Survive your night shift
The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件 is a creepy adventure video game wherein you must complete your night shifts at the local 24/7 convenience store. Developed by Chilla's Art, this 3D photo-realistic first-person indie game is an atmospheric Japanese horror game that offers a cool VHS film aesthetic and easy gameplay mechanics.
Similar to the developer’s other titles—like Stigmatized Property | 事故物件 and Okaeri—The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件 is quite well-received by fans for its gloomy vibe and being able to easily nail the psychological horror and thriller elements. The only downside here is that it’s largely a slow walking simulator.
The walk to work isn’t safe
In The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件, you play as a young college student who works at a convenience store near her home. She works on night shifts and is mostly alone while she does her tasks. However, she has to contend with weird happenings around her quiet little store. You have to go through each night and try to figure out just what is making all of the strange hauntings.
In terms of appearance, the photo-realistic graphics are given a VHS film filter to emulate the retro PSX-style aesthetic. Even the character models look wonky and add to the overall creepiness of the game. The horror will mostly come from trying to discern just what you saw in the corner of your eye. In case you’re having a hard time with the graphics, you can turn off the VHS effects.
Gameplay-wise, however, it can be excruciatingly slow. For one, you can’t run and the NPCs all move slowly, too. Plus, while there are some puzzles to solve, you mostly have to walk around to progress the story. The main issue comes from the fact that there are two endings, though—and that since you can’t save, you have to replay the entire 40-minute game to get the second ending.
The tension is right around the corner
All in all, The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件 is a highly stylistic J-horror game for fans of retro graphics style and horror games with a slow build-up. This doesn’t have many obvious jumpscares or ambient music so it easily keeps the tension until the final moments of the game. However, it can be pretty slow for most players, and getting all the endings can be a hassle.
