Once I was a young person, I labored at a quick meals joint, and I clearly bear in mind the stress and nervousness I felt when a buyer with a extreme allergy got here in. We’d wipe, sanitize, and clear each utensil and repair, however I used to be additionally very conscious that we have been a bunch of minimum-wage staff, a few of whom got here into work lower than sober. If anyone tousled even just a little, an individual may die. I had forgotten that stress till I performed Dwelling Security Hotline, an analog horror sport from Night time Sign Leisure.
In Dwelling Security Hotline, it’s 1996, and I’ve simply began my new job as a cellphone line operator for the titular hotline. Because it’s the ’90s, everybody can afford a home, they usually’re prone to encounter points like mildew, mice, or a wierd metamorphosis occurring of their basement. Much like Management’s FBC or the SCP Foundation, the Dwelling Security Hotline is a company devoted to managing supernatural emergencies in the actual world. At first, I principally cope with mundane pests, however as I proceed to do properly and earn extra belief from my superiors, I get to deal with heavier circumstances with creepy cryptids.
The sport performs out on a 1996 PC the place I can test my e-mail, watch promotional movies, and go browsing to the customer support terminal. As soon as I’m clocked in for the day, I obtain brief calls from involved residents. I pay attention, test my database of residence hazards, choose the suitable one based mostly on the knowledge shared, after which ship the caller an info packet.
![A transcript of a Home Safety Hotline call, with Dan shrieking that “IT WASN’T BOB FROM ACCOUNTING!! IT WASN’T BOB AT ALL!! I SAW IT SCURRY AWAY!! WHY DIDN’T YOU WARN ME?? WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE INFO YOU SENT ME?? WHY IS IT GROWING BIGGER?? GET AWAY, STAY BAC—”](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nN9u85sWRboRkQDt6NY4sk9M8RQ=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25261746/ss_bd5cebe222f9bfdbe48a6bbe17f1d0ffa632155a.jpg)
Picture: Night time Sign Leisure
If all goes properly, I received’t hear from them once more. If I make an oopsie doodle and misdiagnose the problem, I obtain a follow-up name that ranges from irritated to energetic homicide. I additionally get just a few crank calls, simply to maintain me on my toes. Once I see a caller, I get to guess whether or not I’m getting a brand new inquiry, getting yelled at for a slip-up, or about to get a crank name from a bored teen.
Dwelling Security Hotline is the form of sport that may be knocked out inside a few hours. Even if you wish to strive for all the endings and discover every final result, it is a comparatively bite-sized sport. Regardless of its size, it’s memorable and refreshingly distinctive.
There’s a guidelines of stuff you’re prone to encounter briefly horror video games: leap scares, the protagonist narrating their actions, creeping by way of darkish hallways. Dwelling Security Hotline has none of these items. The horror comes from getting a glimpse at one other world, one the place mirror nymphs lurk within the woods to steal your face or a portal may quietly open in your basement. The extra authorization you unlock, the weirder issues get, and the slide into weirdness is punctuated by new company movies and deranged emails from a former worker.
It’s very efficient analog horror, full with mouse and keyboard sound results. I used to be born in 1990, so I felt proper at residence with the Dwelling Security Hotline interface. The moments the place the interface is gradual, the sound distorts, or a picture is badly compressed convey a robust sense of wrongness and unease. This implies even mundane calls about black mildew and carpenter ants assist ratchet up the strain, and the large scares land higher consequently.
![Home Safety Hotline’s home risk profile. This particular profile is for a creature called the Common Hobb, who cleans areas of a house as part of their cryptid activities.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6licQMl0D1Aomw3LY84O97SsNd0=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25261776/ss_7de5c1c8864a249283337940368440273d37e20d.jpg)
Picture: Night time Sign Leisure
As a substitute of leap scares and violin stings, the horror comes from gradual, creeping realizations. That buyer I simply helped has consumed a deadly toxin. I do know it, and my supervisors realize it, however he doesn’t. This girl calling in about her lacking youngster has no concept that her son has fallen prey to a mystical phenomenon. Once I test the suitable file, the documentation confirms he’s not coming again… however the mother is eligible for a reminiscence wipe!
One name specifically actually shook me. I did not diagnose a creeping plantlike development in a person, and certain sufficient, he known as the subsequent day. However in the course of our dialog, the plant swelled and cracked by way of his cranium. That is all conveyed by way of low-quality audio, but it surely’s so completely off and disturbing that it caught with me for days afterward.
There’s one thing placing about coping with folks in immense peril from the secure distance of a cubicle or residence workplace. I used to be reminded of the concern I felt whereas wiping down grills and cleansing my utensils, hoping I may belief our protocols however fearing that one thing would someway go flawed. It’s a concern that feels rather more private and fewer well-worn than many frequent horror tropes, and that’s a part of why I discovered the expertise so deliciously unsettling.
Dwelling Security Hotline is obtainable on Itch.io and Steam.