GamesHorrorThis chill horror game about working in a supernatural call center makes me want a game where I’m just Giles from BuffyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesHorrorThis chill horror game about working in a supernatural call center makes me want a game where I’m just Giles from BuffyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Night Signal Entertainment)
Please hold
(Image credit: Night Signal Entertainment)
You see, the Home Safety Hotline asks the question ‘what if the fae were real?’ and then places you in an everyday(ish) call center where people phone in to ask why they can hear crying in the walls, or why something keeps tidying the living room when they leave out a saucer of milk overnight. You play as the newest HSH employee, tasked with taking phone calls where upset people asail you with details about strange problems in their house and expect you to have the answers.
This simple task starts easily enough because sometimes itisjust frozen pipes making a weird noise, or mice in the attic scratching about. This somewhat more earthly list of problems is a handy way of learning the loop at least - someone calls in with a problem and asks you to solve it. The important thing is to pay attention to what they say - anything might be a clue to what’s causing their upset. So every noise, smell, sound and such they mention needs to be noted as you look through an initially small list of potential causes.
Indie Spotlight(Image credit: Inkle)I nearly gave up on this mountaineering adventure game, but then I finally learned how to read its world
Indie Spotlight
(Image credit: Inkle)I nearly gave up on this mountaineering adventure game, but then I finally learned how to read its world
(Image credit: Inkle)
I nearly gave up on this mountaineering adventure game, but then I finally learned how to read its world
So, you’ll get a call and generally they’ll be angry or upset about something. However, as they shout at you, you’ll have to listen out for things you can use when you put them on hold to look things up. Someone mentions sneezing? Time to comb your files for anything that might explain that… Hmm, black mold can cause an allergic reaction? Once you’ve got a candidate you can send them the information and, if you’re right, you won’t get an angry call later because your advice didn’t work.
Answer the call
(Image credit: Night Signal Entertainment)
I think it could be a little clearer to pin things down, if I’m honest, as the descriptions are quite wooly, occasionally, in a way that’s hard to categorically pin down. Each entry gives you an image of something - which could be anything from bees to a sinister pair of eyes in the darkness of a basement - along with a description of the entity, its dangers and possible solutions. However, even with all that help, every now and then there were callers with info that never seemed to entirely match the records exactly, no matter how hard I checked. It didn’t always feel like I was missing something, more an occasional lack of clarity.
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(Image credit: Night Signal Entertainment)
Although, being a bit unsure might be part of the point here, seeing as you’re playing a mere mortal peering beyond the veil. As things get weirder and more entries appear, the game occasionally shuts you out of the system, forcing you to try and answer calls just from memory alone. As things progress there are a few strange events - odd calls, glitches, messages and videos that appear on your very early 2000s style computer screen. I don’t want to spoil any of that though, it’s far better to experience it as it happens.
Home Safety Hotline is a pretty chill experience overall. There’s something almost comfortingly gentle about sitting at a dated computer screen flicking through files about house goblins, while waiting for Karens to shout at you because there’s a dead wizard trapped in their mirror. I’d almost like something even deeper after playing this: a proper, in-depth detective game with photos, security camera footage and more to really give you some stuff to investigate as you cross reference details. Basically, the more I think about it, the more I just want to play a game where I’m Giles from Buffy trying to work out what that monster is that week. But for now, at least, the Home Safety Hotline has scratched that itch.
Home Safety Hotlineis out now on PC. Find out what else we’ve been loving this year in ourIndie Spotlightseries.
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4
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5
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2
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3
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4
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5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”