Developer: VIS – Visual
Imagination Software
Publisher: United
Independent Entertainment GmbH
Rrp: £5.59 (Steam)
Released: 31st March 2015
Available on: Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Night shifts are the worst. But at least you’re only manning a little podunk diner, could be worse, you could’ve got that job your friend took, looking after some creepy pizzeria. No thank you.
Still, the manager gave you some weird instructions, ‘keep things quiet’, easier said than done though, things just seem to turn on of their own accord in this place.
Joe’s Diner is a First Person Horror game in which you attempt to do your job and keep the place tidy while simultaneously keep things quiet so you don’t die. Thankfully you only have to last til 6 PM, unfortunately you’re here for an entire month.
Once you click ‘New Game’ a unskippable intro video will play giving you the core concept as well as introducing the characters of Laughing Bird (asshole who makes all the noise) and Grim Feather (asshole who kills you because its too noisy).
Thankfully once you’ve sat through the video the game will allow you to load the game from whichever night you’ve lasted to.
To aid you in your task to keep the diner nice and quiet you are given a noise meter at the bottom of the screen, putting it simply if it stays in the red too long, game over. If you aren’t listening carefully then it might feel like the noises occur at random but if you pay attention you can actually hear a something that sounds a little like Muttley (from Wacky Races) laughing just before the noise starts.
As I mentioned before, besides trying to keep things quiet you also have to make sure the diner is kept tidy. This means cleaning up all the leftovers that have been left by the customers (and presumably the day shift staff) who were previously there. To do this you simply have to highlight the leftover you want to collect and press [E], this is also the way you interact with any object in the game. Once you’ve got the leftover you have to take it to the bin that’s in the kitchen before you can pick up another. These leftovers are randomly placed so you can’t learn their placements and if you fail to collect all the leftovers before your shift ends you get a game over screen.
Certain things make no sense at all, how does a mobile phone (that is clearly on silent/vibrate) make as much noise as a coffee machine. Another thing that makes no sense is why your character can only carry one leftover at a time. Do they only have one arm? Because if they do its not said anywhere and if they don’t then that’s just… well bad design. Seriously most people can carry more than one bottle at once!
In honesty I found the main gameplay loop to be boring, clean up plates, stop noise, rinse and repeat. Nothing changes except the amount of noise that happens and the number of leftovers to collect. Then, once you’ve cleaned up the leftovers, you’re literally just waiting for the noises to happen.
Joe’s Diner is a horror game for people who don’t like horror and people who want to play Five Nights at Freddies but don’t want to be stuck in one room. The jump-scare is neither jumpy or scary. You see a picture of a Native American man for a brief moment (a second at most) and that’s it, game over.
Save your money and find another game to play this Halloween.
If this appeals to you
perhaps try;
