One of the strangest discoveries from the enormous Steam2 data leak may have just surfaced: an unreleased multiplayer game based on the Scream horror franchise.
The newly uncovered project appears to have been developed around 2011 by Fatshark, the studio that would later become known for cooperative games such as Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Even more surprisingly, players digging through the leaked files have reportedly managed to get the unfinished game running—including its multiplayer functionality.
That effectively gives fans a chance to see a Scream multiplayer concept that disappeared more than 15 years ago.
Ghostface Was Hunting Players Before Dead by Daylight
According to information found inside the leaked builds, the game was designed as an asymmetrical multiplayer horror experience.
Several players take the role of survivors attempting to escape while another controls Ghostface, hunting them around the environment. Footage shared by people examining the build shows the basic multiplayer concept functioning despite the project’s unfinished state.
If the 2011 development timeframe is accurate, that makes the discovery especially fascinating.
Dead by Daylight wouldn’t arrive until 2016, while Friday the 13th: The Game followed in 2017. Fatshark may therefore have been experimenting with licensed asymmetrical horror several years before the genre became a recognizable multiplayer formula.
Ghostface reportedly even possesses a mechanic that allows the killer to move around the environment unseen before suddenly appearing near potential victims—an idea that feels remarkably familiar to anyone who plays modern multiplayer horror games.
It May Never Have Been Intended as a Full Production
Before declaring this a canceled blockbuster, there’s an important detail hidden in the files.
The uncovered directories reportedly include names such as “Scream_Pitch” and “Screampitch_inside.” That strongly suggests the playable material may have been created as a prototype or pitch rather than representing a fully approved game already deep into production.
Development also appears to have stopped around February 2011, shortly before Scream 4 reached theaters that April.
Neither Fatshark nor the rights holders have publicly confirmed the full history behind the project, leaving major questions unanswered. We don’t know who commissioned the prototype, how close it came to approval, or exactly why development ended.
Steam’s Massive Leak Keeps Revealing Gaming History
The discovery comes from an extraordinary archive of approximately 12–13 terabytes of data connected to Valve’s older Steam2 infrastructure.
Files dating from roughly 2003 through 2013 have exposed early builds, prototypes and discarded material from hundreds of games. Importantly, current reporting indicates the archive wasn’t obtained through a conventional hack. Instead, the material was apparently accessible through an exposed legacy endpoint tied to Steam’s older distribution system.
Researchers have already uncovered early Portal 2 material, Left 4 Dead builds, abandoned assets connected to Half-Life 2: Episode Three and numerous third-party game prototypes.
Yet the Scream discovery may be one of the most intriguing.
Today, asymmetrical horror games featuring licensed movie killers are commonplace. In 2011, they weren’t.
Had Fatshark’s Scream concept moved beyond the pitching stage, Ghostface might have been stalking groups of online players years before the genre exploded.
Instead, the game vanished.
More than a decade later, one of gaming’s largest archival leaks has unexpectedly brought it back from the dead.
