Home Safety Hotline

About Home Safety Hotline

Home Safety Hotline is by Nick Lives of Night Signal Entertainment, the creator of NiGHT SIGNAL and A Wonderful Day For Fishing. It came out on Steam in January 2024 and on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch in September 2024, published there by Puppet Combo, with the Seasonal Worker DLC included. The Steam version is in English only; the console versions add French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

You sit at a 1990s computer as an operator for a home safety helpline. Callers describe noises in the walls, smells, damage and things glimpsed around the house. You listen, search the catalogue of common pests and household hazards, and submit your answer. The first calls are about mice, flies and mould; then the database begins to hold entries about things that should not exist, some of them locked until you are trusted with them.

The horror comes from reading and listening more than from seeing. The entries are written in the flat tone of an official manual, the photos are grainy, and the training videos and commercials on the desktop have the look of an old TV broadcast. Each wrong answer has a consequence you learn about later, and the company you work for has its own secrets.

The main game takes about three hours. It has a deduction puzzle at its heart and a lo-fi jazz soundtrack, and it has phobia toggles that hide the photos, though not the text, audio or video, for spiders, insects, dogs, holes, the dark and other common triggers. It suits fans of analog horror and of desk-bound horror like Iron Lung and I'm on Observation Duty.

At the end of each shift you see how many calls you got right, and falling short brings a call from your supervisor, Carol. The Seasonal Worker DLC is a four-day storyline set in the days before Christmas 1996, with 28 new entries and art by guest artists including Trevor Henderson.

How to play Home Safety Hotline

1. Take each incoming call and listen to the caller's description, replaying it as needed.
2. Search the pest and hazard catalogue on the computer for entries that match what they describe.
3. Compare the details carefully, then submit the entry you think is right.
4. Unlock new entries as the days go on, and check the desktop's videos and messages between shifts.

Tips

• Listen for small details such as smells, times of day and marks; they separate similar entries.
• Read the Danger and Solution sections; they often confirm a match.
• Use the phobia toggles in the options if spiders or insects bother you.
• Calls you get wrong come back later, so a wrong answer is not the end of a shift; keep an eye on your accuracy score instead.

Questions