Oh yeah, I think it’s time for a new name for the indie genre: the night shift sim. Interference: dead air (opens in new tab) builds on Five Nights at Freddy’s of Security booth (opens in new tab) to tell a new tale of supernatural misery after hours in a first-person adventure due out February 2.
Interference is set in the 1980s Southwest, still in the heyday of the Sun Belt military contractors and the faraway hippie hunt for UFOs. As an employee of the not at all foreboding Barclay Institute, it’s up to you to… mostly just hang out and vibe like an underpaid rent-a-cop.
Things go wrong, as they are used to at “institutions” in the desert, and it’s left to the lone schmuck guard on the outside to save those inside. Or not, as the case may be. Developer Fear of Corn touts playthroughs as only lasting about an hour, and you’ll have just as much reason to wander around your meticulously rendered little office as you do to partake in Interference’s puzzle gameplay.
I tried out Interference’s free demo on Steam and was impressed with the presentation. The security booth is really lovingly decorated, with a smorgasbord of fully interactive office clutter that reminds me of Dr. the” kind of game. I also have high hopes for Interference’s central navigation mechanic.
Your office has a map of the Barclay Institute pinned to cork board, and your friend on the inside needs help finding her way out. Through a combination of radio communication and tracking her on your board with a few handy pins, you just might be able to help this scientist survive the night.
It strangely reminds me of an absolutely old game, 1983’s Suspended: A cryogenic nightmare (opens in new tab) by Infocom. That text-based game came with real, physical maps and tokens that you had to use to keep track of your digital settlers as you guided them in saving their habitat. If you want to learn more about Interference before it comes out on February 2, you can check out the demo for yourself and add it to your wishlist. Steam (opens in new tab).
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