Something is Wrong With the Library: A Gory Twist on Tidying Games

Steam's tidying-up genre gets a horror twist with Something is Wrong With the Library, where you organize books while facing psychic flesh manifestations and corpses in the walls. Wishlist now for fall release.

Ever thought your local library was creepy at night? Well, imagine organizing books while psychic flesh monsters lurk around and the walls are stuffed with corpses. That's the premise of Something is Wrong With the Library, a new game coming to Steam that turns the cozy tidying-up genre on its head.

You play as Phillip Shed, the library's former administrator, who has one night to organize the books and deal with the gory consequences of the bodies hidden in the walls. And if that's not enough, there's also something called The Drowning Room. Sounds lovely, right?

Unlike most clearing clutter games, this one actually has a story—a deeply messed-up one. The game stands out because it blends the mundane task of shelving books with "psychic manifestations" made of flesh. It's weird, it's gross, and it's exactly the kind of twist that makes you do a double-take.

But there's some brutal bibliophile realism here too. The developer, Xalavier Nelson Jr., is a former librarian. "If you've ever been in a library at night, you'll know that it feels unexpectedly warm and full of possibility–until you hear a single sound you don't recognize and realize you're surrounded by towering shadows," he says. "As a former librarian, I truly hope that, despite the objectively messed-up things they're going to witness, everyone who plays the game falls in love with their local library a little more."

Nelson is no stranger to weird games—he was the lead developer on CLICKOLDING, where you sit across from a sinister stranger and click a button 10,000 times. So, expect the unexpected.

You can wishlist Something is Wrong With the Library on Steam now, and it's set to release later this fall. If you're tired of the same old tidy-'em-ups, this might be the palate cleanser you need. Just maybe don't play it alone in a library at night.

What do you think? Will you be picking this up, or is it too creepy for your shelves?