its moments, of course, but the game is much more focused on telling a compelling story and commenting on the tragedy of the issues it covers. The Kidnap showcases that Chilla’s Art is more than capable of compelling stories that go beyond the dev’s horror roots, and we’d be happy to see more games like this from it in the future.
2The Closing Shift
I’ll Take That Coffee To Go, Please
There’s an in-joke among Chilla’s Art fans that the majority of its games boil down to ‘just attempt to survive being employed somewhere in Japan’. While one look at this article probably makes it clear where that joke came from, none of Chilla’s games use the theme of terrifying employment quite like The Closing Shift.
Set at a legally distinct Starbucks long into the night, The Closing Shift tasks you with correctly fulfilling customer orders and keeping an eye out for… less than trustworthy individuals. A fan-favorite in the Chilla’s Art community, The Closing Shift is a masterclass in modern workplace horror.
1The Bathhouse (地獄銭湯)
Ghosts Need Baths, Too
地獄銭湯, loosely translated to English as ‘Hell’s bathhouse’ or ‘Hell’s communal bath’, is Chilla’s Art at its most traditionally Japanese. Though the original title was already a massive slam dunkfor atmospheric horror, The Bathhouse received a complete revamp in 2024, and the game has simply never been better.
Employed at a local communal bathhouse, you’ll venture into a warm and muggy world of puddles, dripping sounds, and creepy Japanese townscapes. With elements of all of Chilla’s best works, The Bathhouse is a great showcase of what we love about this iconic indie studio and its games.
