Home Safety Hotline is an analog horror inspired telephone operator simulator where you answer incoming callers' questions about what's inside their home. Read through a vast catalog of common pests and household hazards, and do your best to become an expert in home safety. You will be held responsible for what happens.
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- Interesting idea, kinda reminiscent of Hypnospace outlaw but for monsters.
- Short and sweet, doesn't overstay its welcome.
- The voice acting is good enough, and the dialogue is funny to carry the playthrough.
- Thought the main mechanic would be harder but its actually easy to play this.
- Short and sweet, doesn't overstay its welcome.
- The voice acting is good enough, and the dialogue is funny to carry the playthrough.
- Thought the main mechanic would be harder but its actually easy to play this.
I never really understood these games where the horror is mostly present when you're NOT doing well. If you pay attention and are good at the game (I feel like I was, I mostly had perfect scores until the very end!) most of the horror is stuff you'll have to look up on YouTube. It seems common in this scene of games, what's up with that?
I'm fond of this game, though! The horror that is there is entertaining enough, there are some interesting ideas here. When you beat the game you get to see some developer artwork and commentary, and it's clear that this wasn't just some quick job to capitalize on what YouTubers would make a viral video on. It's funny, too. I also am realizing I'm a sucker for games that have interfaces that resemble older operating systems!
I'm fond of this game, though! The horror that is there is entertaining enough, there are some interesting ideas here. When you beat the game you get to see some developer artwork and commentary, and it's clear that this wasn't just some quick job to capitalize on what YouTubers would make a viral video on. It's funny, too. I also am realizing I'm a sucker for games that have interfaces that resemble older operating systems!
Reading the art book and finding out the lead dev used to work at Evermore Park makes this game make more sense. Not necessarily scary, but it feels more accurately like a weird FMV game from the mid-90s than people trying to do conscious parodies of the style. Nails that feel of a bunch of actors getting together and putting together a weird interactive project (see: MODE, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, Night Trap).
Press on, employee.
My friend Larry has been acting a little weird lately. He keeps standing in the corner staring at me, telling me we should play Home Safety Hotline in a voice that's not his, and there's this really horrible smell like rotten eggs that's been filling up my apartment. I don't know if it's related, but Larry - who has taken to crawling on the walls and ceiling - showed me the trailer and explained that it's created by Nick Lives, who previously worked on Hypno Space Outlaw. I was intrigued and then partook in a large feast of cornmeal that had been curiously laid out on the dining room table, as the voices in the walls demanded.
Home Safety Hotline sits the player down with a bestiary of common home hazards ranging from bees to Boggarts, house flies to Dorcha, which the player must refer to in order to properly diagnose the problems of callers who are currently in various states of duress. True to the real-world experience of working in a call center, the loop of taking a call and finding a solution can be a bit rote, and much of the challenge is borne from callers providing inaccurate or conflicting pieces of information. On some level, it almost feels like a Loveline simulator. Lot of calls about kids getting eaten tonight... Must be a full moon.
Caller: It... It... It stole me...! It stole me!! I'm not me anymore, I'm... it took me! I can't see myself anymore, I'm gone! Help me!! Help me get b--
Adam: Alright, I'm putting her on hold. Sick of her already... Drew, how many times do we get calls like this and the answer is always carpenter ants?
Drew: All the time.
Adam: Helen? Get yourself some Raid, babydoll.
Those expecting the heavy puzzle solving and obtuseness of Hypno Space Outlaw might then be a little disappointed with how straight-forward Hotline is, but it's really more a vehicle for some very imaginative and entertaining writing, and the excitement of seeing new entries in the bestiary unlock during each subsequent shift dulls how samey most nights are on a mechanical level. You won't hack into a bunch of weird databases or decipher codes here, and Hotline's central mystery doesn't leave many unanswered questions by the end of its short 3-4 hour run, but that's fine. In fact, after biting into several incredibly long games over the last couple of months, it's preferable.
My only real complaint is that the game only leverages audio queues once, and calls rarely share the same answer, which trivializes the late game through a simple process of elimination. Otherwise, I am so into what the game is going for that it feels like targeted content. It's hard to dig into specifics without spoiling some of the more inventive entries or giving away the plot, but I do appreciate how ranged and varied a lot of Hotline's creatures are. You'll frequently diagnose problems caused by benign beings like toilet Hobbs, which enjoy cleaning your bathroom and can be placated by providing them a single egg at night. You'll also have to deal with more abstract and frightening entities like memory wisps, which essentially give their victims Alzheimer's. No cure for that, you have to let them run their course. What can you say other than "good times?"
Maybe I'm predisposed to whatever kind of weird horror Nick Lives is putting out into the world (Night Signal looks interesting and I'm way into the premise of Please Insert Disc), reviews on here appear more mixed, but I do think this is worth checking out if you want something short, simple, and backed by some really fun writing. I have to go now, the soil is calling me...
My friend Larry has been acting a little weird lately. He keeps standing in the corner staring at me, telling me we should play Home Safety Hotline in a voice that's not his, and there's this really horrible smell like rotten eggs that's been filling up my apartment. I don't know if it's related, but Larry - who has taken to crawling on the walls and ceiling - showed me the trailer and explained that it's created by Nick Lives, who previously worked on Hypno Space Outlaw. I was intrigued and then partook in a large feast of cornmeal that had been curiously laid out on the dining room table, as the voices in the walls demanded.
Home Safety Hotline sits the player down with a bestiary of common home hazards ranging from bees to Boggarts, house flies to Dorcha, which the player must refer to in order to properly diagnose the problems of callers who are currently in various states of duress. True to the real-world experience of working in a call center, the loop of taking a call and finding a solution can be a bit rote, and much of the challenge is borne from callers providing inaccurate or conflicting pieces of information. On some level, it almost feels like a Loveline simulator. Lot of calls about kids getting eaten tonight... Must be a full moon.
Caller: It... It... It stole me...! It stole me!! I'm not me anymore, I'm... it took me! I can't see myself anymore, I'm gone! Help me!! Help me get b--
Adam: Alright, I'm putting her on hold. Sick of her already... Drew, how many times do we get calls like this and the answer is always carpenter ants?
Drew: All the time.
Adam: Helen? Get yourself some Raid, babydoll.
Those expecting the heavy puzzle solving and obtuseness of Hypno Space Outlaw might then be a little disappointed with how straight-forward Hotline is, but it's really more a vehicle for some very imaginative and entertaining writing, and the excitement of seeing new entries in the bestiary unlock during each subsequent shift dulls how samey most nights are on a mechanical level. You won't hack into a bunch of weird databases or decipher codes here, and Hotline's central mystery doesn't leave many unanswered questions by the end of its short 3-4 hour run, but that's fine. In fact, after biting into several incredibly long games over the last couple of months, it's preferable.
My only real complaint is that the game only leverages audio queues once, and calls rarely share the same answer, which trivializes the late game through a simple process of elimination. Otherwise, I am so into what the game is going for that it feels like targeted content. It's hard to dig into specifics without spoiling some of the more inventive entries or giving away the plot, but I do appreciate how ranged and varied a lot of Hotline's creatures are. You'll frequently diagnose problems caused by benign beings like toilet Hobbs, which enjoy cleaning your bathroom and can be placated by providing them a single egg at night. You'll also have to deal with more abstract and frightening entities like memory wisps, which essentially give their victims Alzheimer's. No cure for that, you have to let them run their course. What can you say other than "good times?"
Maybe I'm predisposed to whatever kind of weird horror Nick Lives is putting out into the world (Night Signal looks interesting and I'm way into the premise of Please Insert Disc), reviews on here appear more mixed, but I do think this is worth checking out if you want something short, simple, and backed by some really fun writing. I have to go now, the soil is calling me...
This feels very underdeveloped. Gets boring to play because yeah reading about Toilet Gnome or Wine Sprite is not that fun after seeing dozens of similar entries. After 2 or 3 in-game days I thought to myself "Is that really it?" and unfortunately it is. The idea is there, it's really cool, the visual style is also there, but the gameplay makes it feel soooo empty.
Solid little game. Not scary, just sometimes off-setting that borders on quirkiness. I feel like they could've done a lot more with the story, however, and the ending was a bit tone-deaf. Regardless, definitely suggest playing it, as the gameplay loop is quite satisfying.