From the studio that brought you Mr. Hopp's Playhouse comes this Survival Horror game inspired by early-2000's Point And Click Games seen on Flash websites.
On Christmas Eve, Officer Frederick Hartwell believes he's on a routine call-out to settle a domestic dispute but gets more than he bargained for when he finds that the house is empty, it's unnaturally cold and something seems to be lurking in the darkness. Can you escape?
The trailer can be watched here
. This game, released on December 1st, 2020, can be found on itch.io and Google Play.
Cold Call contains examples of:
- Alien Geometries: When Officer Hartwell finally escapes the house at the end, he finds the street and his car are nowhere to be seen, just a frozen snowy wasteland as far as the eye can see. The officer on the other end of his radio says he didn't see him leave the house. Then the monster appears at his feet.
- Alone with the Psycho: It's just you and the monster alone in the house.
- Ambiguous Situation: What happened to the family? Where did the monster come from? Was Adrian cheating on Sarah with Charlotte? Was Charlotte aware she was part of an affair? Did Adrian murder Sarah or did she really just disappear? Was the monster really Sarah back for revenge? Did she murder the children as well as Adrian? What happened to Officer Hartwell at the end? All this is left up to interpretation.
- Big Bad: The snow monster.
- Black Eyes of Evil: The monster, as the page image provides.
- A Deadly Affair: At first it seems like a year after Sarah went missing, Adrian had moved on and met a girl named Charlotte. Then little things like Adrian's search history, his recycling bin full of every photo with Sarah in it, and the monster's vengeful dialogue implies he was already cheating on Sarah before she went missing, then murdered her and framed it with a missing person's report so he could settle with Charlotte. It also seems Sarah didn't take too kindly to that.
- Domestic Abuse: Or at least that's what the people who heard screaming and shouting coming from that house thought. If the monster's dialogue is to be believed, this truly was the case for Adrian and Sarah.
- Downer Ending: The entire family is either dead or disappeared and Officer Hartwell disappears as well. The case is considered to be a hoax and Charlotte is never punished for her involvement in the affair and she gets away scott-free.
- First-Person Shooter: This game takes place in a first-person POV while the officer holds a gun out the whole time. The gun will definitely come in handy when you finally run into the monster.
- Infinite Flashlight: Your flashlight never runs out of power.
- Jump Scare: When the monster sees you (and especially if it catches you), of course.
- Karma Houdini: Charlotte. Whether or not she knew she was part of an affair, her involvement led to the disappearances and/or deaths of the entire family including an innocent police officer who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The ending reveals she was never arrested either.
- Kill It with Fire: The monster is a maniac snowman, and when you run into it later, you will be instructed to build a flamethrower. Do the math.
- Lean and Mean: Guess who.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The game's main schtick.
- Present Day: The setting of this 2020 game takes place during... 2020.
- Retraux: Like mentioned, the style of the game takes after early Point-and-Click Flash games online.
- Samus Is a Girl: The monster may or may not be the vengeful spirit of Sarah.
- Scare Chord: Takes place whenever a Jump Scare happens.
- Snowy Screen of Death: The ending, when the monster succeeds in catching you.
- Twisted Christmas: It's Christmas Eve, and there's a monster loose in a house with the people previously inside having gone missing.
- Woman Scorned: If the monster truly is Sarah, then the whole game's plot is about her taking revenge on Adrian for cheating on her and quite possibly killing him along with the rest of the family and Officer Hartwell.
- Would Hurt a Child: By the time Officer Hartwell arrives, the entire family has disappeared, implying the monster not only killed Adrian but his kids too. The monster's dialogue at the end implies she took the kids away because Adrian took them from her.
