April 30, 1906. Goldsworthy Psychiatric Hospital. An old man awakens from a nightmare and, as if possessed by something, decides to kill everyone in the building. This is the starting point of Everybody Must Die, a pixel art horror game combining exploration, puzzles, and combat.
Explore, Collect, Unlock
No map. No arrows to guide you. Every door is locked, and you have to figure out how to open it.
The loop is clear: explore the room, pick up items, figure out where they're used. Cabinet handles, screwdrivers, saws, wooden planks, keys—everything has a purpose. Picking up the wrong one means another round.
Alongside this are documents. Patient records, letters, staff diaries scattered throughout the floors. These aren't superfluous lore. They are clues to solving puzzles and understanding what's really happening inside the asylum.
What makes Everybody Must Die so haunting?
When you descend into the basement
The beginning of the game is slow. Exploration, reading documents, opening doors. But once you descend into the basement, everything changes.
Mutant monsters appear in greater numbers. Some of them come in very fast. When cornered, you have to fight with guns, knives, melee weapons, or drag them into environmental traps.
Mysteries
The basement contains brain surgery, secret experiments, and deformed patients. A hole discovered during renovations suggests that the source of the mutations isn't solely human.
The game doesn't explain clearly. It could be a cruel experiment. It could be something hidden deep beneath the building. You have to interpret it yourself, and that's what makes the story more terrifying than any cutscene.
Mistake that leads to confusion
- Skipping the documents: the game doesn't tell you what clues you need. If you don't read them, you'll get stuck on the puzzle without understanding why.
- Overloading your inventory: picking up items you don't need immediately will cause you to miss more important items nearby.
- Charging straight into monsters when surrounded: the basement isn't an arena. Lure them out first before dealing with them.
Controls
- Movement: Keyboard
- Pick up items, interact: Interaction keys
- Combat: Mouse
Everybody Must Die is suitable for those who enjoy horror with depth. Explore, read documents, deduce, and then descend to the basement to face what awaits you there. If you want pure action from the start, this isn't the right choice. But if you want to know what happened in Goldsworthy Camp, there's only one way: go inside and find out.
