Uncut
Curated by taste and lineage

An ordinary day of pretend play curdles into dread.

A father named Haruma brings his daughter Naori to the park on a day off. Following 'The Pretend Play Handbook,' you carry out one wholesome mission after another, a pretend wedding, a pretend pet, small errands, until the missions themselves start going wrong. Made solo by the Japanese creator UtubaraLemon (鬱薔薇檸檬) and self-published, it sits at 93 percent Very Positive over 201 reviews. One honest surprise: the review language breakdown is led by Simplified Chinese (90) and Korean (51), ahead of Japanese itself (36), with English trailing everyone at just 14. A Japan-made game China and Korea found first, still barely touched by the English-speaking West.

Published 2026-08-18

01First, the one feeling

02Who this is for (and who it is not)

For you

  • You love quiet-dread horror where the scare hides inside something deliberately mundane, not a haunted house from the start
  • You want a short, self-contained indie horror ADV from a solo Japanese creator, not a big-studio franchise
  • You want a gem barely touched by the West, Very Positive at 93 percent over 201 reviews with only 14 of them in English

Not for you

  • You want a long campaign; this is a compact holiday-sized horror mission set, not a 20-hour game
  • You are sensitive to themes of death and suicide depicted in fiction; the store itself flags these content descriptors

03The roots of this taste

93% positiveonly 201 reviews — yet almost no one has found it

Playing House Buried gem

A first-person indie horror where a father named Haruma follows a 'Playing House Guidebook' with his daughter Naori at the park on a day off: a wedding-themed mission, a pet-themed mission, small errands, and mini-games, until unusual things begin to happen and sudden intruders confront you. There are two endings, and collecting them runs roughly four to six hours. Made solo by the Japanese creator UtubaraLemon (鬱薔薇檸檬) and self-published with no third-party publisher, released September 25, 2025. Very Positive at 201 reviews and 93 percent (187 positive, 14 negative), with text support in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese-Brazil (the non-Japanese text is ChatGPT-localized, by the developer's own disclosure, so some phrasing outside Japanese may read a little unnatural). One honest surprise in the numbers: the review language breakdown skews toward Simplified Chinese (90) and Korean (51), well ahead of Japanese (36) itself, with English trailing everyone at just 14. A Japan-made game that China and Korea found first, still sitting almost entirely unnoticed by English-speaking readers. Steam's own content descriptors state the work is fiction with no connection to real people or events, that it depicts death including suicide alongside sudden frightening scenes (jump scares), and that it contains no depiction of sexual exploitation of minors.

Give it your first pass

Ib The origin

The origin of this taste: Ib, created by the solo Japanese developer kouri, began life as a free RPG Maker 2000 game in Japan in 2012 and is available today through the 2022 commercial remake published by PLAYISM (Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam). A young girl named Ib visits an art gallery with her parents, only to realize she has been left alone as the museum itself begins to change around her, an ordinary family outing that quietly turns into a surreal nightmare she must explore, solve, and evade her way through, with no combat at all. Playing House keeps that same shape, a father and daughter's ordinary day of pretend play at a park, but tips it into first person and lets the unusual things start there instead.

Give it your first pass

04Make this gem shine

If it speaks to you, check it on Steam and give it your first pass. Your push is what makes a buried gem shine.

See it on Steam

05The bloodline of this taste