Indie developer Team17’s Killer Frequency, out June 1, surprises me by having among the greatest, most convincing voice appearing and dialogue I’ve witnessed in a horror sport. It’s a tragicomedy set in a radio station within the ‘80s, and this necessitates a schmooze-y appeal for its characters, however I’m impressed by how nicely it executes its conceit to create a uniquely entertaining, scary expertise.
Team17’s singular horror imaginative and prescient already impressed me this yr when I performed Dredge, a half-spooky, half-chill fishing sport, however Killer Frequency is someway much more area of interest than that. Throughout my hour-or-so preview, I begin believing it was made in a lab to enchantment to individuals precisely like me. In different phrases, individuals who go to the movie show to observe slashers and chuckle on the dangerous deaths, and who’re, individually however with equal ardour, nostalgic concerning the indescribable sexual cost of their faculty radio station.
Killer Frequency dips its fingers into each these classes and smudges them like acrylic paint, coloring a gaming expertise that’s, greater than it’s an precise gaming expertise, about dialog. As Forrest Nash, a tarnished bigshot who went from 5 million listeners to a humbling 35, I function the Gallows Creek late-night radio present on the anniversary of serial killer the Whistling Man’s presumed demise. Solely, as the sport informs me instantly, he’s not useless. He’s blowing out a dehydrated, three-note tune close to the police station, then the woods, and throughout our small city, the place he’s killing everybody he can catch.
One in every of his victims is Sheriff Matthews, Gallows’ first line of protection and, sadly, certainly one of its three whole cops. The opposite two are handed out after an encounter with the Whistling Man and on trip in Cancun, respectively.
So whereas 911 operator Leslie makes the four-hour spherical journey to get assist from the closest city, all 911 calls are being rerouted to my radio station. In first individual point-of-view, and with the help of my often flirty producer Peggy, I introduce amusingly on-the-nose, fictional synth-pop data like “Stab within the Twilight” by Knife and EZ; play paid, hyperlocal advertisements from “Giblet Area” (identified for its “well-known gourd measure-off”); and take calls from panicked neighbors encountering the Whistling Man.
Although Forrest welcomes his 35 listeners again to the station with skilled relish—you’re listening to “189.16…The Scream,” he says, drawn-out and throaty—he isn’t an ideal 911 operator. Snared like squirrels, residents beg him for assist in selecting weapons, leaping their automobiles, and sneaking out of workplace buildings to keep away from getting beheaded by the Whistling Man, and, as him, I choose from dialogue choices, a few of them timed, to assist them obtain this objective.
I discover myself utilizing a mixture of intestine feeling and Peggy’s recommendation to go looking the workplace for helpful data, finally both telling individuals to select the taser over the pepper spray as a result of I need to, or to place the screwdriver within the ignition as a result of {a magazine} I discovered within the rest room says so. This method has combined outcomes, and I find yourself getting two residents killed. Oops!
The sport is deft at sustaining its semi-serious tone even in these tense moments, usually permitting gamers to select from both somber or flippant dialogue to resolve how empathetic Forrest ought to really feel throughout his second as hometown anti-hero. After I by chance lead a jazz operating lady proper into the Whistling Man’s blade, for instance, I select flippant, and Forrest says he hopes the girl is jazz flying to heaven.
I’m glad that this fits my humorousness, as a result of there isn’t a lot taking place in Killer Frequency except for what you hear over the telephone. Although the sport appears to be arrange like 5 Nights at Freddy’s, the place efficiently navigating a state of affairs slowly drags you later into the night time—12 a.m., then 12:42, 1:04, and so forth—many of the motion occurs off-screen.
The sport’s graphics are stylistically cohesive—clean, colourful, and outlined in skinny, cartoonish black strains—however aside from Peggy’s silhouette fidgeting anxiously on the opposite aspect of the published sales space, there isn’t a lot visible stimulation. I discover myself flicking by the station’s report assortment or sinking crumpled paper right into a trash can’s basketball hoop whereas individuals scream at me for assist.
However I’m not significantly bothered by visible boredom. Intently listening to callers’ predicaments in an effort to unravel and resolve them is enjoyable sufficient for me, somebody who, like Forrest, interviews individuals on the job, and recreationally likes gossip and synth-pop. The voice actors performances are, throughout the board, immaculate, dealing with strains’ tone and cadence with a light-weight contact and delivering a convincing black comedy.
I’m excited to play extra of Killer Frequency. Renewing curiosity in radio may save individuals from making extra podcasts.
