Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place

About Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place

Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place is the fifth episode of Midnight Scenes, a series of short horror tales with adventure elements by Octavi Navarro, the pixel artist known for Thimbleweed Park and Photographs, and Susanna Granell. Their studio, White Blanket Games, also made The Supper, The Librarian and Unwelcome. It came out on 19 March 2024 for Windows, sold on Steam, GOG and itch.io for $5.99.

Phil is in his early twenties and has spent the last month shut in his bedroom. A dresser and other junk block the door and newspaper pages cover the window, as if he is keeping something out rather than himself in. His mother leaves trays of food in the hallway that he cannot reach, his father is losing patience, and he talks to his younger sister Piper only through the wall. His one real friend is Noelle, who works at the town's grocery store, leaves food under his window and watches films with him over text messages. At night he dreams of shadow creatures, and the store says he will have to confront terrifying truths buried deep inside him.

You click to move Phil and to use what is in his room. The first problem is simply getting by: food, the toilet, someone to talk to, with only what the bedroom holds. Adventure Game Hotspot counts one real inventory puzzle and one sequence of fitting a broken picture back together; the rest is story, and at some points you take control of a second character. Scenes switch between the small cut-away room, a view of the snowy house, large pixel close-ups of Phil and Noelle as they text, the telescope he uses to watch the neighbour's house, and nightmare images such as a black figure with three glowing eyes and a gaping mouth. Dialogue is written, not spoken, but Phil grunts and cries out at times.

Earlier Midnight Scenes episodes leaned on inventory puzzles and pulpy twists in the manner of The Twilight Zone; this one is the longest of the series and, by Adventure Game Hotspot's reckoning, its grimmest, more a psychological drama about trauma and loneliness than a run of scares. Steam lists horror themes, cartoon gore, mental health, terminal illness and suicide among its content. It suits players who want a short, sad, story-led horror tale to play in one sitting, and the store suggests playing it right before bed with the lights off.

How to play Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place

1. Start in Phil's barricaded bedroom; click where you want him to walk and click on objects to look at or use them.
2. Work out how to meet his basic needs with what the room holds, since he will not open the door.
3. Read the dialogue and the text messages from Noelle as the days pass.
4. Sleep when the game lets you, and face the nightmares that follow.
5. Play it through in one sitting; it takes about 60 to 90 minutes.

Tips

• Play at night with the lights off, as the store suggests, and in one go.
• Look closely at everything in Phil's room; the details tell you why he is hiding.
• No fast reactions are needed and you cannot really get lost; take your time with each scene.
• Know before you start that it deals with suicide, mental illness and terminal illness.
• If you like it, the other Midnight Scenes episodes, such as The Nanny, are separate short tales by the same makers.

Questions