☠️ THE DESCENT INTO MADNESS: A PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR GAME JAM ☠️

Hosted by Christine_890 on Itch.io

📅 April 2 - June 2, 11:59 PM

🩸 Welcome to Your Worst Nightmare... The One You Create 🩸

Fear isn’t just about what lurks in the shadows. True horror is the slow, creeping realization that reality is unraveling around you. It’s the doubt gnawing at your sanity, the whispers that never stop, the paranoia that sinks its claws into your brain and never lets go.

This is The Descent Into Madness—a psychological horror game jam where the horror isn’t just seen or heard… it’s felt.

Your task? Craft an experience that distorts the player’s mind. Build a world where fear comes not from monsters alone, but from the terror of the unknown, the incomprehensible, the unexplainable.

Are you ready to descend into the darkness?

🕸️ THEME: THE FRAGILE MIND 🕸️

Madness isn’t born overnight—it festers. It starts as an itch in the back of the mind, a whisper of doubt, an unease in the pit of your stomach. But as time passes, it grows. The walls close in. The air feels heavier. And suddenly… you realize…

You’re not in control anymore.

This jam is all about exploring the fragility of the human mind. Whether through paranoia, psychosis, trauma, memory loss, or the twisting of reality itself, your game should pull players into a world where sanity is a fleeting luxury.

How will you make them question everything? How will you make them doubt themselves?

🖤 WHAT KIND OF GAMES CAN YOU MAKE?

Your entry can be anything as long as it fits the theme of psychological horror! Here are some ideas to spark your imagination:

🔪 A narrative-driven experience where the protagonist slowly realizes they are trapped in their own fractured mind. 🕰 A time-loop horror game where reality bends in unpredictable ways, making players question their actions. 📖 An unreliable narrator story that constantly shifts the truth, leaving players unsure of what’s real. 👁 A paranoia-based horror game where unseen entities stalk the player… or do they? 💀 A Lovecraftian nightmare that warps perception, turning the world into an impossible, ever-changing abyss. 🎭 A game where YOU are the monster and don’t even realize it.

🕯 RULES & GUIDELINES

1. Keep it Psychological Horror

   • Your game can have monsters, but it should focus on mental horror, perception distortion, or paranoia.
   • Gore and jumpscares are allowed but shouldn’t be the only form of horror.

2. Use Any Engine or Tools

   • Unity, Unreal, Godot, RPG Maker, Twine, Ren’Py, HTML, Scratch—anything goes.
   • 2D, 3D, text-based, VR, AR? All are welcome.

3. Single or Team Submissions Allowed

   • Work alone or with a team. Just make sure all team members are credited.

4. No NSFW or Hate Content

   • No extreme real-world violence, racism, sexism, or hateful themes. Psychological horror should disturb, not harm.

👹 OPTIONAL CHALLENGES (For the Truly Brave) 👹

Want to push your horror to the next level? Try adding one (or more) of these challenges to your game:

🔦 The Player Cannot Trust Their Own Senses – What they see and hear is constantly changing. Objects disappear. Sounds come from nowhere. What is real?

💾 The Game is Aware of the Player – Break the fourth wall. Let the game speak to the player in unsettling ways.

⏳ The Game Slowly Corrupts Itself – The longer the player plays, the more unstable and disturbing the game becomes.

🔪 There is No Happy Ending – No matter what the player does, they cannot escape the horror.

🎭 The Protagonist is Not Who They Think They Are – Maybe they are the villain. Maybe they aren’t real. Maybe they were never sane to begin with.

🏆 JUDGING & COMMUNITY VOTING

This jam is all about experimentation and fear, but we’ll also have community voting! Games will be rated on:

• Psychological Horror (How well does it mess with the player’s mind?)
• Story & Atmosphere (How immersive and terrifying is the world?)
• Creativity (How unique is the concept?)
• Gameplay & Mechanics (How engaging is the horror experience?)

🕰 DEADLINE: JUNE 2, 11:59 PM

When the clock strikes midnight… the doors close.

Are you brave enough to create a nightmare that lingers in the minds of players long after they close the game?

Welcome to The Descent Into Madness.

🔗 Join the jam now!