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You Shouldn't Be Here

You Shouldn't Be Here Game Cover
90%Game Brain Score
story, graphics
gameplay, replayability
90% User Score Based on 61 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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You Shouldn't Be Here Game Cover

About

You Shouldn't Be Here is a single player action game with a horror theme. It was developed by Doomster Entertainment and was released on July 1, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

This short psychedelic visual novel takes place in a strange world inhabited by harrowing creatures shunned by the light. You’ll meet someone who has made this world their own, and in doing so, learn the reason why you shouldn't be there.

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You Shouldn't Be Here screenshot
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90%
Audience ScoreBased on 61 reviews
story13 positive mentions
replayability1 negative mentions
  • The game offers a haunting, atmospheric, and thought-provoking narrative exploring heavy themes such as addiction, depression, and existential despair.
  • It features distinctive pixel art and animations that complement the surreal and unsettling tone, creating an immersive visual and auditory experience.
  • Despite being short and mostly linear, the writing, poetry, and sound design combine to make a memorable and emotionally impactful experience that resonates with many players.
  • The gameplay is minimal with limited meaningful choices, leading to a mostly linear experience that may feel more like reading a visual novel than playing a game.
  • Some players find the story overly heavy, bleak, or pretentious, and the narrative can sometimes feel like rambling without clear direction or resolution.
  • The tone shifts abruptly in parts, especially compared to the demo, and the horror elements, including jump scares, are minimal and may not satisfy fans looking for traditional gameplay or scares.
  • story
    31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is a short, poetic, and surreal visual novel exploring addiction and friendship with a haunting, somber tone and Lovecraftian horror influences. It is linear, atmospheric, and thought-provoking, praised for its emotional depth and artistic presentation, though some find its cryptic writing and lack of branching choices limiting. Overall, it offers a meaningful, artistically crafted narrative experience that resonates with mature themes.

    • “A beautifully crafted story that deals with real-life issues in a very creative and intelligent way.”
    • “"You Shouldn't Be Here" is a 1 hour long surreal visual novel that tells the story of two friends dealing with drug addiction.”
    • “The story has some really good poetry, as well as awesome graphics, and some spiritual themes, which I appreciate.”
    • “The game's opening sequence seemed to have promised branching paths, but the remainder of the story is linear.”
    • “The writing itself is a little difficult to interpret (but some of which clears itself up by the end) and full of poetic imagery that doesn't exactly explain themselves even by the end of the story.”
    • “If you don't pick up on what this story is about before the end, I'd be very surprised as it's very on the nose.”
  • graphics
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics feature a unique, intentionally rough and lo-fi pixel art style that creates a distinctive, liminal aesthetic. The visuals are praised for their emotional impact, stylish presentation, and immersive qualities, complemented by superb artwork and thoughtful design. Fans of hand-crafted, unconventional art styles will find the graphics particularly appealing.

    • “Roughly hour long sensory experience filled with beautiful music and thoughtful poetry packaged into a stylish aesthetic.”
    • “The artwork is amazing and the perspective made me feel immersed, but there wasn't enough meaningful interactivity.”
    • “First of all, the presentation is different from other VNs, since, apart from using pixel graphics with animations, these are placed in a box on the left with the text on the right, also making good use of an animated dark background that makes the experience quite immersive.”
    • “Visuals: rough and grainy with a deliberately ugly, liminal feel.”
    • “Lo-res aesthetic.”
    • “First of all, the presentation is different from other visual novels, since apart from using pixel graphics with animations, these are placed in a box on the left with the text on the right, also making good use of an animated dark background that makes the experience quite immersive.”
  • music
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric, haunting, and emotional qualities, effectively enhancing the game's dark, gloomy, and immersive tone. It complements the art and writing perfectly, creating a cohesive sensory experience that deepens the mood and supports the storytelling.

    • “Roughly hour-long sensory experience filled with beautiful music and thoughtful poetry packaged into a stylish aesthetic.”
    • “Beautiful writing, well thought out, haunting music and eerily beautiful art.”
    • “It's short and doesn't ever overstay its welcome, the music is atmospheric and unsettling, the pixel art and the animations are downright gorgeous and it's clear a lot of love and time went into them and the story as well as the writing are intriguing and thought provoking.”
  • atmosphere
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere is consistently praised for its tense, bleak, and gloomy tone, enhanced by soothing yet unsettling music and sound effects. Beautiful pixel art and animations contribute to an immersive, ethereal experience that effectively supports the game's creepy and thought-provoking narrative. Overall, the atmosphere is a standout element that captivates and engrosses players throughout.

    • “The atmosphere is so tense.”
    • “Fun little visual novel with nice creepy art and a bleak atmosphere.”
    • “The atmosphere was on point the entire time, with perfect sound effects and music choices giving the game a gloomy yet ethereal tone.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game evokes strong emotional responses, with players often moved to tears by its poignant depiction of addiction. While the immersive artwork enhances the emotional impact, some feel the lack of meaningful interactivity limits the depth of the experience.

    • “I cried playing this, by the way.”
    • “This was one of the most depressing games I've ever played; maybe I shed a tear or two.”
    • “Really depicted what addiction is like and made me shed a tear.”
  • gameplay
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is minimal and primarily involves walking around to trigger scenes with occasional limited choices, offering little mechanical engagement. Replay value is low unless pursuing missed achievements. Overall, it focuses more on observation than interactive gameplay.

    • “Gameplay involves walking around and triggering scenes with a few choices here and there; minimal replayability unless you're looking for achievements you didn't get the first time.”
    • “Mechanically, there is almost nothing going on: you wander, you watch, you listen.”
    • “Gameplay involves walking around and triggering scenes with a few choices here and there; minimal replayability unless you're aiming for achievements you missed the first time.”
    • “Mechanically, there's almost nothing going on: you wander, you watch, you listen.”
  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is subtle and occasional, arising mainly from quirky poetic imagery and a few lighthearted moments amid a more serious narrative. While not a primary focus, these touches add mild levity to the character dynamics.

  • replayability
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers limited replayability, primarily motivating players to revisit it only to unlock missed achievements. The gameplay involves walking around and triggering scenes with few choices, resulting in minimal variation upon replay.

    • “Gameplay is limited to walking around and triggering scenes with a few choices here and there; minimal replayability unless you're looking for achievements you didn't get the first time.”
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Frequently Asked Questions

You Shouldn't Be Here is a action game with horror theme.

You Shouldn't Be Here is available on PC and Windows.

You Shouldn't Be Here was released on July 1, 2025.

You Shouldn't Be Here was developed by Doomster Entertainment.

You Shouldn't Be Here has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked You Shouldn't Be Here for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

You Shouldn't Be Here is a single player game.

Similar games include You Will (Not) Remain, Without a Dawn, Strangeland, The NOexistenceN of you AND me, Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk and others.