Teke Teke: The Game That Punishes You for Going Home (review)

Copyright: Teke Teke: The Moonlit Dread is property of Ooki Tsuki

Brevity & Ethics: I have no affiliation with Teke Teke or its creation, im just a horror fan

Support indie horror buy the game here before the vengeful spirit gets you first.

Teke Teke: A Short, Mean, and Hilariously Cruel Japanese Horror Game

If you’re into Japanese urban legends, indie horror games, or getting violently punished for making the wrong choice in a convenience store, Teke Teke: The Moonlit Dread has you covered.

The Teke Teke—often mixed up with the Slit-Mouth Woman—is one of Japan’s most infamous supernatural horror legends. The story usually goes like this: a schoolgirl is cut in half by a train, becomes an onryō, and now drags her upper body through train stations at night, hunting people like a paranormal Roomba fueled by pure rage.

Fun folklore for the whole family.

But this game? It doesn’t just retell the legend it weaponizes it.

Story: Grocery Shopping Was a Mistake

Teke Teke is a short but surprisingly effective freeware horror game, proving once again that the scariest things in life are urban legends, bad lighting, and convenience stores after dark.

We follow our protagonist let’s call him Meme Lord. as he scrolls through news about a brutal murder in his neighborhood. Naturally shaken, but tragically out of groceries, he does the most dangerous thing imaginable: leaves his house.

At the local konbini, everything seems normal. Too normal. While he’s pretending that buying snacks will solve his existential dread, a creepy old woman shuffles up and delivers a warning straight out of the “Things You Should Absolutely Take Seriously” handbook:

She repeats it to the store clerk, wishes everyone safety in the least reassuring way possible, and disappears into the back rooms like a side quest NPC who knows exactly how this ends.

When our protagonist goes to check out, the clerk is gone. He finds her moments later. Alive, shaken, but fine. She heads into the storage room.

She does not return. Then the lights go out.

After a long, soul-crushing pause, something comes screaming out of the darkness. The clerk runs through the aisles and is violently torn in half, transforming the store into a crime scene OSHA would hate.

This is where the game politely stops holding your hand and starts holding your coffin.

Choose Wrong, Die Immediately:

If your instinct is to panic and run straight home?

Bad call.

You die.

(which is a dick move in my opinion)

But if you explore the claustrophobic back room, dodge certain doom, and locate the keys to the clerk’s car, you unlock the “maybe I survive” ending. Make it to the parking lot, floor it, and you just might be able to run over a legendary Japanese ghost and escape with your life.

Which, frankly, is not something most folklore prepares you for.

final thoughts: 

As said at the beginning, the game is a short, but fun horror game, no overly complicated story, just a simple but fun free indie game.