As someone who has worked extensively in customer service - this is it. This captures the feeling of staring into the eyes of a customer that has just tried to return something that's not even from your store. It's totally that feeling of sitting in your car during break and wanting to scream. I loved every minute of this, although I'm not sure I'd like to relive my actual store experiences. This game was a thoughtful, unnerving look at being in the belly of the beast and I loved it. There's really a depth here that resonates with my inner faceless employee. :)
so, I've noticed that I'm unable to get the last union card that I need to finish the game properly, due to handing the car person the wrong tape, is there anyway to fix that?
A lot of the game is really left up to interpretation and the story isn’t necessarily linear, but there are a few wikis and a TV tropes page out there compiled by fans if you want more info.
Thank you for the hint :) It's a shame, that nobody did a video analysis on both the ''No Delivery'' and ''Sorry, We're Open'', though. Not that I'm too lazy to analyze them myself, It's just that both of the games are deep enough too dive deep into the explanation of their overall story and meaning.
In my opinion, both the ''No Delivery'' and ''Sorry, We're Open'' are a perfect example of games which depict the mix of living an everyday working life and being stuck in a limbo/hell of sorts. For some reason, I find this type of horror games especially fascinating, and your games, I think, set an example of doing ''mundane job, but in hell'' type of plot right.
the other freezer door leads to the same place, just to the other side of the table in the stairwell; it just gives you another freezer key to replace the one you just used to get in.
It’s just a small event you could miss when choosing which freezer door to go thru
Absolutely amazing game. You have truly mastered your sense of aesthetic with these games and I always look forward to them!
I love all the analogous statements made by the game, while also giving the player room to interpret things based on their own experience. Personally, I love the nuanced take on how corporate entities and the general public, while not purposefully, have teamed together to remove humanity from employees on any rung of the corporate ladder.
Things I love about this game:
* The gameplay structure is a bit more coherent than ND, while I loved No Delivery's gameplay, the routes to get to an ending felt all over the place, and you could be traversing the ending route without realizing, because there's no clear answer on your current direction. This game did well with allowing a slightly more clear path to the endings while also having "quasi-endings" through side quests.
* Delicate balance between dark-humor and just pure dark tones. While I appreciated the dark humor in your other games, I felt that they weren't as delicately traversed as this game was.
* Piece-by-piece storytelling. The story had a bit of a "trickle-down" (lol) affect where once one portion of the story clicked, everything else became all too familiar and easier to see. I liked that there was more dialogue in this game and a bit more narrative.
* Just a specific example, but I LOVED when you showed the person in the car the outcome of the self-help program. It was perfect.
I ended up still having a few questions even at the end of my playthrough, but I haven't replayed it yet. I am confused on who the victim was at the intro of the game (manager? employee? someone specific?) and the outcome of delivering all of the missing lunches (one thing though, is that I loved the subtle way of being able to grind out lunches end-game if you accidentally ate too many, however ironic it is). I did receive what was in the fridge after delivering all the lunches, but I didn't know if there was a more clear reward.
I would love if your next iteration could show your horror take on working at a restaurant. One suggestion could be a reliable navigation system, like a map (I understand some secrets are meant to be explored without the use of a map, but perhaps a map could unlock after finding all hidden rooms, this could help since there's a good amount of backtracking and I would forget that some areas exist.)
It's come up that it isn't immediately apparent as to why the commissioned soundtracks for this and my other projects were updated 3 months ago. Please be respectful when mentioning or discussing this topic, and for any future reference, I'll place my stance here:
In short, I apologize if my games' original experience is hampered in any way because of the updated soundtrack, please know I have done my best to separate my games from this and their original commissioned soundtracks, and have been moving forward since I've been made aware.
I have done my best to separate my games from this and their original commissioned soundtracks and have been moving forward since I've been made aware. I apologize for any distress unearthing these facts may have caused.
What on earth do I do with the crate key? Does it get me the second fabric scissors? Also fantastic game again, just as good as No Delivery, keep up the fantastic work man!
There is a also a Save Data: Department item. You can find it in the Butcher's Shop outside the Grocery Parking Lot (one of the bags behind the shelves in the back)
And the RPG Crafter game is in the Computer in the Home Store's Manager Office, in the "Documents" folder. Just select the "Continue" option and you can select the Save Data there.
Basically, at the end of this quest, you'll be able to get the second Fabric Scissors from the TV in the mall.
You can use the Floppy in the TV at the Mall to get the scissors. The VCR Box is given at the end of the Donuts Shop quest, just give all the Union Cards and they'll show up at the ending area to give it.
Don't know if longplays are what people are looking for here but WOW is there a lot more than I expected! Enjoying it so far and excited to finish the ending next stream! Thanks Oates! c:
OK, I have actually finished the game now. I actually took the time to fill out the entire (I think) Employee of the Month wall because I was looking for the last quarter. I found it eventually. It's pretty good. I think I liked No Delivery better, but I'm still very happy with my purchase.
I think my only complaint would be grocery and department store are just more of the same after the home store. They go on a bit too long, though I did like the stuff with the mannequins quite a bit.
Had a weird problem with the corporate dungeon. The first time I went down there, I spent like five minutes going through and finally turned around. Got out immediately, so I figured it was a looping dungeon and maybe I need a key item. Never figured that out, though. Eventually, I tried going back and found the end just fine. I don't know if I left too soon the first time or what. I didn't realize I could run yet, so that's entirely possible.
mechanically i think this is a step up, but narrativley feels a bit directionless? i have the 3rd industrial cleaner and nowhere to use it, i searched the store high and low, but nothing. am i supposed to just keep doing shifts? or was i supposed to die to progress?
Just finished it with all endings, and wow. This was the most intense one yet from you! The combat was brutal to begin with, and I lost several times until I... uh... stopped fighting and just messed around in the world and found that you gotta spend money to make money. But by the time that clicked, I was so distracted by how expansive the world was it was a wholly different experience. The themes explored here are I think also messier than your other games? But you do them a lot of justice!
I think there's only one thing I missed, which is what to do with the crate key. I at least don't think I used it anywhere, but I could be wrong? Everything else I've accounted for.
Hey Oates, question for ya. I think I basically got the order of everything figured out, but I need another scissors. I looked in the two places you mentioned elsewhere, and I did all the available shifts. Are the scissors in Dp shift or somewhere else? I already used one scissors, and I've looked basically everywhere else.
You get the second scissors by finishing the RPG Crafter minigame in the Manager’s Office at the Home Store. You’ll then get an item to use in the Mother Mall to get the scissors.
In the minigame, you use those Save Data items that are found in the locations outside the parking lots of the other stores. Hope this helps
Ohhhhhhh. Okay so there was an item from the minigame that I got I forgot about. Thank you. :) That makes a lot of sense. It must've not clicked with me.
Lovin' this game a ton so far, gave a little more detailed feedback on DA. But I've got even more feedback than just that. You're a genius with horror narratives and narratives in general imo. The fact that you reuse assets and code from as far back as Day Dreaming Derpy while adding new stuff and refining it all into a mix of genres is so excellent to me. It's a collectathon RPG. No stats. I love it. Especially because one of my biggest gripes with a lot of RPGs is that they mostly revolve around stats. Status effects are basically unnecessary 9 times out of 10. As well as buffs and debuffs, despite the option existing. Having a game that relies on its mechanics to be fun, engaging, entertaining, and consistently interacting and thought provoking is the best. It makes me think of Inscryption a bit, in how it functions. It's constantly keeping you on your toes, constantly thinking about your next move, even as you get stronger. It's not about just mashing A to win or using one single facet of the gameplay or spamming basic attacks.
This turned out to be one of my favorite recent horror games. The early difficulty curve is kind've brutal, but once I built up enough cash, I could keep my head above water for the rest of the game.
The present plot is extremely good. I found the union and solidarity themes touching and effective. I feel I don't see that in horror games (workplace-set or otherwise) very often.
I did notice there is less music here than in No Delivery. I was a big fan of the louder music there. I still liked the sound design overall, but this games soundtrack is more muted and sparser than I anticipated.
Im struggling to find the VCR box for the cassette tape, and where exactly do I put the smiley and resignation letter? i got three quarters already but now I'm stumped lol
edit: never mind! i found what to do haha, I was just being silly. I loved the game a lot; oates you always make really cool and interesting things. i remember getting no delivery, and npbody's home. i also remember how excited and happy I was when I found you were making this game!! I cant wait to see what you make next!!
i actually need some help it seems like I may have soft locked myself if that is possible. It feels as though I've gone everywhere poosible but the last area which seems to be a mall with caution tape that requires fabric scissors to get through. Well I've searched all locations multiple times to try to figure out where to find them but no luck could I get a tip.
I haven't posted a youtube video but I've been streaming the whole process if that would help. https://www.twitch.tv/tyview
At that point, you would now be able to go to the areas outside the Grocery & Department Store parking lots (where the flickering lights are at the bottom left & right points of the parking lots)
From those locations, you'll find what you need to progress
Great concept. The aesthetics are very appropriate for the atmosphere it is trying to create.
However, I always run out of money with no reliable and renewable way to earn it. It leaves me with no mid combat options besides making my employees quit, escaping, or anticipating death. I just gave up after my 9th time running out of money.
I hope the current money dependent combat system will be fixed. Either give every character a free attack or create some way to reliably earn money. Something needs to change.
thanks for your thoughts, the base design has been tweaked before to better align with the game’s themes and is currently iterating on some combat design options for the full game.
If any significant changes are made, the Demo will be updated to reflect it as well
I played the Haunted PS1 Demo-Disc: Spectral Mall version of the demo. No idea if that's any different from the demo here, but here's my review:
Great pixel art and atmosphere. I appreciate the direction toward a hardcore capitalist numbers nightmare RPG. However, the current gameplay design leaves much to be desired.
In combat, you're forced to either use $ or your Manager's HP to attack. If you run out of $ and the enemy's still healthy, you're basically dead. On paper, this sounds like it would lead to tense decisions, and I think I was going through the intended level of pain for most of my playthrough. However, once I got exploded by the final fight of the demo, I figured out I could just repeat the Monday shift, which is really easy, and build up my wallet enough to steamroll through the last shift. Kinda ruined the "work is hell" vibe to be able to do that with no repercussions, and I'm wary of how prevalent grinding previous shifts to get through later ones will be in the full game.
Not to mention, presently, there is a very limited and unexciting pool of events for each shift. Once I memorized what does what, it was a no-brainer to pick the options that might result in my party taking a bit of damage or a status ailment over getting into a battle where I am guaranteed to lose HP and/or $ for little-to-no reward. It bugs me that this is an RPG where the bulk of interesting decisions are in combat, yet the winning strategy is to avoid combat as much as possible.
The battle balance isn't without issues either. I didn't see the use in skills that would make allies block or evade attacks as you can't predict enemy targets. Frankly, max HP totals are so low that ignoring everything aside from directly damaging the enemy feels like the way to go. As such, hiring the character who can only counter seems like a beginner's trap. Nausea damage also seems of minimal use for the same reason.
Lastly, I hate to bring up ludonarrative dissonance, but I do feel a disconnect between the mechanics and what they're supposed to represent thematically. Why am I bribing my staff to make them use skills in battle, even though I'm just as broke and presumably need my salary to live outside of work? Why does the Manager also have to pay to use their own skills, and where does that money go? Why does Goofing Off still get the job done, how do corporate repercussions get applied the moment we goof off, and what does it mean for those repercussions to kill my Manager? Why is my party completely unfazed getting bludgeoned by mannequins in a presumably supernatural manner? I haven't played "No Delivery" yet, but it seems far easier to maintain the suspension of disbelief in that game because I think you only control one human character in a more surreal environment.
Honestly, the most fun I had playing this demo was exploring the supermarket while on break. Being able to roam freely, find items, and do little sidequests throughout the store is far more rewarding than staring at the customer service counter and picking dialogue options. However, the fact that you have to deliberately go to the break room after finishing a shift and use your single industrial cleaner — which some players might be afraid to get rid of — to even know this part of the game exists seems like a failure in signposting. I've seen someone else play this demo for a half hour without discovering the areas outside the break room, so this definitely isn't just a theoretical problem.
I think if I were making this game myself, I would replace $ with "Motivation Points" for each party member as their primary skill resource, with the option for the manager to expend $ to raise Motivation. I'd also find a way to prevent players from gaining too much $ by cheesing earlier shifts and rebalance the game around the player not doing that.
As is, "Sorry, We're Open" is hard to recommend to anyone but the most brain-poisoned number-crunching "I like RPGs that kick me in the teeth" weirdos (me). I'm personally still looking forward to the full release just to see exactly what the heck is up with this spooky supermarket, but I don't predict that my future opinions will be much different barring significant overhauls to the core design of the game.
Not only does every attack require money, but the only way to get it is either by randomly getting items on shift or aquiring the limited supply of trash around the store. It seems like the game is constantly working against me and never giving me a chance. That doesn't make for a very fun experience when it feels like everything is out of my control because I know I will run out of money before the enemy dies.
This concept has a lot of potential but its killing itself right now.
Didnt like that much, its very hard to move to the next days, and its get very repetitive, the sames questions and rewards, well, at least the art and idea is good.
I enjoyed your demo & am extremely excited for the full version! I do think SFX and audio need a bit of balancing (some SFX are very loud and some softer), and the abilities need more clear descriptions of the target(s) & whether or not they make a melee strike or simply an effect.
But overall it plays really well and managing money and resources as well as staff felt super rewarding when I made it to the end without dying! RNG gods be with me!
Hey! I played this in the Spectral Mall Demo Disc and included it in my roundup video. Starts around 9:41 (if you only want to see this game). Best of luck with the development!
A very unique concept for a horror game. Interested to see where you take the other additional shifts with the full game, as i may have died many times across the first 3 i still experienced the text warping and tiny changes to the battles and other things. Overall a good game!
This demo is very, very interesting so far and I see a ton of potential in this. Obviously, this is just a demo featuring three shifts, but the possibilities for what this could be are expansive.
I feel like most criticisms I have with it are ultimately just a product of it being a demo, which is a good thing. (Those mostly just include a desire for more content or variety in certain places, which is of course common in demos)
Although healing your party seems maybe too difficult, at least for an early section of the game. I know that's the point, it's meant to be a challenging game where you're frequently being beaten down.
The idea of downsides with the healing items is cool. Cigarettes damage you once but slowly heal after that, expired energy bars are the reverse. There's lunches which can be used as healing but also there's other uses you want to hold onto them for. Then there's breaks.
But taking damage from battles, as well as just from random chance from performing certain tasks during the shift is inevitable, but difficult to plan around. The cigarettes and bars never felt too useful, as the regen of cigarettes ends at the end of a battle and takes away health so using them when someone is already very low feels too risky. These items can only be used during battles when you also need to manage whether or not you want to risk escaping, attacking the enemies to limit the damage you receive as quickly as possible, etc. so finding a good chance to use them is rare. Replacing dying party members with new employees is a possible solution, but like with healing at breaks it's unpredictable.
Then again, it's likely that it is entirely intended for there to be such a steep level of challenge and I shouldn't really be making this criticism. The oppressive atmosphere is apparent here, and that's one of this game's biggest strengths, the extremely limited healing can be frustrating but it contributes to it. I hope in the future a balance could be achieved between having a health system that can be better planned around and not watering down the challenge and atmosphere too much.
I wish you luck on this! I think everyone involved with this game is on track to create an extremely unique experience.
Me and my girlfriend (I'm a security guard and she's a waitress in real life btw) love your games, your work is like the perfect mix of Silent Hill, Earthbound and Darkest Dungeon, you're a genius
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how do i fix this kind of problem
I’m not sure what platform this is, but from the UI, perhaps mobile/tablet
The game was made for PC and uses HTML5, Javascript, and PIXI libraries. Any other platforms are not supported.
As someone who has worked extensively in customer service - this is it. This captures the feeling of staring into the eyes of a customer that has just tried to return something that's not even from your store. It's totally that feeling of sitting in your car during break and wanting to scream. I loved every minute of this, although I'm not sure I'd like to relive my actual store experiences. This game was a thoughtful, unnerving look at being in the belly of the beast and I loved it. There's really a depth here that resonates with my inner faceless employee. :)
so, I've noticed that I'm unable to get the last union card that I need to finish the game properly, due to handing the car person the wrong tape, is there anyway to fix that?
there’s no wrong tape to give them, either tape proceeds the quest and they will always give you an item after.
With that item, you can actually now go to the computer in the department store manager’s office and go to the last tab in the Self-Help Program.
After that, go back to the npc in the car to get the Union Card
Can you, please, give us some sort of a story explanation, or, at least, refer to one?
I tried to find an explanation of what actually happened in ''Sorry, We're Open'' online, but to no result.
I am REALLY curious, and don't want to be left with just mere interpretations of mine.
A lot of the game is really left up to interpretation and the story isn’t necessarily linear, but there are a few wikis and a TV tropes page out there compiled by fans if you want more info.
Thank you for the hint :) It's a shame, that nobody did a video analysis on both the ''No Delivery'' and ''Sorry, We're Open'', though. Not that I'm too lazy to analyze them myself, It's just that both of the games are deep enough too dive deep into the explanation of their overall story and meaning.
In my opinion, both the ''No Delivery'' and ''Sorry, We're Open'' are a perfect example of games which depict the mix of living an everyday working life and being stuck in a limbo/hell of sorts. For some reason, I find this type of horror games especially fascinating, and your games, I think, set an example of doing ''mundane job, but in hell'' type of plot right.
is there a way to get into the freezer in the grocery branch? i've gotten all 4 endings but I can't find a way into the locked freezer room :(
the other freezer door leads to the same place, just to the other side of the table in the stairwell; it just gives you another freezer key to replace the one you just used to get in.
It’s just a small event you could miss when choosing which freezer door to go thru
I’m watching a gameplay and I was wondering, could you have someone sacrifice themselves using I quit then revive them with CPR training?
yep, that’s possible
Just gotta make sure the battle doesn’t end before you revive them, otherwise they’re gone
Absolutely amazing game. You have truly mastered your sense of aesthetic with these games and I always look forward to them!
I love all the analogous statements made by the game, while also giving the player room to interpret things based on their own experience. Personally, I love the nuanced take on how corporate entities and the general public, while not purposefully, have teamed together to remove humanity from employees on any rung of the corporate ladder.
Things I love about this game:
* The gameplay structure is a bit more coherent than ND, while I loved No Delivery's gameplay, the routes to get to an ending felt all over the place, and you could be traversing the ending route without realizing, because there's no clear answer on your current direction. This game did well with allowing a slightly more clear path to the endings while also having "quasi-endings" through side quests.
* Delicate balance between dark-humor and just pure dark tones. While I appreciated the dark humor in your other games, I felt that they weren't as delicately traversed as this game was.
* Piece-by-piece storytelling. The story had a bit of a "trickle-down" (lol) affect where once one portion of the story clicked, everything else became all too familiar and easier to see. I liked that there was more dialogue in this game and a bit more narrative.
* Just a specific example, but I LOVED when you showed the person in the car the outcome of the self-help program. It was perfect.
I ended up still having a few questions even at the end of my playthrough, but I haven't replayed it yet. I am confused on who the victim was at the intro of the game (manager? employee? someone specific?) and the outcome of delivering all of the missing lunches (one thing though, is that I loved the subtle way of being able to grind out lunches end-game if you accidentally ate too many, however ironic it is). I did receive what was in the fridge after delivering all the lunches, but I didn't know if there was a more clear reward.
I would love if your next iteration could show your horror take on working at a restaurant. One suggestion could be a reliable navigation system, like a map (I understand some secrets are meant to be explored without the use of a map, but perhaps a map could unlock after finding all hidden rooms, this could help since there's a good amount of backtracking and I would forget that some areas exist.)
Oh, one more thing, does this game still have a steam key? I could not find a request key button on the purchase page.
thanks for playing, unlike No Delivery, this game was released simultaneously on Steam and itchio.
The Steam Keys for No Delivery are for those who have already bought it on itchio and want it on Steam
It's come up that it isn't immediately apparent as to why the commissioned soundtracks for this and my other projects were updated 3 months ago.
Please be respectful when mentioning or discussing this topic, and for any future reference, I'll place my stance here:
https://horror-n-oates.itch.io/sorry-were-open/devlog/553846/addressing-the-soun...
In short, I apologize if my games' original experience is hampered in any way because of the updated soundtrack, please know I have done my best to separate my games from this and their original commissioned soundtracks, and have been moving forward since I've been made aware.
In short, I am no longer working with the previous composer and have already updated the commissioned soundtracks used in all my projects.
Here are my posts addressing the update to the commissioned soundtrack at the time and the steps taken to update all my projects since:
https://twitter.com/horror_n_oates/status/1641763311669903360
https://twitter.com/horror_n_oates/status/1643573381059715072
https://itch.io/blog/512593/live-patches-updates
I have done my best to separate my games from this and their original commissioned soundtracks and have been moving forward since I've been made aware.
I apologize for any distress unearthing these facts may have caused.
I know no delivery has a steam key, but does this game not?
No Delivery was released on itchio long before it’s release on Steam, so the keys are for those who already own it on itch.
This game is a little different as it was released simultaneously on itch and Steam
I love the aesthetic of this game and it really does give off some creepy vibes at times. Looking forward to finishing this off in my own time.
Great job and looking forward to more 👍
What on earth do I do with the crate key? Does it get me the second fabric scissors?
Also fantastic game again, just as good as No Delivery, keep up the fantastic work man!
it’s used for one of the Save Data areas in the RPG Crafter game in the Computer in the Home Store’s Manager Office
Hope this helps!
Hmm, not as far as I can see, I have save data grocery and save data office, am I missing one?
There is a also a Save Data: Department item.
You can find it in the Butcher's Shop outside the Grocery Parking Lot (one of the bags behind the shelves in the back)
And the RPG Crafter game is in the Computer in the Home Store's Manager Office, in the "Documents" folder.
Just select the "Continue" option and you can select the Save Data there.
Basically, at the end of this quest, you'll be able to get the second Fabric Scissors from the TV in the mall.
Haha thanks but now I've no idea where to get a vcr box or where to use the floppy. Your games need a dedicated wiki or something
You can use the Floppy in the TV at the Mall to get the scissors.
The VCR Box is given at the end of the Donuts Shop quest, just give all the Union Cards and they'll show up at the ending area to give it.
There are actually some guides available on the Steam page if it helps
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2161450/guides/
You can pet the dog. 10/10 game
OK, I have actually finished the game now. I actually took the time to fill out the entire (I think) Employee of the Month wall because I was looking for the last quarter. I found it eventually. It's pretty good. I think I liked No Delivery better, but I'm still very happy with my purchase.
I think my only complaint would be grocery and department store are just more of the same after the home store. They go on a bit too long, though I did like the stuff with the mannequins quite a bit.
Had a weird problem with the corporate dungeon. The first time I went down there, I spent like five minutes going through and finally turned around. Got out immediately, so I figured it was a looping dungeon and maybe I need a key item. Never figured that out, though. Eventually, I tried going back and found the end just fine. I don't know if I left too soon the first time or what. I didn't realize I could run yet, so that's entirely possible.
mechanically i think this is a step up, but narrativley feels a bit directionless? i have the 3rd industrial cleaner and nowhere to use it, i searched the store high and low, but nothing. am i supposed to just keep doing shifts? or was i supposed to die to progress?
after a lot more running about i figured it out- you should really make that bathroom peephole more noticeable though. must have walked by it 10 times
Just finished it with all endings, and wow. This was the most intense one yet from you! The combat was brutal to begin with, and I lost several times until I... uh... stopped fighting and just messed around in the world and found that you gotta spend money to make money. But by the time that clicked, I was so distracted by how expansive the world was it was a wholly different experience. The themes explored here are I think also messier than your other games? But you do them a lot of justice!
I think there's only one thing I missed, which is what to do with the crate key. I at least don't think I used it anywhere, but I could be wrong? Everything else I've accounted for.
As usual, thanks so much for making this!
Hey Oates, question for ya. I think I basically got the order of everything figured out, but I need another scissors. I looked in the two places you mentioned elsewhere, and I did all the available shifts. Are the scissors in Dp shift or somewhere else? I already used one scissors, and I've looked basically everywhere else.
You get the second scissors by finishing the RPG Crafter minigame in the Manager’s Office at the Home Store. You’ll then get an item to use in the Mother Mall to get the scissors.
In the minigame, you use those Save Data items that are found in the locations outside the parking lots of the other stores. Hope this helps
Ohhhhhhh. Okay so there was an item from the minigame that I got I forgot about. Thank you. :) That makes a lot of sense. It must've not clicked with me.
Lovin' this game a ton so far, gave a little more detailed feedback on DA. But I've got even more feedback than just that. You're a genius with horror narratives and narratives in general imo. The fact that you reuse assets and code from as far back as Day Dreaming Derpy while adding new stuff and refining it all into a mix of genres is so excellent to me. It's a collectathon RPG. No stats. I love it. Especially because one of my biggest gripes with a lot of RPGs is that they mostly revolve around stats. Status effects are basically unnecessary 9 times out of 10. As well as buffs and debuffs, despite the option existing. Having a game that relies on its mechanics to be fun, engaging, entertaining, and consistently interacting and thought provoking is the best. It makes me think of Inscryption a bit, in how it functions. It's constantly keeping you on your toes, constantly thinking about your next move, even as you get stronger. It's not about just mashing A to win or using one single facet of the gameplay or spamming basic attacks.
This turned out to be one of my favorite recent horror games. The early difficulty curve is kind've brutal, but once I built up enough cash, I could keep my head above water for the rest of the game.
The present plot is extremely good. I found the union and solidarity themes touching and effective. I feel I don't see that in horror games (workplace-set or otherwise) very often.
I did notice there is less music here than in No Delivery. I was a big fan of the louder music there. I still liked the sound design overall, but this games soundtrack is more muted and sparser than I anticipated.
Im struggling to find the VCR box for the cassette tape, and where exactly do I put the smiley and resignation letter? i got three quarters already but now I'm stumped lol
edit: never mind! i found what to do haha, I was just being silly. I loved the game a lot; oates you always make really cool and interesting things. i remember getting no delivery, and npbody's home. i also remember how excited and happy I was when I found you were making this game!! I cant wait to see what you make next!!
i actually need some help it seems like I may have soft locked myself if that is possible. It feels as though I've gone everywhere poosible but the last area which seems to be a mall with caution tape that requires fabric scissors to get through. Well I've searched all locations multiple times to try to figure out where to find them but no luck could I get a tip.
I haven't posted a youtube video but I've been streaming the whole process if that would help. https://www.twitch.tv/tyview
At that point, you would now be able to go to the areas outside the Grocery & Department Store parking lots (where the flickering lights are at the bottom left & right points of the parking lots)
From those locations, you'll find what you need to progress
Hope this helps
thanks for the reply sadly I lost my save but I will play again
Finally get to play the full game ;0 looked forward to this, feels a bit different too
HELL YES
day one purchase
This is so brutal! You really managed to capture the pain of not having the correct items/events within this experience!
Can't wait to see more!
I played your demo through the Spectral Mall, thus the thumbnail!
Great concept. The aesthetics are very appropriate for the atmosphere it is trying to create.
However, I always run out of money with no reliable and renewable way to earn it. It leaves me with no mid combat options besides making my employees quit, escaping, or anticipating death. I just gave up after my 9th time running out of money.
I hope the current money dependent combat system will be fixed. Either give every character a free attack or create some way to reliably earn money. Something needs to change.
thanks for your thoughts, the base design has been tweaked before to better align with the game’s themes and is currently iterating on some combat design options for the full game.
If any significant changes are made, the Demo will be updated to reflect it as well
Not my type of game and didn't get far, but so very unique I loved it :]
I played the Haunted PS1 Demo-Disc: Spectral Mall version of the demo. No idea if that's any different from the demo here, but here's my review:
Great pixel art and atmosphere. I appreciate the direction toward a hardcore capitalist numbers nightmare RPG. However, the current gameplay design leaves much to be desired.
In combat, you're forced to either use $ or your Manager's HP to attack. If you run out of $ and the enemy's still healthy, you're basically dead. On paper, this sounds like it would lead to tense decisions, and I think I was going through the intended level of pain for most of my playthrough. However, once I got exploded by the final fight of the demo, I figured out I could just repeat the Monday shift, which is really easy, and build up my wallet enough to steamroll through the last shift. Kinda ruined the "work is hell" vibe to be able to do that with no repercussions, and I'm wary of how prevalent grinding previous shifts to get through later ones will be in the full game.
Not to mention, presently, there is a very limited and unexciting pool of events for each shift. Once I memorized what does what, it was a no-brainer to pick the options that might result in my party taking a bit of damage or a status ailment over getting into a battle where I am guaranteed to lose HP and/or $ for little-to-no reward. It bugs me that this is an RPG where the bulk of interesting decisions are in combat, yet the winning strategy is to avoid combat as much as possible.
The battle balance isn't without issues either. I didn't see the use in skills that would make allies block or evade attacks as you can't predict enemy targets. Frankly, max HP totals are so low that ignoring everything aside from directly damaging the enemy feels like the way to go. As such, hiring the character who can only counter seems like a beginner's trap. Nausea damage also seems of minimal use for the same reason.
Lastly, I hate to bring up ludonarrative dissonance, but I do feel a disconnect between the mechanics and what they're supposed to represent thematically. Why am I bribing my staff to make them use skills in battle, even though I'm just as broke and presumably need my salary to live outside of work? Why does the Manager also have to pay to use their own skills, and where does that money go? Why does Goofing Off still get the job done, how do corporate repercussions get applied the moment we goof off, and what does it mean for those repercussions to kill my Manager? Why is my party completely unfazed getting bludgeoned by mannequins in a presumably supernatural manner? I haven't played "No Delivery" yet, but it seems far easier to maintain the suspension of disbelief in that game because I think you only control one human character in a more surreal environment.
Honestly, the most fun I had playing this demo was exploring the supermarket while on break. Being able to roam freely, find items, and do little sidequests throughout the store is far more rewarding than staring at the customer service counter and picking dialogue options. However, the fact that you have to deliberately go to the break room after finishing a shift and use your single industrial cleaner — which some players might be afraid to get rid of — to even know this part of the game exists seems like a failure in signposting. I've seen someone else play this demo for a half hour without discovering the areas outside the break room, so this definitely isn't just a theoretical problem.
I think if I were making this game myself, I would replace $ with "Motivation Points" for each party member as their primary skill resource, with the option for the manager to expend $ to raise Motivation. I'd also find a way to prevent players from gaining too much $ by cheesing earlier shifts and rebalance the game around the player not doing that.
As is, "Sorry, We're Open" is hard to recommend to anyone but the most brain-poisoned number-crunching "I like RPGs that kick me in the teeth" weirdos (me). I'm personally still looking forward to the full release just to see exactly what the heck is up with this spooky supermarket, but I don't predict that my future opinions will be much different barring significant overhauls to the core design of the game.
Full Playthrough with No Commentary here:
Hit the nail on the head here.
Not only does every attack require money, but the only way to get it is either by randomly getting items on shift or aquiring the limited supply of trash around the store. It seems like the game is constantly working against me and never giving me a chance. That doesn't make for a very fun experience when it feels like everything is out of my control because I know I will run out of money before the enemy dies.
This concept has a lot of potential but its killing itself right now.
Didnt like that much, its very hard to move to the next days, and its get very repetitive, the sames questions and rewards, well, at least the art and idea is good.
wheres the corporate dungeon?
You can reach it by dying 3 times (getting 3 strikes), then you will end up there when you die from then on.
oh! Thank you :D
I enjoyed your demo & am extremely excited for the full version! I do think SFX and audio need a bit of balancing (some SFX are very loud and some softer), and the abilities need more clear descriptions of the target(s) & whether or not they make a melee strike or simply an effect.
But overall it plays really well and managing money and resources as well as staff felt super rewarding when I made it to the end without dying! RNG gods be with me!
Hey! I played this in the Spectral Mall Demo Disc and included it in my roundup video. Starts around 9:41 (if you only want to see this game). Best of luck with the development!
this was such a unique take! The person yawning in the bathroom when you walk in was the funniest thing lmao
Full Demo No Commentary
This was a lot of fun, glad I could take part in the demo. I can't wait to see everything when its finished!
I've written a full review of the demo that I'll be posting onto my blog, so I'll share that when it goes live.
My Game-play ---- Employees dying? Nonsense, just wake them up! - Sorry We're Open - YouTube
A very unique concept for a horror game. Interested to see where you take the other additional shifts with the full game, as i may have died many times across the first 3 i still experienced the text warping and tiny changes to the battles and other things. Overall a good game!
Wanna play this so bad! I hope you do a mac version!
This demo is very, very interesting so far and I see a ton of potential in this. Obviously, this is just a demo featuring three shifts, but the possibilities for what this could be are expansive.
I feel like most criticisms I have with it are ultimately just a product of it being a demo, which is a good thing. (Those mostly just include a desire for more content or variety in certain places, which is of course common in demos)
Although healing your party seems maybe too difficult, at least for an early section of the game. I know that's the point, it's meant to be a challenging game where you're frequently being beaten down.
The idea of downsides with the healing items is cool. Cigarettes damage you once but slowly heal after that, expired energy bars are the reverse. There's lunches which can be used as healing but also there's other uses you want to hold onto them for. Then there's breaks.
But taking damage from battles, as well as just from random chance from performing certain tasks during the shift is inevitable, but difficult to plan around. The cigarettes and bars never felt too useful, as the regen of cigarettes ends at the end of a battle and takes away health so using them when someone is already very low feels too risky. These items can only be used during battles when you also need to manage whether or not you want to risk escaping, attacking the enemies to limit the damage you receive as quickly as possible, etc. so finding a good chance to use them is rare. Replacing dying party members with new employees is a possible solution, but like with healing at breaks it's unpredictable.
Then again, it's likely that it is entirely intended for there to be such a steep level of challenge and I shouldn't really be making this criticism. The oppressive atmosphere is apparent here, and that's one of this game's biggest strengths, the extremely limited healing can be frustrating but it contributes to it. I hope in the future a balance could be achieved between having a health system that can be better planned around and not watering down the challenge and atmosphere too much.
I wish you luck on this! I think everyone involved with this game is on track to create an extremely unique experience.
too much fun, hoping to experience more!
My YouTube (for anyone interested)gud
Me and my girlfriend (I'm a security guard and she's a waitress in real life btw) love your games, your work is like the perfect mix of Silent Hill, Earthbound and Darkest Dungeon, you're a genius
i like the game it's fun
actual masterpiece