A MAZE. / Berlin 2025

14th International Games and Playful Media Festival

No Players Online

No Players Online - Announcement Trailer (2024)

by adam pype, tibau van den broeck and viktor kraus (Belgium, Germany)

Genre: experimental horror

no players online is a reimagining of the 2019 cult-hit of the same name, built entirely from the ground up, about being alone in an abandoned fps game. considered by many to be a pioneer of the liminal-horror genre, it captures the unease of waiting in an online lobby for friends who never join.

in this expanded version, the fps game becomes part of a larger narrative about the developer and their experiments with digital occultism. set in an alternate 90s, the elusive dev discovers a way to merge the "souls" of games to create early 3d graphics—accidentally forming sentient, corrupted amalgamations of memories. consumed by an obsession, the dev reworks their unfinished game into a vehicle for the digital reincarnation of a lost loved one.

no players online is an experimental exploration of digital occultism, privacy, and corruption, unfolding into a deeply personal story about obsession, unfinished work, and the nature of games as windows to the soul.

Platform: PC