Sara is Missing is a 2016 free to play found footage horror game developed by Kaiju Games available on mobile platforms and Itch.io.
Sara is Missing is best played on mobile to fully appreciate the found footage aspect. Nowadays, it is hard to deliver a unique concept especially with virtual reality and many developers heading down the nostalgic routes. Found footage horror games are a rather unique concept and for the most part, Sara is Missing is a first step in the right direction. In reality, with found footage horror having established an audience in movies, it was inevitable to head in the direction of video games especially since for many, our phone is now a complement to our everyday lives to track everyone and everything.
Full playthrough
There is no doubt that this is a fun 30- to 40-minute experience. It’s truly feels immersive to go snooping around in someone else’s phone. To be honest, most time is spent sifting through messages, emails, photos and videos, and the content helps solidify Sara and who she is. When we get a slight understanding of this real person with real life issues, we start seeing the abnormalities and investigate further. There are at least two endings depending on your choice. Which leads to another mechanic of delivering this game through story-driven dialogue choice. It is nice to see what path you take however some of the choice don’t feel like they truly take form into being completely making a difference to the intentions of what our character is trying to portray.
One of the downfalls of the game is the fact that it can be a fairly “open world” experience to freely navigate through the messages and other information at your own pace however, the intelligent system that supports the phone called IRIS intervenes quite a bit to push the player in the right direction. The discussion of how much hand-holding in a game has always been around and for this one, it seems to lose itself a little by not letting us lead the investigation enough. It diminishes the experience slightly.
Overall, Sara is Missing is an immersive, linear, story-driven, found footage horror game experience. It is definitely a good starting point and a rather effective one as well. This is a solid effort, a free game that has actual videos and long descriptive emails that seem well-researched and well-written. There is a world built around our main character Sara and the people she knows and shows us their relationship. There is a lot of components here executed really well. Perhaps it takes the reins away from the gamer slightly, however for a free game, this one is more than worth your time.