Parent note: What HAUNTED is and why it doesn't belong in a kid's room

The short version: HAUNTED: Are You Alone? is a horror game for adults. It’s rated PEGI 18, shows gore, and leans hard on loud jump scares. If your kid asks for it, the answer is easy: no. This note explains why, so you can back it up.

What HAUNTED is

HAUNTED is a mixed-reality horror game for the Meta Quest. Mixed reality means the headset uses its cameras to show your real room, and the game drops digital characters and effects into it. In HAUNTED, your own room becomes the set. A witch stands in the corner, arms break out of your actual walls, a possessed doll runs across the floor, and a hole opens up in the ground.

That’s exactly what makes it a thrill for adults and a bad fit for kids. A monster in someone else’s virtual haunted house is something you can leave behind. A monster coming out of the wall of your own bedroom is harder to shake.

What PEGI 18 and “Extreme Violence” mean

PEGI is the European age-rating system for games. Level 18 is the highest tier and stands for content meant only for adults. In the store, HAUNTED is listed as PEGI 18 with an “Extreme Violence” note.

Specifically, the game includes, among other things:

• Gore: blood splatters on the walls, severed arms and hands crawling across the floor.
• Loud jump scares: characters that suddenly appear right in your face, accompanied by very loud sounds.
• Disturbing imagery: eerie children’s voices, a family walled up alive, a nun with her mouth sewn shut.
• Light effects: flashing lights and heavily darkened scenes.

The in-game content warning

Every time HAUNTED starts, it shows a two-page content warning. It states that there are sudden loud noises, flashing and darkened lights, gore, and intense jump scares. It explicitly says the game is not suitable for children, and also not for pregnant people or for people with epilepsy, heart conditions, or anxiety disorders. That’s not a marketing line — it’s a clear boundary.

Why it doesn’t fit older teens either

Some parents wonder about making an exception for a 15- or 16-year-old. With HAUNTED, we’d advise against it. The rating is unambiguous, and the mixed-reality approach amplifies the effect. The game takes place in the player’s own room — the very place the kid is supposed to sleep afterward. On top of that, you’re turning, ducking, and crawling while you play. If you get startled, you can trip or run into furniture.

The Quest settings for families

Independent of HAUNTED, it’s worth a look at the Quest’s family features. Meta offers accounts for younger users and a parental supervision setup that lets adults manage things like purchases and app access. The exact features and age limits change with updates, so here’s just the basic idea:

1. Set up separate accounts. Kids shouldn’t be using an adult’s account that has adult games installed on it.
2. Turn on supervision. The parental features let you keep an eye on purchases and app use.
3. Check age ratings. Look at the store rating before every purchase.
4. Don’t leave the headset lying around. If the Quest is shared, it should be put away after play, signed out of the adult account or locked.

What you can tell your kid

Honesty helps. You can explain that HAUNTED is made for adults, the same way some movies are. The age rating isn’t a judgment about your child — it’s an assessment of the content. And there are plenty of games on the Quest that are fun to play together without anyone sleeping badly afterward.

Best for: Adults in the household who enjoy horror themselves and want to know what to watch for when sharing the Quest.

Skip if: The Quest mainly belongs to the kids. In that case, HAUNTED shouldn’t end up on the device in the first place.

Context for adults

For horror fans of legal age, HAUNTED: Are You Alone? is a short experience: the story runs about 25 to 35 minutes, plus three arcade modes. It’s played solo. On Oct 10, 2026, it cost £3.99 in the UK Meta Horizon Store. According to the store, it runs on Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and Quest 3S and is in English.