Apple TV's Severance struck a nerve for many of us with its depiction of the corporate workplace as an alienating world of surreal, sometimes frightening inanity. Now a new video game looks set to tap into a similar vein, but with a visual approach that makes it feel all the more unsettling: 1-bit 3D graphics.
PAGER turns a mundane office environment from the 1990s into a setting for an unnerving psychological horror. Starting your first day on a new job, you must follow the increasingly bizarre and Kafkaesque instructions that arrive on your pager to try to climb the corporate ladder. But things soon start to turn very strange (for more inspiration see our interviews with the best indie game devs).
As well as the literature of Franz Kafka, indie developer Bilge cites the work of director David Lynch, TV series The Prisoner (1967) and he video game The Stanley Parable as influences. That should give a good idea of the unsettling atmosphere to expect from the game. That huge staircase into darkness also reminds me of Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.
On Steam. Bilge says the game blends horror and humour over 60 floors, with caffeine-addicted butterflies. and palette and glow settings. It looks like there are lots of surreal details and surprises lying in wait.
PAGER's art style proves one again that photorealism can be overrated when it comes to inspiring terror. The pixelated 3D graphics and gorgeous black-and-white dithering don't only root the game in its historical setting but they also make it feel more disturbing since things are less clear. You have only the bare bones of information that you need to understand the scene, making the world feel familiar but mysterious and alien at the same time. I can't wait for the full game.
Pager will be released on 6 August. You can wishlist the game and download the demo on Steam.
If you're starting to develop yourself, see our guides to the best software for game dev and the best laptops for game development. We also have a guide to how to get started in game design.
