Pager: Why Does This Nightmare Office Feel So Bloody Cosy? Asking for a Friend (My Soul).
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Despite its '1-bit dread' aesthetic and challenging arbitrary tasks, Pager offers a surprisingly cosy, Kafka-esque journey through corporate absurdity that's worth a look for any curious gamer.
Right, hands up, who's ever found themselves strangely... comfortable... in a digital nightmare? Because that's exactly where I'm at with *Pager*. This game, from the wonderfully self-deprecating 'bilge', is pitching itself as 60 floors of '1-bit dread', a proper Kafka-esque corporate labyrinth. And fair dinkum, mate, my brain keeps telling me it should be unsettling, but my soul is practically asking for a cuppa and a biscuit.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell over at Rock Paper Shotgun (cheers for the initial deep dive, Edwin!) had a similar 'what the heck?' moment, wondering if he'd gone 'full 9-to-5 zombie.' Honestly, reckon we both might be onto something. It’s got this wicked 90s vibe, doesn't it? Think pebbly Mac wallpaper, those vaguely Bauhaus prints your auntie had, and yeah, actual pagers – though I never had one myself, too busy trying to get my Tamagotchi to evolve. Even the incessant whine of the CCTV cameras, which gets properly piercing as you walk underneath, somehow adds to the 'cosy' rather than the 'creepy'. It's like finding comfort in the hum of a server room, or the gentle crackle of a misfired spell.
So, what's the gig? You're an office drone, naturally, and your enigmatic boss barks orders via pager. 'Take this box to room 4,' it'll say. You trundle along, full of purpose, only to find room 4 is... full of fish. Swimming by distant starlight, no less. Then it's 'jump three times,' except – get this – there's no bloody jump button! It’s a beautifully absurd send-up of corporate life, that endless climb up a ladder to nowhere, dictated by bosses who might as well be speaking in ancient runes. It's got this blend of humour and horror, wrapped in a blanket of strange, sleepy existentialism.
While there are a few 'soft' jump-scares – which is a curious descriptor, innit? – I totally get Edwin's point about the truly unnerving bits. It's not the big boos, it's the tiny, wrong details. Like a butterfly that *crackles* when it lands on your coffee cup. Butterflies, mate, should float, not sound like a bad modem connection! That's the stuff that makes you go 'hang on, did reality just glitch?'
The dev's clearly got a brain full of wild inspirations – Kafka, *Severance*, Lynch, *The Stanley Parable*, *Serial Experiments Lain*, *Sonny Boy*, even *Kid Pix* for those visual vibes. That’s a bloody strong cocktail for any digital wizard! Now, Edwin did mention the demo, which covers the first ten floors, felt a tad 'dad joke energy' at times, a bit *WarioWare* but without the promised fiendishness. And honestly, I get that. There's a curious tension there. The developer straight up says *Pager* 'shouldn't give you any satisfaction.' And while I appreciate the honesty, it does make a bloke wonder: can a game actively *try* to dissatisfy you and still keep you hooked? Or is that just a cheeky bit of developer meta-commentary, like a wizard deliberately miscasting a spell just to see what happens?
Reckon it might be a bit of a wind-up, a playful challenge from 'bilge.' The trailers hint at more elaborate, chilling scenarios and a bigger narrative arc brewing in the full 60 floors. So, even if the demo is a bit of a tease, it’s absolutely worth firing up the browser demo on Itch.io (or grabbing it on Steam if you're feeling fancy). Especially if you're the kind of pioneer who believes humanity's artistic pinnacle was hit with *Kid Pix*. Because mate, exploring these digital oddities, these unexpected corners of game design, that’s where the real magic happens, isn't it? It’s where we find the next weird, wonderful thing, even if it’s just a crackling butterfly in a cosy office hell. Keep exploring, you digital wizards!
*(Original reporting by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell for Rock Paper Shotgun)*
Tags: Indie Game, Experimental, Horror, Satire, Retro
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun