A young boy arrives at his grandparents’ turkey farm for Thanksgiving, expecting a warm family gathering—but when the sun sets, everything goes wrong. His parents go missing, odd noises echo across the barn, and one by one, family members are brutally murdered. Stranded and terrified, the boy must piece together the mystery of what’s happening, survive the night, and escape a lurking killer known only as “Killgrim.” The farm, its buildings, and the surrounding darkness hide secrets, twisted horrors, and old wounds that threaten to pull him into a nightmare where traditional holiday joys become grotesque.
ThanksKilling Day is a survival horror game developed by CloneKorp, RDH Development, and Aka_Nook, and published by Out Of Controller Games. It was released on December 20, 2022 for PC (Windows). The game is a loving homage to 1990s survival horror and horror cinema, combining atmospheric tension, dark humor, and retro mechanics. Players experience multiple perspectives, choose between fixed cameras reminiscent of classic horror and modern first-person view, and contend with a hostile killer, limited resources, and randomized puzzle placement to keep each playthrough unpredictable.
Gameplay
Players must run, hide, and solve puzzles in a hostile environment where danger can appear at any moment. Combat exists, but the emphasis is more on evasion, hiding, and resource management than nonstop action. Players can combine simple items for healing, face off against Killgrim who tracks sound, breaks doors, and hunts with a ruthless intelligence. Hiding spots such as closets, under beds, or in bushes offer safety but not permanence, staying too long in hiding invites discovery. Puzzle elements are scattered across the environment and randomly placed in some respects, altering the challenge each time. The game offers tension through limited inventory, classic “tank control” movement options, flashlight use, and decisions about when to fight or flee.
Visuals & Style
The aesthetic leans heavily into retro horror blocky, low-poly graphics, grain or distortion filters, simple textures, and lighting designed to maximize shadow and fear. The farm setting barns, silos, old farmhouse rooms is dilapidated and menacing, full of creaking wood, flickering lights, and winding hallways where visibility is restricted. The sound design is sparse but effective. Character art, monster design, and environmental details mix humor and horror for instance, murderous turkeys, a killer pilgrim figure, and grotesque transformations which give the game a twisted holiday slasher vibe.
Importance in Survival Horror History
While ThanksKilling Day isn’t a blockbuster, it’s part of a current wave of indie horror that reaches back to genre roots: fixed camera angles, limited resources, map exploration, and puzzle solving. It shows how the old mechanics still have value when combined with modern sensibilities like randomized puzzle placement and multiple view modes. The game also adds dark comedy to its horror, recalling cult horror films, which helps it stand out among indie survival horror titles that go heavy on atmosphere or shock alone.
Reception vs Historical Value
Reception has been mixed to positive many players enjoy the nostalgic elements, the tension from limited safety and creeping dread, and the twist of humor in odd places. Some complaints focus on the AI (Killgrim sometimes feels too aware or punishing), hiding being sometimes unbalanced, and pacing or navigation in certain areas being frustrating. Historically, fans of the genre know that Survival Horror games are not easy. ThanksKilling Day is likely to be remembered as a solid cult-indie entry especially for horror fans who want an experience that feels like a melding of retro holiday slasher film 1990s survival horror game.
Availability & Collectibility
The game is available digitally for Windows PC. No physical edition has been announced. For collectors and fans of indie horror, ThanksKilling Day is attractive for its retro vibes, its homage to a niche holiday horror slasher, and its voice cast that includes several known names from genre cinema and YouTube. Over time, it may be one of those smaller titles people revisit for its tone, design decisions, and balance between humor and horror.
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Itch.io: ThanksKilling Day by OOC GAMES
Steam: ThanksKilling Day on Steam
Trailer: