Here at the Reticule, we’re big fans of driving games. Some of us are better at them than others, even going so far as to own their own crazy vehicular paraphernalia like steering wheels and pedals. Others, like me prefer to spend their time playing more sedate games that involve sneaking around, running away from things and hiding in vents.

Well good news, because now you can drive around and run away from things at the same time.

Ondrej Svadlena’s Beware is what happens when John Carpenter meets Jalopy. Driving at night through a sinister landscape of mud, forests and dilapidated buildings, it’s not long before you spot two headlights in your rear-view mirror. As the car accelerates and slams into your rear, you find yourself in a terror-fuelled flight from an unknown nightmare – you don’t know why, but whoever is in that car wants you dead.

Racing at high speed through narrow tree-lined roads, your flight is hindered by wet roads, muddy ditches and your own car, which handles less like a vehicle designed for high speed pursuits and more like a shopping trolley left abandoned in an Asda car park due to its wobbly wheel and tendency to veer to the right.

And so you drive, running for your life until you end up either ditching your pursuer or end up stuck in a muddy ditch with a pair of headlights bearing down on you. Even if you do manage to somehow escape your enemy, any rest will only be temporary as your foe restlessly patrols nearby roads until it regains sight of you.

Although it’s little more than a slightly ropey tech demo at the moment, Beware is already filled with a nightmarish terror and it’s a simple concept that works perfectly. Even if it never achieves a full release the demo itself is definitely worth a go.

You can download the demo for Beware right now for PC. (The main menu is a little temperamental – just hit the play button once and wait 30 seconds or so for the game to start)

Below you can see one of my many play-throughs. It went about as well as you can expect.