Scarygirl was previously a graphic novel by Nathan Jurevicius, a Flash game, and a downloadable title for the PlayStation Portable.

[3][4] Players control the protagonist Scarygirl as she navigates and fights through twenty-one stages spread across seven distinct worlds.

[5] Outside of combat, Scarygirl navigates the game world by running, jumping, gliding, and using her tentacle arm to grapple onto objects.

Additional weapons, which replace the hook at the end of Scarygirl's tentacle arm, are also available for purchase, and include an anchor and a fan.

[2][6][8] In the game, the player controls Scarygirl, a young girl with an eye patch, a sewn-shut mouth and a hook-capped tentacle for one arm.

[2][6] Edge, in a highly critical review, called the Xbox 360 version "successful only as an interactive showcase of Jurevicius' art".

[4] Simon Parkin of Eurogamer, in a review that was much kinder to the same console version overall, also called the art and animation "the strongest aspects of the game".

Venter did, however, have praise for the game's boss battles, which he described as "a nice change of pace because victory relies more on pattern memorization and intuition than manic combat".

[2][6][4] Edge also complained that even when there were two players playing, the camera would always center on Scarygirl, even if that meant that Bunnyguru wound up off screen.

[2][6] Scarygirl is the protagonist of the eponymous Australian 3D animated film from 2023 with voice actors Anna Torv, Tim Minchin, Deborah Mailman and Sam Neill in the main roles.