[TOMT][VIDEO][2000ish] Indie Horror Game Markiplier With Hide and Seek and Light vs Shadow Mechanism and Mystery + Puzzles
Clues
The Protagonist & Tone: You play as a human child. Most of the other characters in the world are also normal humans.
The Settings (Dual Worlds):
The Real World: A public, completely normal, cheerful, and optimistic venue where people are actively enjoying a festive party or pizzeria-style environment.
The Transition: Throughout the days of the game, the child moves back and forth between this party environment, their bedroom, and a dream/nightmare world.
The "Staff" Hide-and-Seek Chase: While in the cheerful party venue, the child gets trapped in an ominous game of hide-and-seek. A specific Staff member/Attendant of the building hunts the child down. This Staff character is notoriously good at hide-and-seek, usually tracks you down easily, and catching you ends the day or level.
Dream World Mechanics (Light & Dark): The dream world maps feature very strict light and shadow patch puzzles.
There is a mechanic involving pixelated animal-themed elements (like a cat or dog) that you must interact with or manage.
An inevitable monster will find you if you stay too long in the dark or take too long to clear the stage. You must navigate these patches safely to find a specific hidden item or exit door.
The Bad Ending: One specific tragic ending involves the child failing to escape the psychological loop. They close their eyes to block out the terror, but they cannot escape it—a pixelated cat's eyes are permanently seared into their mind, staring directly back at the child from behind their eyelids.
The Art Style Constraints:
The game is completely 2D (no 3D or pseudo-3D environments).
It has absolutely no association with anime style (it is a western or neutral retro-pixelated indie horror look).