A face only a mother could love.
"Hello? Your pizza's here!"
Emily Wants To Play is a Survival Horror game created by Shawn Hitchcock. It was released on Steam for PC and Mac on December 12, 2015. A mobile version was released on January 30, 2016, for iOS and Android. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions followed on August 9th, 2016 and September 9th, 2016.
The game is played from the perspective of a pizza delivery man. He walks into a strange house on his final delivery of the night and is locked in by a ghostly girl named Emily. He then roams around the house looking for clues while trying to survive the night from Emily and her dolls. The story unfolds through notes apparently left by Emily and tape recordings from her mom. Throughout the night, the dolls and Emily appear to the player to play children's games. Playing these games incorrectly ends with the pizza man being attacked and the game resetting to the beginning of the hour. The pizza delivery guy must make it through each hour of the night without being attacked.
You can purchase the game on Steam
, iTunes App Store and Google Play.
A sequel called Emily Wants to Play Too was first released on Steam on December 13th, 2017 here, and then on PS4 and Xbox One on April 24th/April 25th, 2018.
Emily Wants To Play provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: One of Emily's notes says that she thinks her parents want to kill her. While this might not be true, her parents did lock her in the basement after she started to act creepy at their new house.
- Apocalyptic Log: The tape recordings left by Emily's mom. The recordings end with the parents planning to move out after Emily was found dead, but the dolls apparently killed them before they could.
- Ax-Crazy: Emily is some twisted little girl.
- Big Bad: Emily. Subverted in the ending of the second game, which reveals an entity that seems to be the source of her powers.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Kiki's eyes are entirely black.
- Blatant Lies: The whiteboard tells you the exact opposite of what you need to do against the dolls- 'Don't look at her' for Kiki (you actually have to stare at her until she goes away), 'don't stay still' for Mr. Tatters (you actually have to be completely still when he's looking at you), and 'don't run from Chester' for Chester (you actually need to run into another room).
- Averted when the whiteboard has "I HIDE YOU SEEK IN THE DARK" at 4 am since this is exactly what happens- Emily turns off all the lights and hides somewhere in the house, and you have to find her before the countdown reaches zero.
- Cassandra Truth: The endings of the two games show that the protagonists tried to report the horrors they'd been subjected to by Emily and her dolls, only to lose their jobs and be treated with suspicion. It drives the pizza delivery guy to make a vow to return to the house from the first game.
- Complexity Addiction: Averted by Chester, but played straight by the other dolls and Emily herself (unless you piss her off by entering the basement prematurely). Sure, they could just blitz you immediately; however, they'd rather toy with you via fancy mind games and tactics.
- Creepy Changing Painting: Each of the dolls can be seen sitting around random spots in the house. On second glance they are sometimes missing. Also, the dark haired doll changes pose and position each time you stop looking at her.
- Creepy Doll: Emily has three doll friends. A Japanese porcelain doll named Kiki, a creepy clown named Mr. Tatters and a wooden ventriloquist dummy named Chester.
- Dark Is Evil: Kiki has black hair, black eyes, and wears a black dress.
- Demonic Dummy: Chester can be found in various places around the house. Sometimes he can be seen right next to a knife in the kitchen. When he is suddenly heard scampering away, the knife goes missing with him.
- Dual Boss: Two evil dolls may appear together at the same time.
- Evil Laugh: Each of the dolls have their own specific laughter. Kiki's is a girlish giggle. Chester's is a snide snicker. Mr. Tatters is a low, demonic-sounding chuckle.
- The Hero: The pizza guy tries to look for clues while surviving the night with Emily and her dolls.
- Heroic Mime: Almost. The pizza guy has one line at the beginning, and is entirely silent otherwise.
- Karma Houdini: Presumably Emily and her dolls, as the Pizza Man's good ending is where he escapes the house at 6 AM.
- Light Is Not Good: Emily is pale, has white hair, and wears a light gray dress. She's the Big Bad.
- Living Motion Detector: Don't move when Mr. Tatters the creepy clown is directly looking at you. Moving the mouse will also get you killed.
- Luck-Based Mission: Sometimes, two dolls appear together. If they're Mr. Tatters and Chester, you're in trouble since the methods to get rid of them are exact opposites (stay where you are for Mr. Tatters and run away for Chester).
- Monster Clown: There's a doll dressed up like a clown named Mr. Tatters, and he wants to play too.
- Mystical White Hair: Emily.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis:
- Chester. No fancy tactics with him; just Run or Die.
- If you enter the basement before defeating Emily's dolls, she'll angrily forego her usual Complexity Addiction and just charge you Chester-style.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Kiki will move when you aren't looking at her, which does make it seem like she can teleport when you shift your gaze for a brief moment.
- Race Against the Clock: After the pizza delivery man has survived until 4 AM, he must find Emily in a limited amount of time. If he fails, it's her turn to hunt him down. 75 seconds after 4 AM and 90 seconds after 5 AM.
- Running on All Fours: Emily chases you down like this if you jump down the hole to the basement before 4 am.
- Run or Die: Chester will charge towards you unless you escape the room. So, remember to have the door close by your side.
- At 6 am, the front door will open and you'll need to make a run for it as fast as you can.
- Self-Made Orphan: Emily's parents were found dead in their house about a month before the game.
- Staring Contest: Always remember to keep an eye on Kiki the porcelain doll until she disappears.
- Wasn't That Fun?: "ISN'T THAT FUN" can be seen with a smiley face on the whiteboard at 3 AM.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Emily is a white-haired dead girl that not only wants to play with you but also kill you along with her murderous dolls.
Emily Wants To Play Too provides examples of:
- Downer Ending:
- Turning off all the lights at 6 AM will cause the dolls inside the apartment to close in on the sandwich delivery man and kill him. His dead body is then found by his friend and the news will report that he died from suffering a fatal injury from tripping in his home.
- If the sandwich delivery man escapes the building after witnessing Chester performing a ritual, he is detained by the police under the suspicion of arson and murder and loses his job for failing to deliver his order.
- The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: Played with - during 4 AM, the dolls stop attacking you (although some can still hinder you in various ways). You must chase and "tag" them all to make them stop moving, all within the time limit; failure results in your death.
- Living Motion Detector: Mr. Tatters now patrols the rooms instead of spawning out of nowhere. Once he spots you, he will initiate a game of Red Lights, Green Lights and the environment will be illuminated with alternating red or green lights. Moving in his red state will have you killed right on the spot, while you can move freely in his green state. The only way to beat his game is to close in and tag him within three cycles, after being touched he will run away like a coward.
- Ominous Music Box Tune: Weasl's music box starts playing by itself when it is near you. If the music box isn't unwound before the music stops, Weasl will jump out of the box to catch you.
- Race Against the Clock:
- A few of the game's hours (2, 4, 6, 7, and 12 AM) have a series of objectives that must be completed before the hour runs out. Others are an inversion where you have to survive until time runs out.
- Mr. Tatters's game runs for three cycles. If you don't tag him in time, you lose.
- Weasl's music box signals his awakening. Unless you unwind it in time, he'll eventually jump out of his box and starts chasing you.
- Sense-Impaired Monster: The burnt doll, Greta has lost her eyes, and must depend on sounds to find the player. Any loud sounds, such as running or opening doors, will alert her and prompt her to run towards the noise.
- Smoke Out:
- Kiki now disappears into a puff of smoke after you stare at her long enough.
- Emily and the dolls vanish in the same way after you have successfully found and tagged them when playing Hide-and-seek with them at 12 AM.
- The Stinger: The end of the second game shows a still of a news story stating that the protagonist is under psychiatric investigation for claiming that dolls attacked him, and is a suspect in the death of the security guard in the office complex. Only for the voice of the pizza delivery guy from the first game to be heard off-screen, with him resolving to return to Emily's house.
- Weakened by the Light: Shining a flashlight at Maxwell will cause him to stop briefly and then run towards you harmlessly before vanishing. Turning on the lights will make him outright disappear.
