Ib is a free RPG Maker horror video game that caught my attention when I saw it in the first place of a top 10 games list (I was actually looking for reviews about Mad Father, which I heard it’s a great game and was in the third place of that list). Ib is short, I finished it in about 4 hours or less, but I found it pleasant, for an RPG Maker game developed by one person, of course.

In the game we play as Ib, a 9 years old girl that visits an art gallery along with her parents, but after getting spread out from them realizes she’s all alone in the now dark and bizarre art gallery. And she needs to find her way out.

When I started playing Ib I thought the game used too many graphical elements for the horror factor. And, of course, RPG Maker graphics aren’t realistic enough to get you immersed in the scene, so it wasn’t really effective. However, the game becomes a little more obscure and psychological after a while. And that’s what I was looking for.

Ib is all about the puzzles and paying attention to the surroundings, that’s good news for the people who don’t like reading too many dialogs with static images in video games. Most puzzles are pretty easy to solve, and you don’t stay much time in the same place or come back to previous rooms, you’re usually moving fast to new places in the art gallery. You still make many choices during the gameplay that will eventually lead to one of about 7 different endings (some of them with 2 or more variations).

I wouldn’t say Ib is a SCARY game, but I did enjoy playing it, and it actually gave me the shivers in at least one opportunity, and made me go “OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT” in another. You don’t have much time to get bored of it either, because it’s short. As the top 10 list video mentions, Ib is full of imaginative elements, you get many surprises you wouldn’t have expected, and that was definitely the thing I enjoyed the most.

If you enjoy puzzle and indie games you should give Ib a try, after all, it’s free. You can find the translated version in vgperson’s website.