Noct is what happens when someone plays too much Hotline Miami, DayZ and maybe Call of Duty then goes and makes their own video game. And it turns out pretty fun.
Noct is a game that I saw on the weekend described as “My indie game about being eaten by Nopes”. You spawn as a survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, and have to run around scrounging for supplies, completing tasks and working with (or against) fellow survivors in multiplayer.
Because you’re being guided by a mysterious dude who can see you via satellite camera, that’s how the game is presented, as though it was one long Call of Duty bombing mission. Which is a neat enough visual trick within the context of the setting, but it also helps—by showing the entire world as nothing but darkness, shadows and shapes—make the game scary as hell.
As does its difficulty. I died fighting the very first monster you face in the tutorial. Twice. So while this looks like a bloodthirsty arcade shooter, it’s very much one where every shot you fire and every enemy you face is real heart-in-mouth stuff.
I like it! I’m not normally one for scary games, but Noct’s terror isn’t the leap-out-of-a-closet kind. It’s more of a general, foreboding sense of doom that’s present in everything from the setting to the visuals to the atmospheric soundtrack. Plus, it helps that there are other, live humans running around on the game’s servers. You may die a lot in the darkness, but there’s comfort in knowing that you’re not dying alone.
Noct is currently in Early Access. You can read a community interview with creator Chris Eskins here.