Cherophobia
Release Date: June 6, 2024
Developer: Worst Event
Publisher: Worst Event
Price: $2.99
my playtime: 17 minutes
Cherophobia means the fear of a positive outcome. I’ve never heard the word before this game but that’s the definition internet tells me. Cherophobia, the game, is filled with a sense of dread. Nothing explicitly negative happens to the player in this game. You begin in your car, alone in the middle of the woods at night. Your car’s engine won’t start.
The radio, however, does work and turning it on provides you with a late night radio host giving an overview of the myth of Sisyphus. Aside from cranking the engine, and turning the radio off, the player’s only other option is to exit their vehicle. In the dense woods you appear to be parked on a clearing, a clearing which leads to a solitary cabin. With no other options you knock on the door, and hear a frail female voice reply.
“What’s this? Your car is broken down? Why don’t you come in and use the phone?”
You enter the house and all of a sudden I’m getting Clockwork Orange vibes. I now have a much better idea of what the developer is aiming for. The interior of the house is stark white, from floor to ceiling. No windows. A woman stands at the entryway, much less an old lady than her voice implies. She tells you where her phone is and offers you tea or coffee, denying the beverage isn’t allowed.
You walk back to the room with the phone, an ominous blue light intermingles with dark shadows. The phone gives you four options to call; your wife, your friend, a towing company, and 911. Call who you want and after, you turn around to leave the room and… the woman is standing right behind you.
“I took care of it”, she says, but how could she have made that call? Leaving the phone room you return to the living room, where the woman awaits you with your chosen beverage. “Why don’t you stay the night”, she suggests. At this point I’m all in, what choice do I have?
So I sleep in a bedroom with the loudest clock, wake up, and walk out to the living room. There the woman stands. “They repaired your car”, she says, and so I joyfully left the house. But as I make it to my car, I can see it hasn’t moved. The door remains open from when I left before.
I get in, turn the key, crank the engine, and… nothing. I stalk angrily up to the house, ready to give the woman a stern speaking to but… it’s locked. Aggressively I knock at the door. A frail voice eventually responds… “who is it?” And just like Sisyphus I start shoving this rock back and forth over the peak of this mountain, watching it roll down the other side.
This is a game that sticks with you.
7/10
CM 4/7/26
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