Simulacra
Simulacra is a series of horror video games available on mobile phones and most consoles. However, I’d recommend playing them on your phone. It’s cheaper on a phone and more immersive. You take control of the main character who finds a phone on their doorstep. After loading it up, they try to figure out why you have the phone of a girl named Anna. As it progresses, you talk to her friends, invade her privacy and even catfish on a dating app in order to catch the kidnapper.
However, don’t expect this to be as straightforward as it sounds. After all, the kidnapper isn’t human. This isn’t a spoiler as the series revolves around entities known as the Simulacrum. You see everything on Anna’s phone and that’s why it’s better to play on yours. If you play the game on a console it breaks the immersion and it’s tougher for the moments you need to write.
The second game follows a new story set in the same universe. There are one or two characters from the previous game returning. This time, an influencer has died and you have to figure out what happened. You can choose two roles at the start. Either you’re a rookie cop or a reporter. Either way, you find yourself helping a Detective to solve the case. As time goes on, you delve into the influencer’s ‘friends’ and decide their fates. It’s an interesting concept and many other games are following suit. That might be an article for another time.
Furthermore, there’s a spin-off titled Pipe Dreams. It’s the only free game in the series. It sees you control a character whose friend is acting weird and it seems to have started after playing a game similar to Flappy Bird. To continue the game you need to get certain high scores but it’s not too hard to get there. Again, I recommend playing it on your phone.
The developer of these games is Kaigan Games. They also made a similar game for Doctor Who fans. Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is a sequel to one of the best Doctor Who stories of the rebooted series. In 2007, Blink introduced the Weeping Angels. In this game, the Weeping Angels are back, along with Larry from Blink. You end up with his phone thanks to a certain Time Lord. With this, you help the U.N.I.T science officer Osgood to take down the Weeping Angels. If you’re a Doctor Who fan, this is one for you.
