The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo is Not Your Father's (Brother's) Indie Horror Game

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Everyone had that friend... Maybe a friend of a friend.... A friend of a friend of a friend (they go to a different school, you wouldn't know them) with an uncle who worked for Nintendo. They knew things, they'd seen things, they'd played things that you could only imagine. They could tell you how to get a level 99 Mew as your starter Pokemon, how to play as Zelda rescuing Link, how to save Aerith -- oh, did they forget to mention he used to work at Sony too?

It might seem like a strange premise for a horror game, but The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo is guaranteed to send a chill down your spine. Here's why:

The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo casts you as, well, you, visiting a friend's house for a sleepover. You determine who that friend is, but beyond that much of what transpires appears to be out of your hands. You're a guest after all, and you don't have much say in things; your friend picks the evening entertainment, her parents pick the food, and you... You can peek in their linen closet when you use the bathroom, and then immediately wonder what you were expecting to find there in the first place.

Their towels are probably nicer than the ones you have at home, though. Everything else here is.

You're not entirely powerless of course, and what you do will effect the outcome. It's a pretty short little game, so there's no reason not to aim to see all the different endings. It's not just that it's short, but the atmospheric sounds and the moody artwork lingering behind every panel of text make this on of the more interesting interactive fiction games to come out recently. 

It feels a little strange to call this a horror game without spoiling some of the surprises it has in store for you, but I will say this: Even if the endings themselves don't manage to make your skin crawl just a little, you can always fall back on the uneasiness that comes with revisiting some of the most awkward, uncertain moments of your youth. And really, what's scarier than that?

Play The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo free here. You can also read a more detailed (and spoilery) analysis of the game written by Emily Short here.

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Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart on Twitter, Iris Ophelia in Second Life) has been writing about virtual worlds and video games for nearly a decade, and has had her work featured on Paste, Kotaku, Jezebel and The Mary Sue.