Test of Courage

Test of Courage is a first-person horror game about Marco, a Brave Wood Academy alumnus who returns to the abandoned school to take the Courage Test. The challenge is to explore the school after hours, find 10 items and maintain your sanity. Marco’s friends Ralph and Natalia also attended the academy. Shortly after graduation, Natalia disappeared after sending a letter; a year later, Ralph found a hidden message in it. The only hint Natalia left was the Courage Test.

The school and its history

Brave Wood Academy was a private school with a program that let gifted students attend tuition-free. Each year, the administration selected two seniors for a special program sending them to the university of their dreams. Beneath the school’s polished image, students shared rumors of dangerous creatures seen on campus after dark. The creatures were identified as Buffers, and the school closed before the sightings could become public.

In the game’s alternate history, Thomas Crowder, a war journalist documenting the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan near the end of World War II, discovered monsters near the ruins. They became known as Crowder’s Buffers. After major casualties caused by humans, Buffers began appearing in other areas. They stayed within the places where they appeared, and humans could not reclaim the lost territories. In the following decades, these areas were left alone while scientists and experts were sent in to study the creatures.

Explore and survive

As you explore the school grounds, you must manage Marco’s health and sanity. Pills restore health or sanity, while batteries and other items provide light. Some Buffer attacks are imagined and reduce sanity; others are physical and damage health. Exploring also reveals more about the school’s dark history and Crowder’s Buffers.