Side Effects

About Side Effects

Side Effects is a tense medical survival game where players engage in psychological warfare with risky pills. In each round, each pill can heal, harm, or have unexpected side effects, forcing you to calculate strategies and manage your tolerance carefully.

Side Effects – A Tense Medical Survival Game That Will Make You Shiver

Side Effects puts players in the role of a test subject forced to participate in a horror game: Pill Roulette. Each turn, you must choose a mysterious pill—they can heal, cause damage, or trigger unpredictable side effects. The special thing is that your tolerance increases with each pill, making the risk more deadly as the game goes on.

Brain Balance Between Life and Death

Pill Roulette Mechanics – Gambling Your Life

Each round, you choose 1 of 3 pills (or skip your turn). Each pill can:

• Heal (safe, but rare).
• Deal with damage (direct blood loss).
• Trigger side effects (cause dizziness, reverse the next pill's effect, etc.).

The more you drink, the more tolerance you have → more dangerous side effects. Sometimes, a harmless pill in the first round becomes poison in the next round.

Tactical Items – Psychological Tricks

You have a limited number of items such as:

• Antidote: Removes negative effects.
• Test: Check the pill's ingredients before drinking.
• Switch pills: Trick your opponent by swapping their pills.

Using the right item at the right time can turn the tables, but remember: your opponent is watching you too.

Analyzing Your Opponents – The Psychology Game

The AI in Side Effects isn’t just a machine—it has its own playstyle:

• The Reckless One: Drinks potions indiscriminately, easily knocked out by side effects.
• The Cautious One: Skips often, but is extremely dangerous when attacking.

You have to guess whether your opponent is trying to lure you into drinking poison or is panicking and skipping their turn.

Survival Strategies

• Don’t Be Greedy – Tolerance Is Your Enemy: Taking more than 2-3 pills in a row is suicide. Consider skipping your turn to reset your tolerance.
• Playing Face-Up – Lure Your Enemy into Poison: Pretend to hesitate before a good pill, making your opponent think it’s poison and stay away.
• Understand Side Effects: Some effects like “Reverse Effect” can turn poison into healing potions if you’re clever.

Horror Games

• Granny
• FNAF
• Tung Sahur Horror

Conclusion

Side Effects shows how a simple mechanic like choosing a pill can be turned into a tense decision-making process, where each pill carries a clear sense of risk and reward. Each playthrough has its own rhythm, both fast and measured, forcing you to consider each move rather than relying on luck. The feeling of watching your opponent react and adjusting your own tactics gives you a level of control that few games like Side Effects can achieve.

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