Pinched is a co-op horror game about being lost in pitch-black tunnels with nothing but a flashlight. Four of you spawn in a winding tunnel system that is generated fresh each round. Nobody has the layout memorized. It did not exist until the round started.

Use your voice to find each other

You all start together, in the same room. You won't stay that way for long. Voice chat is proximity based and it follows the tunnels, so once the group splits up, talking is how you find each other again. A voice echoes down the halls and around the corners, leading you back together. Footsteps carry the same way. Sprint and you're heard. Crouch and you might just live. Everything down here is listening, so what you say and how you move is the whole game.

Five ways to play

• The Score. A multi floor dungeon where you collect loot. Gold and artifacts are worth more the deeper you go, and every artifact you collect alerts the monster below. Nothing you find is needed to leave, but the more you bring out the higher you score. So the only question is whether to go one floor further, or leave now. When the monster hunts, he's coming for his things. Get hit twice and he takes them back and drops them somewhere in the dungeon for anybody to grab.

• Hunter. One of you is the monster: a spider that feels your footsteps through vibrations, or a werewolf that follows your scent. Find you way out, before it finds you. Escape is the only way to survive.

• Escape the Monster. All of you play together. The monster is autonomous. If it attacks you, a teammate can revive you, if they can find you in time. Find the exit before it finds you.

• Escape the Flood. A flash flood is raging outside. Inside, the water is rising and the exit is up. Wrong turns cost time you do not have.

• Race to the Finish. One exit, somewhere. The path splits, and every choice costs or saves you time: flat straight runs, winding tunnels, gaps you have to crawl or squeeze through, loops that put you back where you started, dead ends. Pick what looks like the fastest way and find out if you were right. First one out wins.

Three places to get lost

• Storm drains. Concrete mains, flooded junction rooms, and a manhole somewhere above you.

• Caves. Winding rock passages and crawl spaces you can fit through and the monster cannot.

• An office building. Hallways that loop, dead ends that turn a corner before they end, and vents through the walls.

Every map is built when the round starts and thrown away when it ends. Nobody gets to memorize the way out.

Pitch-black by design

Your flashlight is the only light you have, and it is also the easiest way to be found. Everyone carries a small pouch of flares that slowly refills. A lit flare marks a junction, lights a rescue, and keeps the monster back for a few seconds. It also tells everyone exactly where you are. You have a spray can too. Tag the walls in your own color to mark the way, and remember that the can makes noise.

After the round

When it is over you get the whole map with every player's route drawn on it, so you can see who really took the best path, how close the monster came to finding you, and exactly where your friend turned left and drowned.

Built for four

Pinched runs solo, but it is built for a group. Bring a mic. Lobbies hold up to 4 players over Steam, with a public lobby browser and friend invites.

Grab your friends. Grab a flashlight. Don't get caught. Don't get lost.