At Dead Of Night

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A seaside hotel, a landlord on the prowl, and ghosts with something to tell you.

Platforms: PC
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (94% of 3,599 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Baggy Cat Ltd.
Released: 2020

Get it on Steam Baggy Cat (maker's site)

What frightens Maya is trapped in a remote hotel run by Jimmy Hall, a psychopath who has tied up her friends and is roaming the building looking for her. To free them she has to talk to the ghosts of Jimmy's past through an old ghost voice receiver and piece together his secret, while he hunts her in filmed live-action scenes.
Content: blood, references to weapons, references to prescription drugs.

At Dead Of Night is a live-action horror game set in an old hotel on a remote headland. You guide Maya through the building, contacting the ghosts of the landlord's past with a ghost voice receiver, while the landlord himself searches the corridors for her.

About At Dead Of Night

At Dead Of Night is a horror game from Baggy Cat, the small British studio behind the live-action murder mystery Contradiction. It came out on Steam for Windows in November 2020. The makers describe it as part horror film, part horror game and part ghost hunt, and it mixes filmed actors with a rendered hotel.

A group of students lost one night book into the Sea View Hotel on a remote headland and meet its creepy landlord, Jimmy Hall. When Maya, the last to arrive, turns down his late-night comedy show, his comedy alter ego Hugo Punch takes over. That night Maya wakes to a scream: Jimmy has tied up her friends and locked them in their rooms, and he is now out looking for her.

You explore the hotel in first person, room by room: the reception desk, lounges strung with party balloons, the lifts, corridors and bedrooms. Maya carries an old ghost voice receiver. Through it you can ask whether anyone is there, and when a spirit answers you pick the items you have found and ask about them, building up what the ghosts know about Jimmy. Their answers are shown on the device so you can compare them and make connections later.

The fear comes from two directions. Jimmy is a real, very human threat who is somewhere in the building and can come at you down a corridor, and the ghosts who appear around the hotel each carry a dark piece of its history. Steam players rate it Very Positive. Some reviewers mention that moving around the same hotel can feel repetitive, and the maker notes that some PCs show a little audio lag against the video, with a Windows setting that helps.

It suits players who like full-motion video games, ghost stories and investigation more than action. If you liked a live-action mansion mystery or a hotel where something hunts you, this is a close neighbour.

How to play At Dead Of Night

Start a new game and watch the opening scenes at the hotel.
Move Maya through the hotel in first person, opening doors and looking around each room.
Pick up the items you find; they collect along the bottom of the ghost voice receiver.
Use the receiver to ask if anyone is there, and when a spirit makes contact, choose an item and ask about it.
Read the spirits' replies back on the receiver to connect what they told you.
Keep track of where Jimmy is, because he is searching the hotel for Maya the whole time.

Screenshots

A blurred, wild-eyed man in braces lunges at the camera in a dim hotel corridor

The hotel reception at night: leather armchairs, a lamp, room key pigeonholes and a Christmas tree at the far end

The ghost voice receiver in contact with Amy, a 10-year-old girl, being asked who a sword belongs to, with found items along the bottom

A doorway onto a hotel lounge with red patterned carpet and party balloons lying on the floor

Two ornate wooden lift doors in a red-papered hotel landing, with a sign for the Sea View Hotel between them

A plain hotel bedroom seen from the doorway, with a wardrobe, a made bed and floral curtains

Tips

Wear headphones: much of the game is spoken, and sound tells you a lot about what is around you.
If the voices drift out of sync with the video, the store suggests unticking 'Give exclusive mode applications priority' in the Windows sound settings for your output device.
If the default version gives you trouble, the store lists alternative versions under Properties > Betas in your Steam library, including one for Steam Deck.
Ask each spirit about every item you carry; the answers are what move the investigation forward.
Captions are available, which helps when a ghost is hard to hear.