Fears to Fathom
Psychological horror based on real survival stories submitted by players.
Fears to Fathom is a horror franchise of episodic psychological horror video games based on allegedly real stories submitted by players. Created and published by Indian developer Mukul Negi (known as Rayll), the series consists of five single-player episodes released between 2021 and 2024, with later co-op episodes beginning in 2026.
Quick Facts
- First release version
- Fears to Fathom: Home Alone
- First release date
- 2 July 2021
- Developer
- Mukul Negi
- Publisher
- RayllStudios
- Latest release date
- 10 June, 2026
- Latest release version
- Fears to Fathom [Together]: Scratch Creek
- Genre
- Anthology, Horror
- Platforms
- Windows
- PlayStation 5
- IOS
Facts from the source article.
Episodes
The main Fears to Fathom series comprises five episodes, each containing stories submitted by players. Episodes grow progressively longer and larger in scale, with the first episode's playtime being twenty minutes and the fifth episode's playtime being two hours. The first episode, Home Alone, was released on 2 July 2021, and the final episode, Woodbury Getaway, was released on 12 September 2024. In Home Alone, protagonist Miles wakes from a nap late in the evening, spots a man outside his parents' window, and later sees a pair of feet ascend the stairs while watching TV. After going to bed, he wakes at 1:16 AM, goes downstairs for water, and receives an image from his mother of a man at the front door sent by neighbor Paula. Checking through the blinds, he sees a man behind the door, runs upstairs, and hides under his bed as a window breaks. His mother informs him Paula is at the door, but when he tries to go downstairs, the man enters the room. Miles hides until police sirens sound, then meets Paula; the man's fate is unknown. In Norwood Hitchhike, Holly Gardner ignores her father's advice to fly to a gaming convention and drives home. Low on fuel, she stops at a station where the cashier warns her of the Norwood Valley Monster, a hitchhiker who hangs victims upside down on trees. After a man walks away from her car and drives off in a white van, Holly's car breaks down in an isolated location, forcing her to hitchhike until a customer from the station, Jason, helps her.
Development
The first episode of Fears to Fathom, titled Home Alone, was started around July 2021. Its solo creator, Mukul Negi, told IGN India that keeping up personal motivation was a major hurdle, and he came close to abandoning the project entirely. He came to believe that developers often cannot fairly assess their own work. Negi released the game through his studio RayllStudios, which was just him and composer Nathan Hall. A cooperative game called Fears to Fathom Together was also announced. Negi said that each new episode would bring improvements to the visuals, gameplay, and graphics. The series takes inspiration from real survival stories sent in by players. The second episode, Norwood Hitchhike, was also written by Negi and follows a 19-year-old girl who encounters strange events while driving to Norwood Valley. Nathan Hall composed the soundtracks, which feature downtempo and chill-hop music.
Reception and legacy
The Fears to Fathom series earned mostly favorable reviews, with critics highlighting its use of real survival stories submitted by players, though some found the pacing slow. GamerGrin’s Ariel Chloe Mann called Carson House a “pretty cool mystery” that avoided becoming dull as the story unfolded. Michael J. Seidlinger of The Lineup noted that the game’s strength lay in how effectively it turned real-world survival tales into a frightening experience. The franchise also inspired the 2024 stealth horror title Christmas Mutilator.
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