Petals

Petals is a free it.chio game created by Gun Interactive as a part of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre ARG and a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game. It was released for Windows on October 19, 2022, and was made using Unreal Engine 5. Petals can be downloaded here.

Plot

"That floral photography game is a walk through Maria’s final day alive, complete with the reveal of what happened to her and who was to blame for her disappearance."

― Matthew Szep

Petals starts off as an innocuous first-person photography game. The player takes on the role of Maria Flores, who decides to explore and photograph the area surrounding her car, which had previously broken down.

The gameplay is simple, mostly involving walking and taking photographs to fill up Maria's photo album. There is a total of 8 different photographs that can be taken.

As the game progresses, Johnny can be heard laughing and stalking nearby. The player follows a jackrabbit into a nearby field of sunflowers, only to find one dead in the dirt as she continues to explore.

Once out of the sunflower field, the sun sets completely, leaving Maria almost fully in the dark. She finds another jackrabbit, which sits still long enough for her to take a photo. Johnny appears the moment she takes the photo, putting his face directly in front of the camera lens and frightening her. He steals the camera, and Maria takes off running.

Before long, Maria arrives at the front door of the Family House begging for help. Sissy opens the door, joined by Leatherface. Johnny catches up and drags Maria inside as she screams.

Trivia

• Johnny can be seen peeking at Maria through the sunflowers in the photo labeled Sunflowers.

• The camera Maria uses in this game is intended to be the same one the Hitchhiker uses in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

• Petals marks the introduction of Sissy and Johnny.