Instead of silly mascot horror, Dani finds *Don’t Fret* to be a charming homage to a genre classic.
Hold on, stop, wait! Don’t make the same mistake I did! As the trailer for Don’t Fret flickers across my screen during the Future Game Show, it elicits an amused snort from me… and nothing more. After all, you play a guitar in it—not in the sense of making music on it, butyouliterally become the stringed instrument. “Just another joke game,” I think to myself, and shove my memories of the trailer straight into my mental shredder.
While browsing Steam, I stumble across the game again and see,that there’s already a playable demo available before the horror game releases on October 1, 2026. “Oh, why not?” I download the demo, dive into the game –and unexpectedly find the title that might make the wait forAlien: Isolation 2bearable.
Serious Tones
When I click “Start,” I’m actually expecting a silly little horror game full of funny mascots and corny jokes. But in the intro, Don’t Fret immediately strikes a surprisingly dark tone: I watch a man—presumably the father of the young protagonist, Fret—angrily pounding on the front door, yelling at his wife, and finally smashing the glass to force his way inside. In a panic, Fret flees to his room, clings to his beloved guitar, and hides in the closet… only to wake up shortly afterward as that very instrument in a high school.
School buildings are absolute hell even under normal circumstances and in daylight, but the Harmonic Heights music school takes it down another octave. The walls are plastered with posters of missing children, lockers lie scattered on the floor, and students’ belongings are strewn about.
In the dark hallway, a creepy cocoon clings to the wall, wrapped in cassette tape, from which terrifyingly nimble creatures are hatching. Plaster is crumbling from the ceiling, accompanied by heavy stomping somewhere above me.
If it hasn’t become clear by now: Something is very, very wrong at this school!
Hehe, pun intended
By the way, the name of the game is very funny. The English expression “Don’t fret” means something like “Don’t worry.” But “fret” isn’t just the protagonist’s name—it’s also the English term for the frets on a guitar neck. In German, the pun would probably be something like “Don’t let yourself get out of tune.” You know, because you’re playing a guitar and all that! Hehe.
An Alien Isolation cover
And indeed: Don’t Fret draws extremely cleverly from one of the best examples of the genre ever—Alien: Isolation. Most of the time, I have to hide in the shadows, sneak quietly past enemies, or distract them with bottles. A special device shows me exactly when danger is lurking around me.
The “Alien” also makes an appearance in the demo: a huge monster with wiry legs and a cassette-tape head jumps out of the ventilation shafts. If I get caught, it’s over—so I run for my life.
But Don’t Fret isn’t just an uninspired copy; it’s more like a cool indie cover version. The inspiration is definitely recognizable—but the horror game also crafts its own survival concept. Everything is consistently dedicated to the music theme, yet surprisingly, it doesn’t strike me as silly at all; instead, it makes me curious for more.
The monster design is fantastic and, thanks to the claustrophobic spaces, flashing lights, and the creatures’ nimble movements, it makes my blood run cold.
I was disappointed when the roughly 30-minute demo was over—and that’s always a good sign! I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Fret, the guitar-wielding protagonist, and I’m curious to see how Don’t Fret reinterprets the horror classic Alien: Isolation as the game progresses. I’m not expecting the next chart-topping hit in the horror genre here, but at least an insider’s tip for fans.
