A downloadable game for Windows and Linux

Night River is a short, simple, spooky experience.

Boat down a black-glass river, and encounter a series of ghosts along the way.


Controls:

  •  Mouse-only, or keyboard, or gamepad. (Or a combination, if you prefer.)


Features:

  • Simple controls
    • Mouse-only, or keyboard, or gamepad. (Or a combination, if the player prefers.)
  • Mechanically simple
    • Just look and move (and occasionally bump into things, or don't).
  • No jumpscares
    • There may be some startling noises and apparitions, but no screaming faces.


Content warnings:

  • Horror elements
  • Ghosts
  • Characters in distress
  • Darkness
  • Narrow spaces


Updated to 1.1.0 on the 17th of March, 2019

Changes:

  • Korean translation! (very rough, amateur)
    • Excludes credits/license text, window-title, and a few isolated words
  • Fullscreen support

Updated to 1.0.1 on the 7th of March, 2019

Changes:

  • The placement of the game-window should be more reliable now
  • Gamepad thumbsticks should have a larger dead-zone, making them less twitchy
  • Resolution changes in the config file are no longer overridden.
StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, Linux
Rating
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
(2 total ratings)
AuthorIan Eborn
Tags3D, Ghosts, Horror, Minimalist, Spooky, Walking simulator
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish, Korean
InputsKeyboard, Mouse, Gamepad (any)

Download

Download
Night River-1.1.0_win_amd64.zip 45 MB
Download
Night River-1.1.0_win32.zip 42 MB
Download
Night River-1.1.0_manylinux1_x86_64.tar.gz 45 MB

Install instructions

Once downloaded, unzip the file to the directory of your choice.

To run the game, look for the executable named "Night River" in the main game-folder, and click/double-click it (as appropriate).


Comments

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I had fun with this game! Kinda funny too I guess. Of course what confused me was the ending where I tried to think about "What is the deeper meaning of this game?" However I enjoyed the experience and I believe a lot more can be done with a game like this! My trash-like computer was able to run this game which made me more happy! Thanks for the short experience and keep up the good work!

Thank you very much for playing it, and I'm glad that you had fun--and that it did run so well on your computer! I really enjoyed watching your playthrough! :D

I think that you're thus far the most enthusiastic to pick up the hitch-hiker that I've seen! XD

I think that you're also the first person to pick up on the battle re-enactment at the end. ^_^

Sorry about the problem of the mouse-pointer going off-screen--it looks like I forgot to constrain the mouse! ^^;

As to the deeper meaning... I suppose that what I was trying to go for with the ending was something along the lines of this:

"One's path through life takes one through many encounters and to many sights. It may be a difficult road sometimes, or a scary one, but it may also--even from the scary bits--give one treasured memories."

... But mainly the game comes down to "here's some stuff to spook you!". :D


VERY NEAT EXPERIENCE.

Thank you very much for playing the game, and for the Let's Play! :D I'm really glad that you seem to have liked the game so much; I enjoyed watching the Let's Play!

"Sounds British"--That would be a recording that I made myself, and I've heard that my accent can sound so! (I'm South African--but one of the accents found here can sound British indeed, I believe.)

And thank you, by the way, for including a link to the game in the video description--it's appreciated! ^_^

OF COURSE I ENJOYED IT BROTHA. EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM THE HEART IS TRULY APPRECIATED BY ME INDEED.  ALSO, THANK YOU  FOR A GREAT EXPERIENCE BY THE WAY. STAY SAFE AND STAY BLESSED MY FRIEND.

To the first, that's excellent to read. ^_^

To the second, thank you; stay safe yourself, and I hope that you are blessed. ^_^

Thank you for the interesting if short experience :D

(+1)

That was a very entertaining playthrough! Thank you very much for it, and for playing the game. ^_^

I'm glad that you seem to have enjoyed it--enough, at least, to have wanted it to be longer. ;)

The interpretation of the player being the boatman on the Styx is a new one to me; I quite like that. ^_^

As to the controls, sorry that they were unintuitive! I'll confess that I'm not much of a gamepad player, so I perhaps didn't choose well when transferring controls from keyboard-and-mouse to gamepad. ^^;

"No get off my boat." Is perhaps my favourite response! XD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wlYQBY3nWw

What a spooky little experience.

I assume this was meant to evoke sailing down the river Styx, and each encounter was definitely interesting. I would love to see a longer version of this with more character to each individual soul, possibly having to decide for yourself wether they are friendly or antagonistic.

The one major issue here is sound. I imagine this was made for a Game Jam, but there are parts where the supposedly spooky noises are either underwhelming or sadly a bit comical.  But still, everything else is far too interesting for that to detract from the overall experience


Your game begins at 17:28

Thank you very much! Thank you for trying it out, for Let's Playing it, and for leaving a comment--and a detailed comment with critique, at that! I really appreciate it all! And I'm really glad that you seem to have enjoyed it, overall. ^_^

The game wasn't made for a jam, but it was very much a side-project--and sound design is really not my forte, I fear. ^^; I'm sorry that some of the sounds veered into the comical, but glad that it didn't undermine the experience entirely! (I was pretty sure that the "tunnel" section would have been one of those "comical" sections. I very much acknowledge that that wasn't great! ^^;;; )

As to the Styx, I didn't have that river in mind specifically; the concept was a bit more abstract than that. But I do like your interpretation, and I think that it fits well into that abstraction.

A longer version would be interesting, I agree! It's not something that I have in mind right now, but such a response is heartening nevertheless. ^_^

I watched your video, and rather enjoyed it! (Very much including your thoughts and reactions to my game.) Thank you for the link. ^_^

An short, atmospheric game that I enjoyed sailing through~

I'm really glad that you so enjoyed it, and thank you for leaving a comment! :D

This was super cool! Full of super inventively creepy set pieces :D

Thank you very much! I really appreciate that, and I'm really glad that you so liked it! :D