At A Glance
Released on: 8/19/22
Reviews: 151, net very positive, as of 7/2023
English Reviews: 133
Localized in: English
Had Publisher: No
Majority of reviews:
English ~82%
Russian ~ 5%
Portugese ~ 4%
Price: 4.99$
Review report:
Negatives: Boring to some people and laborious, not engaging enough (If I remember correctly an update was made to address this), multiple playthroughs seemed to hurt enjoyment for some players, Very few people mentioned the artstyle (Better than saying the art was bad)
Positives: short and sweet, atmosphere top-notch, extra content (lore) that was added impressed players,
Gameplay
Cars drive up quietly, up to you to speak with drivers, check license plates, match it to computer database
Consider horror while doing something mundane, a job, then explore how horror changes it
Accidentally let a driver pass without a check, thought I could close the gae in time but once it starts it doesn’t stop until the process is complete
Invisible barrier stops player from going into corp.
Also a barrier to the forest
Music
Music begins after explosion, but mostly scary booming noises, like a heartbeat
Mysterious synth music in dream world
Sounds
Night noises (crickets, bugs, etc.) play on main menu, no music
Monster banging on door is an SFX, cuts off a bit early
Crystal in the Kraken station hums and crackles
Art
Low poly artstyle, did it help keep production costs low?
Normally referred toas PSX
Camera filter looks like old footage on a TV
Writing
Driver approaches and says it’s his first day
Moral choice to follow orders or make him leave
Not in database anyway
Driver said he washed his hands and 2 fingernails came off
Gross, but thematically appropriate story
Driver recites his plate number, says it was to make our job easier
Gives a completely different plate from his
An exercise in trust
Another phone call comes through, states emergency lockdown, weapons are activated and families will be informed of employee death
At the height of all the paranormal events, a look at how extremely bad things are getting
First content tape offers a look inside the corp from an employee perspective
Door opens into dream world
Notes present in the dream world
Character got a job offer from corp, but doesn’t remember applying to them
Notes get more deranged, something classified is happening and possibly otherworldly
Something in the dark, entities
Can die by getting run over (Ending 6)
After first ending, notes appear on the walls around the booth
Speaks about Natasha, a corpo employee who died
Thought I missed the note on my first playthrough
Car stranger that stares at you eventually leaves if you stay put
Corp. explosion requires you to be inside the booth to trigger
A hidden note appeared close to the exit gate for the corp.
An option appeared to walk inside
Chose to go in, got a look at the inner offices and a dancing party with the shadow person
Option to go in only appears at a certain point in the story, maybe after explosion?
Secret ending, very unexpected
Did a playthrough and let everyone in, towers popped up at the end and opened a portal in the sky
Entire sky turned red, particles appeared, really creepy and sounded serious with alarms blaring
Did a playthrough and let ‘the stranger’ into the corp, place got nuked
In the 2nd tape, play as another employee of the corp.
Upon hearing the error message, decided to leave
There is a classroom full of desks with notes asking how students felt after an experiment
Able to theorize, and some environmental storytelling makes it even creepier (blood stuff all over one of the desks)
Can hear explosions while wandering the hallway
One of them knocks down the player, corp goes dark and red, auxiliary lighting
Laser spots me and closes a blast door
Voice comes on the loudspeaker, distorted, it’s the final message the guard hears outside
Dies before the exit is reached
In 3rd tape, exploration of several sub stations is possible
While looking at artifacts in the ‘Kraken’ archives, an alarm sounded, sudden
A ‘dropping event’ was imminent, sent me back to area with phones
Entered Medusa station, snowy log cabin
Something destroyed the station
Call disconnected because an ‘entity’ was detected
Out of the 5 phones, only 2 work
UI
Main menu has shot of the booth with very slight camera shake
Game instructions were made in the form of a comic or similar to a PS1 instructional
Controls are a bit unconventional, can’t interact with UI through mouse, only keys
Text system is bare but it works
Scare Factor
Tension is usually high when starting a horror game, never know where the next scare will come from
Door to booth closes on its’ own, creeped me out first time, assumed a driver got out of the car to yell at me (My fear working in service/hospitality)
Light occasionally turns on/off, spooky
Radio turns on and initiates a countdown, weird things starting?
Phone call comes through with an error code, creepy, robo-voice
After phone call the opposite door opened, not sure if my fault, glitch, or intentional horror moment
In horror every little thing is scrutinized, but not for the usual reasons (Why is anything doing anything, is it evil? Corrupted?)
Fear takes hold, and any unintentional events or even ‘bugs’ could be considered part of the horror
Exit side door keeps opening, setting something up to scare?
Also heard a chair noise
Car comes and stops on the other side of the street, a black figure gets out
Hard to see in the distance
As I approached the figure it got into the car and left
Knocking on the window, terrifying thing to hear when alone
Door was open, nothing there
Massive explosion, relieved all the tension that got built up
Received a call that system failed, things are getting bad
Answer phone, crusty breathing, seems like a creature
Bloody handprint slams on glass
Heard breathing while checking database for a name, next to left ear
Handprints on the door, and the chair creaking all happened while checking another driver
Phone call says to look behind
Don’t want to
Seems like story won’t progress unless I look
Heard knocking while the voice spoke
Cloaked figure beyond the glass
Floating and 3D, very uncanny
Collapses as I approach
New car approaches and the driver speaks gibberish nonsense
Phone also rings at the same time, other side asks for someone to help in ghostly voice
Turn back to the car and it disappears
Phone screams, light flickers, and handprints slam all over the glass
Dark figure from earlier bangs on glass and appears in front of phone
Phone rings
‘They are here’
Extra
Made with Unreal
Extra content tapes unlock at each of the first 3 endings
Each tape appears to unlock a new area to explore with added lore
Plaque appears in the booth for completing the game for the first time
Employee of the Month
Tried to do secret ending twice, appeared to softlock
Screen dimmed but UI didn’t appear
Game got serious YT attention
Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Gab smolders, Alpha beta gamer, Coryxkenshin
Overall
A masterclass in minimal content usage
Most of the horror comes from audio, little gameplay involved
Regardless of the multiple endings, I think people got really interested in the Mandela-catalogue-esque lore
I also think if the game was localized into high-density languages (Simp. Chinese, Russian, Japanese) it would have done excellently
Professionally, I think if any game gets anywhere above 100 Steam reviews naturally with only one language, localization should be seriously considered
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