Demo Diaries, Part 3 - The Rotting Man Review: Play or Pass?
Considering it was developed by someone at such a young age, this demo is impressive...
Have you ever played a horror game where the protagonist is working at a shop?
The answer is yes to most people, especially those who dive into small indie games.
So to no surprise, this game has exactly the same setting. The protagonist recently entered university and begins working part-time at an internet café. But one shift when carrying out their duties, strange and unexplainable events begin to occur and only become worse…
Not much of a story to it, but a lot of games specifically short horror ones don’t have a mind-blowing or unique plot, instead they make up for it with a terrifying atmosphere and lots of jumpscares, which I’m all for.
Watch my YouTube review video here 👇
The demo was fairly short so there wasn’t much gameplay apart from cleaning stains off the walls and picking up rubbish, as well as conversations with the occasional customers, some stranger than others…
But it still looked to be a good game, this was mainly down to the very quiet atmosphere, along with the retro and grainy like graphics, which reminded me of a few games which have become quite well known (Fears to Fathom & Puppet Combo in particular). Completely unrelated (kind of), but I’m not sure what it is with games that use low poly models and have that VHS like effect, but they just make the experience so much more scarier and tense, if you’ve played any games which incorporate it then you’ll agree with me.
Now I know some people think you can’t determine the quality of a full game purely based on a couple of aspects from a demo which didn’t have much gameplay and was very short, but I think you certainly can and this game was no exception.
Something else which I want to mention and think needs to be, is the fact that the developer is only 16-years-old. At 16 I was playing games, not making them, and being able to develop them (on your own may I add) at such a young age is honestly impressive and they deserve a lot of praise. It doesn’t stop there, because they have also made several other games at fifteen also, which again is just crazy, so great work from them on my part.
Final Verdict: Play or Pass?
Play - A demo not showing much aspects of the game and being somewhat repetitive, but basing it off the atmosphere and the graphics, along with the developer who has made some titles in the past with positive reviews, this looks to be another decent short horror game.
More about the game and developers
🎮 The Rotting Man - by RAYBIS GAMES
📺 Developer’s TikTok, YouTube & X.
⬇️ Play the demo here - https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45480371
📅 Release date - July 2025