Granny (video game)

The game takes place in an old house where the player is trapped.[3] The player must explore the house to find items that can help them escape. Items include a hammer to pry out planks of wood, a pair of pliers, a shotgun, and a crossbow. The player can either escape by removing the locks on the front door, or by repairing the car in the garage, the latter of which requires an additional set of items.[4] There a total of 16 items that are necessary to collect in order to escape.[5]

Granny searches the house for the player, using any loud sound to her advantage and setting traps to hinder the player's progress. If Granny spots the player, she will start chasing them at different speeds depending on the difficulty. Granny will also be attracted to the player's location if the player makes noise.[6] There is also a giant spider on the top attic floor, which guards an important item and will attack the player on sight if it is not distracted or killed. There is also an additional 'nightmare mode' which adds a bloodier texture to surfaces and re-textures Granny's model as well as re-skinning Granny's bear traps.

If the player is caught, Granny will knock the player unconscious, which ends the current day. The player can also get knocked out by falling through the unstable flooring, the spider in the attic, or by blowing themselves up with the gasoline can. If the player is caught on the last day, one of 4 "game over" cut-scenes play, and the player is sent back to the title screen. The player can knock Granny unconscious (which lasts for a period of fifteen seconds to two minutes, depending on the difficulty level), or blind her temporarily by using a variety of different traps and weapons. If Granny is knocked unconscious with certain weapons, an extra 30 seconds is added (15 if the player is playing on the hardest difficulty).

The player also receives injuries during the period of time they are in the house which includes limping and blood surrounding the peripheral vision.

The game's plot is only vaguely hinted at. In the PC version, the game starts with a cut-scene of the player walking through the woods before being subsequently attacked by Granny. The player awakes in a bed, which starts the game properly. According to a note found inside the basement and evidence scattered throughout the house, the player is not the first person that Granny has trapped. The hanged corpse of Slendrina's Mother is found in a room behind a bookshelf, with a book placed at a stand in front of her, which may suggest shamanic execution as Slendrina's Mother's cause of death.

Players can summon Slendrina through easter eggs, but this does very little to contribute towards the story. Clues in the developer's previous Slendrina series of Slender fan games imply that Granny was Slendrina's grandmother and that Slendrina was trapped inside a book but somehow escaped.

The game became a viral hit on various media platforms, becoming the second most viewed mobile video game on YouTube in May 2018.[10] It is rated 4.2 out of 5 stars on the Google Play Store,[11] and 4.4 out of 5 on the App Store.[8] The game also spawned numerous clones, such as Scary Granny, a scam game designed to infect player's devices with malware.[12] The game had received over 100 million downloads as of June 2019.[12]

William Lewinsky of Indie Game Critic gave the game 10 out of 10 stars, praising its controls as "very well implemented" and its sound effects as "stellar", while also stating that it was effective at scaring the player.[13] Neilie Johnson of Common Sense Media gave the game a negative review, giving it 2 out of 5 stars, declaring that it "feels like a prototype for a more finished app", and criticizing it's graphics as "bland", while nevertheless finding that it was frightening.[14]

• Official website