Steam's new indie horror darling is like a cursed version of Animal Crossing and suddenly Tom Nook seems like the best landlord ever

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Imagine Animal Crossing but set in Silent Hill

Rental
(Image credit: Lonely House)

This indie horror game may look like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but I am begging you not to get the two of them mixed up. 

Rental is a recently-launched atmospheric horror game from developer Lonely House, that has already managed to get 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam. The details of this game are left intentionally vague, but it's basically a "short and spooky adventure game about the dangers of renting a house in an unknown place." 

Playing as Umi, an adorable little bunny whose family is renting a cabin near the beach, players will need to explore the spooky cabin, meet a quirky cast of characters, and find items that'll help them piece together the secrets of the house. It's very much Silent Hill meets Animal Crossing, and I'm still not sure if that's a good combination.

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Although that description sounds pretty tame, the game's screenshots are extremely creepy. Aside from all the foggy cabin shots and mysterious long hallways, there's one image of our protagonist standing with her family outside of the cabin and another where she's talking to another bunny (who I'm assuming is the owner of the cabin) who says: "Forget your parents! You'll never see them again anyway!" This guy makes Tom Nook look like an angel. 

The trailer that you'll find on Steam doesn't quite do Rental justice. I've also spotted the horror title popping up on the likes of TikTok, with the one below giving a little more context to the spooky indie. 

Rental is available to play now for free on Steam. 

Find out what else is worth keeping an eye out for with our upcoming indie games list.  

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.