Carry one object at a time through a shifting forest. Restore a broken carnival, click or drone-fight when you drop the part, then run when the Old One rises. Single-player survival horror.

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Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Solo project. The carnival loop works. The next work is widening the places you scavenge: neighborhoods, stores, malls, and more while keeping the forest regenerative and the carry rule honest. That scope needs real players before the game is called finished.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Roughly 12–13 months. Current aim is to leave Early Access around October 2027. That date can move if the wider scavenging areas or generation need more time.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The Early Access build is the foundation: office hub, shifting forest, one-item carry, carnival restoration, and the escape. We plan to grow that outward. First, more of the carnival loop itself. Next, we plan to add other place types around the carnival neighborhoods, stores, malls, and similar sites used both while restoring rides and while fleeing. We plan to keep the carnival ground stable and let the places you leave it for keep regenerating. We also plan more polish on combat, survival, and generation. None of that is a promise that every idea ships. Player feedback will decide how far those areas go before the game feels unruly.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Playable start-to-escape: office, grocery intro, drone, shifting forest, carnival ride restoration with random part spawns, and timed final run. Neighborhoods, malls, and other expanded sites are not in yet. Expect rough edges in generation, balance, and content volume.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We plan to raise the price as more content is added. Anyone who buys during Early Access will receive those updates at no extra cost.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The free demo will stay up for the whole Early Access period. It is a small version of the same loop: forest trips, random parts, one-item carry, carnival restoration. I read Steam Discussions and use reports from the demo and the full build. Feedback on how far forest runs should go, when new area types feel good or feel unruly, combat pressure, and survival balance will decide what gets built next. Larger changes will be posted on the Steam page so players can see what shifted and why.”
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About This Game

You wake in an empty office under emergency lights. Balloons hang for a celebration that never happened. Across the street sits a grocery store. Beyond that, a forest. On the horizon, something enormous waits in the fog.

Project Jump Scare is a single-player survival horror game about leaving safety, carrying one critical piece at a time, and coming back before the woods change again.

The core loop

  • Scavenge food and water so hunger and thirst do not end the run.

  • Free a following drone that lights the dark and can be thrown at threats.

  • Cross a forest whose layout regenerates. Paths, spawns, and landmarks do not stay fixed between trips.

  • Collect randomly placed parts and restore carnival rides (merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, tea cups, and more), one piece at a time.

  • Close combat is click-to-attack on enemies when your hands are empty. You can also throw the drone. While you carry a part you cannot fight. Drop the part, deal with the threat, then pick it up again.

  • The carnival itself stays stable. Everything you leave it for, the forest and later areas, can shift and rebuild.

  • After the rides are restored, the illusion breaks. A cosmic entity emerges. You run a timed escape while it grows.

What is in the purchase right now

  • The current single-player start: office hub, grocery intro, drone, forest crossings, carnival restoration, and the final escape sequence.

  • The one-item carry rule, click combat, throwable drone, survival meters.

  • Forest stretches with randomly spawned parts.

  • A free demo that stays available. It is a smaller version of the same loop: leave safety, take one thing, fight when you drop it, return, restore.

What Early Access is for?

Long-term, scavenging widens. You will push into more kinds of places during both restoration and escape: suburban neighborhoods, stores, malls, and other areas that can appear around the carnival. Those spaces are not in the demo. The first full step is the carnival. The next step is turning on the areas that grow around it. How far that expansion goes before it becomes unruly is what players need to test. The loop may be adjusted as that scope grows.

This is Early Access. Generation, balance, combat feel, and content volume will change. The one-item rule, the shifting forest, and the Old One remain the center.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

This game combines liminal horror and cosmic horror. Players move through empty, off-feeling spaces while tapping or striking ghouls, cryptids, and other monstrous creatures. A vast cosmic entity cannot be destroyed and slowly pushes the player out of the playable area, creating a sense of being displaced by something too large to fight. Unsettling environments, monstrous imagery, and an oppressive atmosphere are present from the start and are obvious during normal play. There is no sexual content, sexual violence, drug or alcohol abuse, or self-harm.

System Requirements

Windows
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 / 11
    • Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or greater
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 470 or greater
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10 / 11
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or greater
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580 or greater
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Minimum:
    • OS: SteamOS 3 / Ubuntu 22.04
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti / AMD RX 570, Vulkan
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Steam Deck not yet verified. Linux build tested at 30 FPS on Steam Deck.
    Recommended:
    • OS: SteamOS 3 / Ubuntu 22.04
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1660 / AMD RX 5600 XT, Vulkan
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Steam Deck not yet verified. Linux build tested at 30 FPS on Steam Deck.
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