Static Dread: 15 Nights at the Old Lighthouse preview — Murky Waters

As a strange and other-worldly aurora envelops the world, a dark entity swells under the waves. Taking a job at a recently reactivated lighthouse, you play as a Keeper who must guide ships to their destination and keep them from crashing against the perils of the sea. However, with each passing night a strange darkness creeps into the airwaves whispering of misfortune and troubling suggestions. Will the lighthouse be the last bastion of hope, or the harbinger of the end?

Static Dread takes some inspiration from the likes of Papers, Please where you'll need to examine details and make decisions based on various bits of information presented to you by various visitors to the harbor. Beyond that, you’ll also need to make repairs when things break down and consume food to stay awake during your shift. Each day you'll start by turning on the Lighthouse to begin your shift, which has you monitoring the radio and repairing the facilities. Most of your time will be spent monitoring the airwaves and guiding ships to various ports around the map by reading a report faxed by the captain. The parameters depend on instructions from your boss, and your level of scrutiny will vary day-by-day. Sometimes your restrictions will be simple: guide ships to the requested port safely by reading their documentation. Other times though, you'll need to verify more information, such as sending cargo ships to a specific destination or directing certain vessels to a quarantine zone. The penalties for sending a ship to the wrong place is a small fine, which can add up over time with repeated mistakes but aren't too aggressive if you only mess up a few times a night.

Earning money is important though as you'll occasionally be visited by the Courier, who sells various upgrades and items. I wasn't exactly sure what the upgrades did, as their descriptions are a bit vague and the effects weren't immediately noticeable. After purchasing a music player that stated it would “help stave off the loneliness,” it just sat on a shelf doing seemingly nothing, leaving me wondering why I just spent so much money on it. I'm hoping in the full release it will be more clear as to their purpose, but at least the traditional items like food were easy to understand. I wasn’t really sure why there was a mechanic that made you eat food to prevent becoming tired, as it felt more like a chore to manage than something that was fun or interesting to interact with.

Beyond answering the radio, the other main mechanic of the game is engaging with the locals at your front door. The lighthouse is centrally located on the map and houses a small fishing village, which is home to a strange cast of characters who will occasionally pay you a visit. Some of these folk are merchants while others are oddities, usually providing side quests through requests. You'll need to be careful about who you let into the lighthouse though, as not everyone is as friendly as they might appear to be. The demo build didn't offer much in terms of seeing these side quests to completion, so it's hard to say whether or not they will provide any substantial payoff in terms of the larger story, but the characters themselves were at least intriguing from a design standpoint.

While Static Dread has some creepy moments lurking about, the majority of the demo experience was pretty tame in terms of horror. Sure the occasional critter lurking outside your window or uninvited guest knocking on your door in the middle of the night is a bit spooky, but it was never really elevated beyond that. The main entity that haunts your radio traffic was also just not that imposing, and felt more like a Scooby-Doo villain than an eldritch horror. You never actually see them, at least in the demo, and only ever interact with them by listening to their groaning on the airwaves. Hijacking your radio, the entity jeers at you and attempts to have you direct ships into its maw, shouting threats if you choose to ignore it but I wouldn’t say it was ever actually scary. Perhaps it will command more fear in the full game, but it really wasn't doing it for me in the demo version.

The mystery of the aurora that envelops the world is an interesting mystery, but it’s one that finds itself mired in low stakes scares. Despite there being some interesting potential here, I'm a bit apprehensive from what I saw during the demo preview. I do still think that there's a functional horror game with a mostly interesting plot here, but it's just not doing enough in the gameplay to really keep me invested. For the short time that I played, it began to feel like I was running through the motions without any tension. I think the strongest aspect of the game is the mystery, and while I do look forward to discovering the true nature of the aurora and the dark, I worry that the game play systems and lackluster scares might get in the way of me truly enjoying the experience.

If you want to try the game out for yourself, the demo is available today ahead of the upcoming Steam Next Fest.