You’ve Changed by solo-developer Burkus is an upcoming spot-the-difference horror game inspired by the I’m on Observation Duty series. While not the only game with a retro/pixel inspired art direction, the demo promises features that will make it stand out from other titles. With one level and two difficulties, the demo gives some insight to what the complete experience would look like.

Where Evil Lurks

After a tutorial introducing the types of anomalies, You’ve Changed drops you inside a normal-looking household with anomalous activity. There are three cameras in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. The pixel art of the game is rather nice and detailed. Very simplistic and cartoony, which is far from a bad thing in my eyes. The same goes for the neat rotoscoped cutscene of one of the attacking intruders, or “evil” as they’re called in the You’ve Changed reporting system. There is also the option of toning down said jump scares, which is a thoughtful addition.

The homely interior has an assortment of objects around to memorize. Discarded towels in the bathroom, a sock on the floor in the bathroom, et cetera. Thankfully, the easy modes of You’ve Changed are very accessible, as only one anomaly appears at a time. This makes the memorization of the rooms rather easy, perhaps to a fault. And speaking of accessibility…

F.A.I.R. and R.I.P.

The store page for You’ve Changed advertises two features for the game. The Fair Anomaly Initiation Rules, or F.A.I.R., dictates how anomalies spawn. In short, only one anomaly can spawn at a time, which will slowly deal damage over time the longer it remains. Said damage, of course, scales up with difficulty. On lower difficulties, the anomalies will “decay” over time, eventually disappearing without user input. I do wish that the options given in the demo include the ability to play on higher difficulties, being able to truly test the player and see if they succeed with the extra challenge.

The Reporting-In-Progress, or R.I.P., is much easier to explain. Have you ever played an I’m on Observation Duty-type game and lost at the last second because a chair moved milliseconds before hitting 6AM? You’ve Changed addresses this complaint by not having an anomaly spawn at the very last second of the night. In fact, it prevents you from outright dying when reporting something, although if you get it wrong while on death’s door, you will be dealt lethal damage. It’s a small thing to address, and usually I don’t like praising a game for “watering down” a mechanic, but I’ve seen unfair runs of games within this genre, so a change like this is particularly welcome here.

Final Thoughts

You’ve Changed is a much easier and accessible horror hidden object game than most of its peers. This can be either a good or a bad thing, especially since higher difficulties are locked in the demo to prove that. Regardless, the demo sets up a game that perhaps would entice those who have a harder time with I’m on Observation Duty and its peers, both from a game difficulty standpoint and the horror themes. 

You’ve Changed demo is available for free on Steam as part of Steam Next Fest: June 2025. A release date for the full experience is to be announced.