Dark Deliveries: A Review of NIGHTSLINK
The horrific mundane, one tape at a time
A baby cries in a silent hallway. You have a paper with apartment numbers and a job to do.
NIGHTSLINK (available on PC) is a short horror game put out by developer Noiseminded. The game shares DNA with similar titles (including Paratopic, which I wrote about here) but feel like its own thing. The first thing you notice upon starting NIGHTSLINK is the beautifully muddy graphics. It has the low-poly PS1 look that unnerves so well. Shadows run deep and the environments are fittingly stark. The game’s music is droning and ominous, tipping over into a John Carpenter rhythm as the credits begin to roll. The music (credited to Valter Abreu) is a highlight.
The story is slight enough that I don’t want to spoil anything. You’re a delivery man with tapes. The world you exist in seems to be broken. The dialogue you have with your intended clients grows more disturbing as you go about your mundane work. These people are addicted, and your work is changing them.
NIGHTSLINK works because it holds back. Things escalate, but this world is not over-explained. It’s a horror game that is about the job and about the atmosphere of a garbled world. It’s about desperate people and the horror that hums beneath that desperation.
A baby cries in a silent hallway. You are the nightslink.
Disclaimer: Game Loot was provided a Steam copy of the game for an honest review.
