The Gretlow Tapes

About

The Gretlow Tapes is a single player simulation game with horror and mystery themes. It was developed by Aegon Games and was released on October 7, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Armed with nothing but your camera, investigate the abandoned Gretlow House in this short, atmospheric horror game. Uncover a chilling mystery through a realistic found-footage lens.

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92%Audience ScoreBased on 66 reviews

story18 positive mentions

Excellent atmosphere and sound design that effectively builds tension and unease.
Well-executed jump scares that are unpredictable and genuinely frightening for many players.
Engaging story with logical puzzles and a unique camera mechanic that adds to the horror experience.

Basement section is confusing, labyrinthine, and disrupts pacing, leading to frustration.
Jump scares and noises can become repetitive and lose their impact over time.
Some players felt the story was basic and familiar with elements heavily inspired or copied from other horror games.

story
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
19%
12%
The story is generally praised for being well-written, compelling, and effectively delivered through exploration, notes, and environmental clues, providing an engaging and immersive horror experience. While the narrative follows familiar horror tropes and is sometimes considered simple or basic, it maintains interest and complements the game's atmosphere and scares. Overall, the story balances a fun, creepy tone with logical puzzles and satisfying lore resolution.
- “The story is well written, which is a nice change for indie horror.”
- “I felt satisfied upon completion, with the game ensuring that I had a full understanding of its story, lore, and character sets.”
- “Where this game departs from the usual experience, or at least the basic common horror game experience, is that it can walk the line of balancing a fun experience, compelling enough story, and perhaps most importantly, good horror atmosphere and tasteful jump scares.”
- “The story setup won’t thrill seasoned horror fans because it follows a very familiar formula, which includes a seemingly haunted house, missing students, and a protagonist who dares to uncover the truth.”
- “The story revolves around us figuring out what happened to 4 missing university students who disappeared at the Gretlow house.”
- “The Gretlow tapes tells its story through exploration and little environmental clues, and it does a solid job — even if a couple of the sound effects are weirdly repetitive.”
gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
41%
18%
The gameplay is praised for its effective use of a camera mechanic that enhances exploration without limiting battery life, combining smooth, bug-free mechanics with challenging puzzles and well-executed jumpscares. It balances a minimalist, straightforward approach with an eerie atmosphere and engaging horror elements, making for an enjoyable and thrilling experience.
- “The puzzles were great too—challenging, clever, and just the right level of 'my brain hurts but in a good way.' Gameplay was smooth, zero bugs.”
- “The game has good mechanics, an eerie atmosphere, and don't forget to switch on the light switches.”
- “The camera adds both a functional and aesthetic layer to gameplay.”
- “Was expecting it to be scary from what I seen in the screenshots that the game has the gameplay where you can only see some things by using the camera and that scares me a lot.”
- “It's a walking sim at heart with a camera mechanic you've perhaps seen in other games, but this makes excellent use of them.”
- “The price point is a little high for the gameplay time, but the quality is absolutely there.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
25%
19%
The game delivers a consistently tense and immersive atmosphere, skillfully balancing eerie visuals, sound design, and thoughtful jump scares to build suspense without overwhelming the player. Its atmosphere is praised for enhancing the horror experience through exploration and well-paced tension, making it a standout in indie horror.
- “This game was a masterpiece in horror and atmosphere building.”
- “The atmosphere is tense and immersive from start to finish, with just the right balance of buildup and payoff.”
- “Where this game departs from the usual experience is that it can walk the line of balancing a fun experience, compelling story, and, most importantly, good horror atmosphere and tasteful jumpscares.”
- “The scares are mostly done through the atmosphere that builds tension and could execute a jumpscare, but it doesn't.”
- “I appreciated the intro with its long walk to the house which builds the atmosphere somewhat.”
- “This reaches a peak in the basement section, where the oppressive atmosphere is intensified by the presence’s haunting wails.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The graphics are praised for effectively capturing a 90's aesthetic with low-resolution visuals and chromatic aberration, enhancing the horror atmosphere. The camcorder mechanic both serves gameplay and contributes to the unique visual style, creating an immersive and nostalgic experience. Overall, the visuals significantly complement the game's creepy and atmospheric tone.
- “This game actually understands horror, atmosphere, and excellent visuals.”
- “You have a camcorder and it makes the visuals really feel like that 90's aesthetic with the fuzzy low res quality and the chromatic aberration which adds so much to the vibes.”
- “The sound design, graphics, and story are all great.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Optimization in this game is notably strong, delivering smooth performance even on high settings after a brief initial shader compilation. It stands out positively compared to many indie horror titles, which often suffer from poor optimization and high hardware demands.
- “Performance-wise, the game shines compared to many other indie horror titles.”
- “Optimization is excellent, which is refreshing in a genre notorious for poorly performing releases.”
- “Unlike many indie projects that cobble together mismatched assets and demand powerful hardware, this game runs smoothly even on high settings after an initial shaders process lasting just a minute or two.”
- “The performance for an indie game that doesn't look impressive at all is questionable though.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game emerges from the shift in tone after players realize they can't be harmed, turning initially scary jumpscares into amusing moments. This transition adds a lighthearted layer to the overall engaging story.