Because I do have some interest in mascot horror games. Despite being absolutely terrible at playing horror games, I do enjoy the story that goes into each of these games.
I also think that mascot horror games touch on both a fear of the unknown and a craving that many players and/or casual lets-play-watchers have for the past, for the nostalgia that comes with them. Even though these franchises consist of fictional mascots that don't exist IRL, they hold enough similarities to thigs like the theme parks, toy franchises, and themed restaurants that many of us might've attended or at least heard of while we were younger.
Despite mascot horror being a relatively new subgenre of horror (at least compared to other subgenres), I think the heavy nostalgia involved is what captures my own interest and so I'm using this page to write about the ones I enjoyed examining.
Indigo Park features the player investigating the titular park a decade after it shut down due to a mysterious but tragic incident. It turns out that the AI mascot, Rambley, is still working and he eagerly welcomes you in...but Indigo Park is darker than it seems.
As expected with other mascot horror games, expect creepy mascots (though these ones are a little different than the ones you expect from, say, FNAF).
As of this writing (Feb. 5th 2025), Indigo Park successfully raised funds for a Chapter 2 of the game and are currently working on it.
A mascot horror game where you enter an abandoned toy factory, but...well, there's a reason people don't go in there anymore.
Interestingly, I got into this game thanks to Shiloh & Bros' "Poppy Playtime IRL" videos, which cover the events of Project Playtime (effectively a prequel game) and Chapters 1 & 2 of the game (albeit in a PG-friendly way). Unfortunately, I heard rumors that the group cancelled the rest of their planned Poppy Playtime vids over concerns of later chapters being too dark to adapt for their target audience (which honestly kinda sucks but is understandable). (Also please note: these are RUMORS and not confirmed.)
Chapter 4 of Poppy PLaytime was recently released as of this writing (Feb. 5th, 2025), and I'm interested to see if they plan to wrap up the game in Chapter 5 or if they have much more of their story to tell...
Again, another mascot horror game taking place in a theme park, similar to Indigo Park. Others have discoverd a website with related cartoons to build up hype/advertise for the game, which I find very interesting. I look forward to learning more about it as more information comes out!
The team behind this game successfuly funded their kickstarter as of this writing (Feb. 27th 2025).
Unlike the above games, this one seems to be focusing more on being a 2000’s nostalgia driven explorative campaign game with a dramatic and surreal storyline. Its intention is to address the mental health struggles and wide varying feelings of nostalgic depression by telling the player a bittersweet narrative by reflecting on the past, via walking through the old memories & location of the children’s center, “Piñata Puppy World”."
Based on this info, it'll probably be less horror-based and more nostalgia/feels-based. So if you don't like horror but you like the story behind it, this game might be more for you!