This indie about the horrors of social media is a perfect Halloween game

digitaltrends.com:

Shorter indie games have become a recent favorite of mine, and with Halloween on the horizon, I’d been on the lookout for some different horror games that I hadn’t played yet beyond the classic titles that make the rounds every year. I stumbled across #influenced, a “slow-burn horror story in kinetic novel format,” in September — and I was immediately sold. I always find myself enjoying games that incorporate social media in some way, whether that’s through making it an interactive play element or using the game’s story to dig a little into our own relationship to social media. And the added bonus of horror elements definitely doesn’t hurt!

The game offers a mix of both of these things through the lens of upcoming influencer Dolly Pearson’s story as she tries to make it big on Instapix, the in-game social media site. Little does she know that things are about to take a very unexpected turn in her influencer journey — making her question just what she would do to make it big.

With about 30 minutes of gameplay total, #influenced offers a linear experience that slowly reels you in with bright character and game design while infusing an overwhelming sense of unease the further into the story you go — making it a perfect spooky title for pre-Halloween play.

Starting out with a follower count of 5,000, Dolly soon manages to befriend Vanessa John, a well-known Instapix user who has over 800,000 followers. Things go relatively normal for a bit: Dolly and Vanessa become friends, chat about their online profiles, and eventually Dolly asks Vanessa for some help.

This is where the mysterious figure known as Mr. A. comes into play. Mr. A. is Vanessa’s agent, who she swears by, and she puts Dolly and him in contact. He goes on to