Static Hour

Active Now

In a small town in the 1980s, you are the lone night shift news editor on duty when strange, violent reports begin flooding the newsroom. The government has issued a lockdown. Emergency alerts are spreading. No one seems to agree on what is really happening.

Confined to the newsroom, you must uncover the truth through old-fashioned reporting and analog technology. Answer incoming phone calls, scan emergency channels, dig through notes, follow leads, and listen carefully for strange audio signals buried in the static.

Gathering information is only half the battle. You must interpret a growing flood of incomplete, conflicting, and sometimes unreliable reports. Is a lead worth sending a field reporter to investigate? Is a story verified enough to air? Are you informing the public, or pushing the town closer to panic?

By deciding what information to broadcast, you alone influence how the public responds to the crisis. With the fate of the town on the line, every choice matters. What you air, what you hold back, and what you get wrong can shape the night in ways you may not be able to undo.

Features:

• Investigate Through Audio: Uncover a mystery almost entirely through calls, reports, emergency alerts, and scanner signals.

• Information Shapes Reality: What you choose to broadcast influences how the town reacts.

• Tension Through Uncertainty: Evaluate conflicting and incomplete information as you decide what the public needs to hear.

• Manage the Public’s Fear and Trust: Accurate reporting can steady the town. Alarming or uncertain information may send it into panic.

• Immerse Yourself in 1980s Analog Tech: Use CRT monitors, a rolodex, rotary phones, radio scanners, and other period reporting tools.

• A Mystery Contained Within the Newsroom: Discover the outside world entirely through incoming reports, without ever stepping outside.

Note: Additional language support is planned in future updates.