Hello and welcome back to The Backlog, the weekly column where I review video games based on a certain genre each month. For March, we’re looking at video games I consider as works of art. Last week we reviewed “Venba,” but today we’re going to shift gears and look at a horror game. For today’s work of art, we’re looking at “At Dead of Night.”
“At Dead of Night” is a horror game developed and published by Baggy Cat Limited. It was initially released in November 2020 and is available through Steam for Microsoft Windows. But what separates “At Dead of Night” from other horror games is that it can also be considered a horror film at the same time. Baggy Cat Limited made the ingenious and creative decision to use real actors within the game.
It doesn’t use actors in the way “Call of Duty” or “Until Dawn” does. Various scenes are filmed with real actors, and these scenes can be activated through certain actions. It immerses players and turns the game into a real experience.
The story of “At Dead of Night” starts off with our character, Maya (played by Chloé Booyens). She arrives at the Sea View Hotel where her and her friends are staying for a music festival taking place nearby. She’s greeted by Jimmy Hall (Huld Martha), the owner and sole employee at the hotel. After an unsettling first impression Maya heads to her room for the night, meanwhile Jimmy begins talking to his mysterious alter ego and goes on to capture and tie up Maya’s friends within their rooms.
Maya must traverse the hotel, find evidence and eventually discover the truth about Jimmy and an ominous character who he calls, the Great Hugo.
It becomes clear to players that there’s more to Jimmy and the hotel than meets the eye. There are various ghosts throughout the hotel and players can communicate with them using the Ghost and Spirit Receiver. By finding certain items in each hotel room, Maya can interrogate ghosts to find out more about them and progress their story to find out how they became ghosts.
Players can also use a compass to help direct them to areas or rooms where ghosts dwell, since it is very easy to get turned around in the hotel. In case you’ve forgotten what you were working on or are lost, players can use the scrying mirror to gain a hint. But beware, because Jimmy is constantly on the hunt for Maya. Players can find various bolt locks for rooms, allowing you to prevent Jimmy from entering your room and keeping you safe. If you don’t have a bolt lock, you can also hide in the bathroom or wardrobe within each room. But there is always the risk of Jimmy finding you, knocking you out and placing you in a random room. After these instances players must travel back to the ground floor to collect their items.
Spoilers for “At Dead of Night” story beyond this point!
Each of the ghosts Maya speaks with sheds light on Jimmy’s character and the story of the Sea View Hotel. The first ghost we encounter is Amy Bell, a little girl we see after visiting the Lower Ground floor and stepping back onto the elevator. Small scares like these are spread throughout the game, so those with sensitive hearts should be wary.
This 10-year-old girl reveals to us that Jimmy was a disturbed child, one who stole things from her, burnt her stuffed toy and eventually caused her demise. Amy’s story ends after it’s revealed that Jimmy coerced her into drinking whiskey, which resulted in Amy jumping off the third-floor banister.
Through other characters like Doctor Bose, Harvey and Jimmy’s mother, Rose Hall, players can piece together the fact that there had been a death at the hotel before Jimmy’s reign. Completing Rose’s story reveals that Jimmy’s deceased father, Hugo Hall has possessed his son and pushes him to commit these acts of violence.
Hugo was an abusive husband and father, and Rose killed him and buried him underneath the hotel. I do want to mention that Baggy Cat Limited goes out of their way to let players know that this is a case of ghostly possession, not a case of dissociative identity disorder (DID) or schizophrenia.
Many forms of media villainize people who suffer from mental illnesses resulting in multiple personalities or erratic behavior, but the developers did not want to encourage this stereotype and let players know about this every time they boot up the game. I do want to applaud them for taking this step, as those suffering from mental illnesses are consistently turned into monsters by the media.
Getting back to the artistic aspect of “At Dead of Night,” I immediately fell in love with their take on a simple point-and-click gameplay by turning it into an interactive movie. The only live action parts of the game were the actors and whatever props they were using. The rest of the environment was digitally designed, and every movement resembles a real camera shifting from scene to scene.
Using the camera like this also leaves the players open to getting attacked by Jimmy, as the swift movements could easily have Maya run straight into Jimmy’s bat.
I could go on much longer about the small details spread throughout “At Dead of Night,” but, this type of game must be experienced, not told. I genuinely feel that horror movie buffs or detective movie lovers would enjoy “At Dead of Night.” It is easy to get lost in the hotel, even though many hints are available to players it can be tiring traveling back and forth from room to room, trying to figure out what evidence connects to which ghost.