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The Fridge is Red

The Fridge is Red

5WORD Team · released Sep 27, 2022

ActionAdventureIndie

What is inside the Red Fridge? Collection of six episodes of psychological analog horror. Tour through liminal spaces filled with surreal events and uncanny strangers. Inspired by retro horrors of the PSX era.

61
VGC Score
·No trend datamedium confidence
63%
At launch
56%
Steam all-time
47%
Press
78%
Recent sentiment

Screenshots & trailers

Review sentiment over time

Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.

How this score was computed

The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.

ComponentPositiveQuality (0-100)Weight (pseudo-reviews)
Press reviews (OpenCritic)479
All-time Steam reviews56%57117
Metacritic user ratings0
Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted)78%731
Calibration prior (typical game)7250

Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 2 reviews sampled · 2 total reviews in window · weighted 0.4 up / 0.1 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →

Press & Creators reviews (9)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 65
    trust 75Oct 3, 2022

    The Fridge is Red is a fascinating horror game. Essentially six short experiences in one, this package highlights the best and the worst of the indie horror genre all in one. It simultaneously features some of the most innovative and interesting mechanics I've seen in horror games in a long time and some of the stalest. But with its satisfying ending and an overall dedication to establishing a sense of dread through its atmosphere and liminal settings, The Fridge is Red is still ultimately a batch of traumas worth exploring.

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  • 57
    trust 67Oct 31, 2022

    I was hoping to have an experience I would enjoy remembering on Halloween but after a strong start, The Fridge is Red did everything it could to be lost in my memory, only reviving nostalgia for the PS1 era.

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  • 40
    trust 66Sep 29, 2022

    While the opening 30 minutes might convince you otherwise, The Fridge is Red is an uninspired walking simulator with little actual game to engage with. A cool retro art style and sense of atmosphere dissipate out of this open fridge into the ether of a bland, empty and lukewarm room. This fridge is sadly more grey than red.

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  • 60
    trust 66Oct 10, 2022

    The Fridge is Red stands or falls on its atmosphere and it has that part down on lock. Sadly, the storytelling isn't quite on the same level.

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  • 50
    trust 65Nov 4, 2022

    The Fridge is Red ultimately fails to conjure up the scares and often impedes its own momentum, even if there are flashes of compelling horror to be found.

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  • 80
    trust 62Sep 27, 2022

    The Fridge Is Red offers a unique take on survival horror games. With 6 different episodes to work through, there are plenty of puzzles that will confuse and frustrate you, scary and gross visuals, and a soundtrack that will creep you right out. This style and type of game will NOT be for everyone. The puzzles can sometimes be very confusing or obscure. Some others may be frustrated by the retro graphic feel, but it definitely makes you feel like you are playing an old-school Playstation horror game.

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  • 40
    trust 61Oct 6, 2022

    Overall, The Fridge is Red succeeds in creating a creepy atmosphere through the use of liminal spaces and excellent sound design. The world immediately pulls players in with its unsettling feeling and almost demands to be explored. However, The Fridge is Red misses the mark significantly due to the lack of consistent scares, often obtuseness of puzzles, and low-quality graphics. The Fridge is Red includes several great ideas, twisting the stress of everyday encounters into something surreal, but they never quite become fully fleshed out, and they become predictable when they all end in more or less the same manner. Players looking for a few hours of new horror content this October could certainly do worse, but The Fridge is Red lacks the depth and frights needed to contend with the best short indie horror games currently dominating the genre.

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  • 50
    trust 58Sep 28, 2022

    An Exercise in apathy, neither solid nor liquid. Not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit 'meh,' really.

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  • 60
    trust 54Oct 8, 2022

    The Fridge is Red is an anthology of short horror chapters with a marked retro aesthetic, typical of the 32-bit era, which will appeal to fans of this genre.

    read full review ↗

Patch history

  1. New Updates
    Oct 25, 2022significant · resets scoring window
  2. The Fridge is Red new updates!
    Oct 6, 2022significant · resets scoring window