A previously unreleased Scream game has been uncovered in a huge Steam file leak, and an unfinished build reportedly includes working online multiplayer. The project was developed by Fatshark, years before asymmetrical horror became a major game format.
Files from Steam releases and development projects dating from 2003 to 2013 began circulating online over the weekend. The leak is reported to total 13 terabytes, prompting widespread searches for lost prototypes, beta versions and unreleased games. An incomplete Half-Life Episode 3 build has not been found, but the discovery of this Scream project offers a particularly intriguing look at abandoned game development.
Fatshark’s abandoned Scream project
On August 31, user Roly Poly Reaper said they had located several unfinished builds of the game. Fatshark is best known for cooperative titles including Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.
The builds were reportedly extracted from the leaked files and launched on a PC. A later version was also made playable online, allowing multiple people to join the incomplete horror experience. The available footage shows several survivors attempting to evade Ghostface while another player controls the masked killer.
Update: multiplayer was made to work using Goldberg emulation and Radmin VPN, with footage showing the game running in a later build.
An early example of asymmetrical horror
Datamined information indicates that Fatshark was working on the Scream game around 2011. That would place it several years before asymmetrical horror titles such as Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th became widely popular.
The prototype appears to use a familiar structure: most players take the role of vulnerable survivors, while one player hunts them as the killer. Ghostface also seems to have a form of “ghost mode”, allowing the killer to move around the map unseen before appearing close to a victim.
That idea has a notable parallel in the upcoming Halloween: The Game. Based on its pre-release trailers and gameplay, Michael Myers appears to use a similar ability to move unseen and ambush survivors. Readers interested in arcade-style horror hardware can also explore RETROCADE’s arcade news and gaming coverage.
Probably a pitch rather than a finished game
There is still limited information about the project, and the available material suggests it may never have progressed beyond an internal pitch. The relevant folders are reportedly named “Scream_Pitch” and “Screampitch_inside”.
The final build discovered so far appears to have been worked on in February, only a few months before Scream 4 reached cinemas. That timing may indicate that the game was being prepared as a proposal connected to the film franchise, although the available files do not establish why development stopped.
If the concept had been approved, it could have arrived well ahead of the later wave of online asymmetrical horror games. It might have established Scream as an early leader in the format—or demonstrated that the concept was not yet ready for a full release. For anyone considering a home arcade setup for horror and multiplayer gaming, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide is a useful place to start, while arcade machines provide a broader look at available cabinet formats.
For more retro hardware projects, DIY arcade kits offer another way to build a dedicated gaming space.
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