CHANNEL 9 · GUEST HOUR● LIVE FROM PORT MERCY

RECMAR 10 1984

Summer 1984. Fifty ships, one welcome, and free clinics that cure everything. Everyone loves the Guests. You run a video store, you own a camcorder, and you know what they are.

Play chapter one free

2D stealth horror10 chaptersiPhone and AndroidTraitors change every runMature

Tape 1 · the truth

The clinics don't cure you. They eat what you love.

A Guest's halo is a mouth. Patients sleep under it and wake up healthy, calm and empty: the name of their dog, the night they met, the song from their wedding, gone. Magnetic tape is the one thing the Guests can't fool. Film them, and the bad frames show the teeth.

Recovered tape, Northview Clinic loading dock, July 14 1984.
A patient asleep in a clinic chair while a Guest's halo opens into a mouth of teeth above his head
"Relax. You won't remember a thing."
A VHS frame of a Guest whose halo has turned into a ring of teeth
Frame 2,114. The halo, unglitched.

This is the game

One night. One camcorder. A whole city looking for you.

You play Sam, owner of Rewind Video, in real time across a living 2D city at night. Patrols carry flashlights, drones sweep searchlights down Main Street, and your own neighbors report anything strange. These are screens from chapters one and two. Chapter one is free to play in your browser today.

Gameplay: the player films a Guest with a glowing halo at the floodlit clinic loading dock
Film themHold REC. Through the viewfinder, the halo shows its teeth. That footage is the proof that turns the city.
Gameplay: red alert vision cones close in on the player as a searchlight turns red
Get seen, get huntedOne look too long and the cones turn red. Run, break line of sight, dive into a dumpster.
Gameplay: Old Town's main street at night with streetlights, a neon video store and a drone searchlight
Old Town after curfewNeon, sodium lights and a Pearl drone drifting over Main Street. Every block is a puzzle of light and shadow.
Gameplay: dialogue with a dock worker shown as a Polaroid portrait
Recruit strangersAsk about their dog, their husband, their daughter's birthday. The Cured forget. Informers ask too many questions.
Gameplay: inside the Channel 9 station, a Guest and a guard patrol near the transmitter room
Break into Channel 9Hold the signal for twenty seconds while a Guest tours the halls and stops at the glass.
Gameplay: in orderly scrubs, the player films a Guest through a clinic observation window
Film a cureChapter two. In orderly scrubs, you film through the observation glass while the Guest inside looks up every few seconds.
Gameplay: rows of sleepers with golden halos in a dark basement as the player leads Tony away
Bring Tony homeWake him with his own birthday tape, then lead him past the sleepers before 3:00 AM.
Gameplay: the player rewires a fuse box puzzle while a security camera sweeps the yard
Puzzles under pressureRewire a fuse box, crack a keypad, tune a transmitter. The guards keep walking while you work.
Gameplay: a records cabinet puzzle with look-alike patient folders next to the intake log
Find the right folderMatch the intake log to one of the look-alike files. A wrong drawer slams, and the clock on Tony loses twenty seconds.
Gameplay: the end-of-chapter screen with stars, a tape library and a season map
Morning reveals everythingWho was Cured, who was an informer, how many stars you earned, and which chapter just unlocked.
Chapter one running on a phone screen with a virtual stick and REC and ACT buttons

Built for phones

StickMove. Push it all the way to run, and accept the noise.

RECHold to film. You move slowly and everyone notices a camera.

ACTTalk, hide, pick up. Hold it to spray a billboard or keep a stolen signal on air.

A chapter is one long night, with checkpoints along the way, so it fits a commute and still pulls you back.

Play chapter one free now

How you play

Stealth, horror, and a city that has to choose.

Your weapon

The camcorder

On tape, Guests' halos become mouths and the Cured carry a ring of static over their heads. Proof is how you win public opinion.

Your defense

Hide in plain sight

Flashlights, searchlights, sweeping security cameras and Guests who see in the dark. Running, filming and spray paint draw eyes; a thrown bottle pulls every guard in earshot. Dumpsters, phone booths and hedges keep you alive.

Your problem

Trust no one

Strangers ask to join every night. Some are Cured, some work for the Liaison Office, and the traitors change every time you play.

Your fear

Caught means Cured

They walk you into a Friendship Clinic. You won't remember a thing. Rewind the tape and try again, if you have rewinds left. On Nightmare you get one.

Your night

Long, full chapters

Every chapter is one night with eleven objectives, puzzles you solve while the guards keep walking, side jobs, three stars to earn, and five lost tapes hidden in the corners of the map.

Your reason to stay up

Every night ends badly

Each chapter closes on a cliffhanger and unlocks the next. Chapter one ends with the Speaker saying your name on every TV in the city.

Season one · ten nights

Ten chapters to make a city take back its welcome.

  1. 1

    The Tape

    Play now

    Film a Guest up close, escape the clinic, and get your tape on Channel 9.

  2. 3

    Static

    Full season

    Someone in your cell is talking to the Liaison Office. The raids know your routes.

  3. 4

    Guest Hour

    Full season

    Get inside the studio during a live broadcast and say the truth on air.

  4. 5

    The Fasting

    Full season

    A starving Guest who refuses to feed wants to help you. Can a Guest be trusted?

  5. 6

    Sunset Heights

    Full season

    Your whole street has check-ups this week. Your mother is on the list.

  6. 7

    The Barge

    Full season

    The crates go in heavy and come out light. Find out what they carry.

  7. 8

    Welcome Day

    Full season

    The Speaker visits Port Mercy in person, and half the city lines the parade route.

  8. 9

    The Speaker

    Full season

    Look it in the mouth.

  9. 10

    Withdrawn

    Full season

    Make the city take back its welcome, or watch it smile forever.

Three stars per chapter, for staying unseen and finishing every side job.

Lost tapes hidden on every map, each with a recording you can play back.

Gear unlocked with proof: a night lens, a police scanner, a bigger bag.

New strangers and new traitors on every replay.

Who do you trust?

Port Mercy, after curfew.

Lou Park
Lou ParkChannel 9 technician. Knows the back door code.
Tony Vitale
Tony VitaleMechanic. Your oldest friend. Keeps the blank tapes.
Marta Ruiz
Marta RuizNurse. Ask her about her daughter's birthday.
Walt Brennan
Walt BrennanUnloads the Guests' barge. The crates come out light.
Gloria Reyes
Gloria ReyesWorks the front desk at a Friendship Clinic.
Earl Dobbs
Earl DobbsDrives nights. Sees who comes out of the clinics wrong.
Ruth Abernathy
Ruth AbernathyRetired teacher. Knows when someone is lying.
Priya Shah
Priya ShahNews photographer. Every negative of a Guest comes back fogged.
Danny Cho
Danny ChoCampus DJ with a low-power transmitter.
Vince Malone
Vince Malone3 a.m. radio host. Half his callers' wives came home different.
Dr. Grace Okafor
Dr. Grace OkaforThe neurologist who said the Cured lost something. Then she vanished.

Every playthrough, some of these people are already Cured and one may be an informer. They don't know which ones. Neither do you.

The Guests' rules

Three things they cannot change.

1

They can only take what is offered.

The Welcome Accords invited them in. If enough of the city withdraws its welcome, they have to leave. That is how you win.

2

They never say anything false.

Every broadcast is true words arranged to mislead. Listen to what the Speaker leaves out.

3

Tape sees what eyes cannot.

Halos ruin magnetic tape. On VHS, the bad frames show the mouth, and the Cured show static.

Lost tapes

Listen closely. Everyone sounds fine.

The Speaker
"Friends. We have watched you for a long time, and we love what you are."
Dan Brightwell, Guest Hour
"Tonight: the new Friendship Clinic in Sunset Heights opens its doors."
Clinic receptionist
"Please, relax. Lie back. You won't remember a thing."
Marta Ruiz, nurse
"My daughter? Her birthday is... it's in the spring. I think."
The Rewinders, pirate signal
"Look in their mouths. The clinics lie."

Port Mercy, 1984

A city that loves its Guests.

A pastel Friendship Clinic with a long, polite queue
Sunset Heights. Free care for all.
A smiling woman with empty eyes at her front door while her family stares
She came home smiling.
The resistance hideout in the back room of a video store
Rewind Video, Old Town. Be kind, rewind.
A red stencil of a ring of teeth beside flyers reading Look in their mouths
The ring with teeth. Spray it where they speak.
Regime poster of a smiling Guest with a golden halo
Welcome them. Trust them.
Rows of smiling sleepers with golden rings above their heads in a hospital basement
The Quiet Room, Northview basement.

The facts

What you're getting.

Platforms
iPhone and Android first. PC later.
Price
Chapter one is free. One purchase unlocks the season. No ads, no loot boxes, no energy timers.
Length
Ten long chapters, each one night with eleven objectives. Four difficulty levels from Easy to Nightmare, plus replays for three stars and every lost tape.
How scary is it?
Dread more than gore: smiling neighbors, a friend who comes home empty, a halo that opens. There is blood, and it can be turned down.
Rating
Mature. Horror, blood, memory loss.
Languages
English and Spanish at launch.
Status
In development. Chapter one is free to play in your browser today, with saved progress and four difficulty levels. The full season comes to iPhone and Android.