They Not Fae!

A cat, a building, and things that hunt by sight

They Not Fae! is a short solo-developed horror game from Malerouille, casting players as a teenager tracking her missing cat into a deserted office building that turns out to be anything but empty. What begins as a quiet search quickly becomes a tense game of hide-and-seek, as the building's creatures hunt by both sound and sight across a runtime the developer pegs at 30 to 60 minutes. This review draws on an English review sample of 6 reviews at the time of research, every one of them positive, a small but genuinely consistent base for a solo developer's first horror release.

Praised as a remarkably confident solo horror debut

Reviewers repeatedly single out how accomplished the game feels for a first attempt at horror from a solo developer. "Really good overall first go from a solo indie-dev. Could be fleshed out a bit more, but otherwise really good for what it is," reads one detailed, structured review that separately praises the game's sound design as "pleasant" and its art style as "charming." A separate reviewer independently reaches much the same conclusion in blunter terms: "A delightful short horror experience that, given the fact it's the dev's first of the genre, has no business being this good." This review treats that as fair: two independent reviewers, one offering a structured technical breakdown and one reacting more informally, both converging on the same underlying verdict, that the game punches well above what a solo first-time horror project typically delivers, is credible evidence of real craft behind its short runtime.

Praised for a tense hide-and-seek loop and clever phone mechanics

This review also found corroborated praise for the game's central creature-encounter design. One reviewer compares the building's monsters directly to a well-known horror archetype: "they work off of Weeping Angels rules so don't turn your back on them for too long," describing an tense back-and- forth game of hide-and-seek across roughly fifty minutes of a first run. A separate reviewer independently credits the game's use of an in-phone system, noting "the inclusion of different mechanics inside your phone is clever and fun," while a third simply reports feeling genuine chills despite describing themself as otherwise hard to scare. This review treats that as fair: multiple reviewers independently crediting both the game's core hide-and-seek tension and its phone-based mechanics is credible evidence the design succeeds at its central goal of building dread within a short runtime.

A fair, corroborated complaint about balance and audio dependence

Set against that praise, this review found a specific, corroborated complaint about how the game's difficulty and accessibility hold together. "The monster balance is awful, but thankfully we can turn the monsters off," reads one review, which still recommends the game overall despite the frustration. A separate reviewer independently raises a related concern about the game's reliance on directional audio: "you are gonna want some good headphones that have surround sound so you can hear directional audio easier. The game even tells you this but I went in with some $10 earbuds thinking I'd be fine and suffered." This review treats that as fair: two reviewers, one flagging outright balance frustration and one flagging a specific hardware dependency that compounds it, is credible, corroborated evidence that the game's core tension mechanic can tip into genuine frustration depending on setup, even for players who ultimately still enjoyed and recommended it.

A fair complaint about missing message history

This review also found a specific, if single-sourced, quality-of-life complaint from the sample's most structured reviewer, who otherwise praises nearly every element of the game in a clear pros-and- cons style breakdown. Under "needed change," they note "just a way to look back at all the messages on the phone." This review treats that as a fair complaint: a reviewer who is otherwise highly complimentary about the game's phone-based storytelling separately identifying a specific, concrete gap in how that same system handles its own narrative content is credible evidence of a real, if minor, oversight rather than a matter of taste.

Steam's achievement data shows no tracked achievements at all

This review's own check of Steam's global achievement data for They Not Fae! found the game currently ships with no Steam achievements at all. That is worth noting against one reviewer's account of replaying the game twice more "trying to beat it in 10 mins for an in game achievement," a detail this review reads as most likely describing a narrative or in-game unlockable rather than a formally tracked Steam achievement, since no such achievement exists in Steam's own records for this title.

A note on this review's small, positive sample

This review draws on only 6 English reviews at the time of research, all of them positive, a small but notably consistent sample for a horror debut at this price point. Because the fair complaints raised above, about balance, audio dependence, and message history, came from reviewers who otherwise recommended the game enthusiastically, this review treats them as genuine, specific critiques rather than symptoms of broader dissatisfaction, and has weighted the score accordingly rather than reading the entirely positive sentiment as a reason to inflate the rating further.

Final verdict

They Not Fae! is a short horror game that this review found delivers real atmosphere and a genuinely tense hide-and-seek loop for a solo developer's first outing in the genre, credited consistently by its small, entirely positive review sample for its charm, sound design, and clever phone mechanics. That credit is tempered by a fair, corroborated complaint about shaky difficulty balance and audio dependence, and a fair, single-sourced complaint about a missing way to revisit the game's own messages. For fans of short, atmospheric horror experiences willing to forgive some rough edges on a debut effort, it's a worthwhile pickup at its asking price.