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An Unreleased Scream Multiplayer Horror Game Has Been Found in the Massive Steam Leak

ByNiito

A previously unknown Scream game has reportedly been discovered inside the massive Steam file leak that surfaced over the weekend, giving fans a glimpse at an unfinished multiplayer horror project developed more than a decade ago.

The leak, which reportedly contains around 13 terabytes of Steam-related files dating from 2003 to 2013, has already sent developers and gaming enthusiasts digging through old data in search of unreleased games, prototypes, and pre-release builds. While many people were hoping to uncover something related to Half-Life 2: Episode Three, another fascinating discovery has now emerged: an unfinished online horror game based on the Scream franchise.

On August 31, Twitter user Roly Poly Reaper revealed that they had been exploring the leaked files when they came across previously unannounced builds of a Scream game developed by Fatshark, the Swedish studio now best known for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide and Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

According to Roly Poly Reaper, the leak contains several unfinished versions of the game. They were reportedly able to get some of these builds running on a PC, including a later version that features working multiplayer functionality.

Footage from the prototype shows several players taking on the roles of survivors attempting to escape Ghostface, while another player controls the masked killer. Although the game is clearly unfinished, its basic concept is immediately recognizable: a group of survivors must navigate the map and avoid being hunted down by a player-controlled Ghostface.

Interestingly, the project appears to have been developed around 2011, according to information uncovered from the leaked files. If accurate, that would place the Scream prototype several years before the explosion of asymmetrical multiplayer horror games.

Today, the genre is strongly associated with titles such as Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th: The Game. However, Fatshark’s Scream project appears to have been experimenting with a very similar concept long before those games became popular.

One particularly interesting feature is Ghostface’s movement system. In the leaked footage, the killer appears to have a special “ghost mode” that allows them to move quickly around the map while remaining unseen before suddenly appearing behind a survivor.

That mechanic is especially notable given that Halloween: The Game, another asymmetrical horror title, is scheduled to launch this month. Based on its pre-release footage, Michael Myers appears to have a similar ability that allows the killer to move around the map unseen before striking their victims.

Of course, there are still plenty of unanswered questions surrounding Fatshark’s Scream project. It is unclear how far development actually progressed or whether the game was ever intended to become a full commercial release.

The files themselves may provide an important clue. According to Roly Poly Reaper, some of the discovered data is stored in folders named “Scream_Pitch” and “Screampitch_inside,” suggesting that the project may have been created primarily as a pitch rather than as a fully approved game.

Another interesting detail is the apparent development timeline. The latest version discovered in the leak seems to have been worked on in February 2011, only a few months before Scream 4 arrived in theaters in April of that year.

That raises an intriguing question: what would have happened if the pitch had been approved?

Had Fatshark been allowed to finish and release the game, the Scream franchise could potentially have entered the multiplayer horror market years before Dead by Daylight. It is fascinating to imagine a world where Ghostface, rather than becoming a later addition to existing horror games, helped establish the asymmetrical horror genre in the first place.

Of course, the opposite could also have happened. The game might have failed commercially, potentially discouraging publishers and developers from investing in asymmetrical multiplayer horror for years.

For now, the leaked builds are little more than a fascinating glimpse at a game that never made it to store shelves. But considering how popular asymmetrical horror eventually became, this forgotten Scream prototype could be one of the most interesting discoveries to emerge from the massive Steam leak.

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