Evil Nun: The Horror Game That Turned a School Into a Trap

By Nham Vu · Updated July 2026

Evil Nun is a first-person horror game from the Spanish studio Keplerians, built around a simple, brutal loop: you're trapped inside a school with a nun who wants you dead, and you have to solve puzzles, find keys, and stay hidden long enough to get out. It launched on mobile first and became one of the more recognizable indie horror franchises of the last decade, spawning direct sequels, spin-offs, and even a live-action film using the same name.

What makes it stick in people's memory isn't jump scares alone. It's the tension of hearing footsteps in another hallway and not knowing which door she'll come through next. In practice, that's the whole appeal: dread built out of sound design and a school floor plan you're forced to memorize under pressure.

What Is Evil Nun About?

Evil Nun puts you in the shoes of a kid who wakes up locked inside a boarding school run by a nun who has gone completely off the rails. The game is set in a school from the 1960s, and your only goal across six main missions is to find a way out before she catches you.

There's no combat. You solve environmental puzzles, collect items scattered around classrooms and hallways, and use hiding spots (closets, under desks, behind curtains) to break line of sight when she's hunting. The tension comes from a proximity system: she reacts to noise and to how close you get to her patrol routes, so careless running is usually what gets players killed.

What Is the Evil Nun Called?

The nun's name is Sister Madeline. She's the singular antagonist across the original game and most of the mainline sequels, and she's become the franchise's mascot in the same way other mobile horror villains have become recognizable icons.

Her design leans into the classic habit-and-veil silhouette, but the game keeps her face obscured or shadowed for most of a playthrough, which is a deliberate choice. What trips up new players is assuming she behaves like a fixed patrol enemy. She doesn't. Her pathing adapts to player behavior enough that memorizing one run through the school won't guarantee the next one plays out the same.

How Do You Play Evil Nun 2?

Evil Nun 2: Origins is a prequel that expands the school into a larger map with more rooms, more hiding spots, and a heavier emphasis on exploration before the chase mechanics ramp up. It's built by the same developer and follows the same core structure: find items, solve a puzzle chain, avoid the nun, escape.

The best players I've seen treat the early minutes of each level as a scouting phase. Before triggering anything that draws attention, walk the map, note hiding spots near objective locations, and only then start interacting with puzzle items. Rushing straight to an objective without knowing your escape routes is the single most common way people get cornered.

• Explore first, interact second
• Keep at least two hiding spots memorized near any objective
• Move slowly near intersections where footsteps get louder
• Use closed doors to break sightlines, not just distance

How Do You Escape Evil Nun 2?

Escaping requires completing the game's puzzle chain: collecting specific items, using them in the right rooms, and unlocking the path to an exit that only opens once every required objective is done. There's no shortcut around the puzzle logic, but there is a shortcut around dying while you solve it, which is patience.

If Sister Madeline is actively searching nearby, freezing in a hiding spot and waiting her out almost always beats trying to sprint past her. The chase music and audio cues are there to be read, not ignored. Players who treat sound as their primary sense, more than sight, tend to clear levels with far fewer restarts.

Can You Play Evil Nun on Xbox?

The original Evil Nun mobile games (Evil Nun and Evil Nun 2: Origins) are built for Android and iOS and were not released as native Xbox titles. What did reach consoles, including Xbox, is Evil Nun: The Broken Mask, a separate, more polished survival horror entry from Keplerians that expands the concept into a full 3D game.

The Broken Mask keeps Sister Madeline as the threat but restructures the experience around a bigger environment, more refined stealth mechanics, and a stronger emphasis on atmosphere over quick mobile sessions. If you're specifically hunting for an Evil Nun experience on Xbox or PC, that's the entry to look for rather than the original mobile app.

How Is Evil Nun: The Broken Mask Different?

The Broken Mask is built as a standalone survival horror release on Steam and consoles rather than a mobile app, and it takes the familiar premise of escaping a relentless pursuer and expands it with more detailed environments and pacing built for longer play sessions.

It's a good entry point for players who liked the tension of the mobile originals but want something with deeper systems, better lighting and sound design, and a campaign meant to be played on a screen bigger than a phone.

Is There an Evil Nun Movie?

Yes. A live-action film titled Evil Nun uses the same premise of a vengeful nun's spirit, though it tells its own separate story rather than adapting the games directly, centered on a group trapped in a Mexican church who have to break a curse tied to her. It shares the name and the core horror-nun concept with the game franchise but isn't a direct tie-in adaptation.

Worth noting for anyone searching around the title: the games, the film, and various fan-made videos all show up under similar search terms, so double-check which one you're actually looking for before you download or stream anything.