the optimist says it’s half human

the pessimist says it’s half monster

and the project manager says, “when can we ship it?”

PROXIMATE is a dread-driven narrative game where you investigate a deep sea laboratory and piece together the events that lead to the research team’s demise. You’ll be required to wear an image recognition visor that only tells you the bare minimum information you need to succeed — and sometimes less. Use text information, proximity data and audio clues to form a mental map of your surroundings and pray that your technology won’t fail you when you need it most.

FEATURES:

• There is no monster.
• Assignment timeboxed to 90 minutes. If you’re here longer than that, we might have to dock your pay.
• Your visor says that the red stain on the wall is ketchup. It was coded by some very smart people, so you should definitely trust it.
• Collect chat logs from the research team, but don’t read into them too much. We’re not paying you to figure out some kind of sinister mystery here.
• I mean, we haven’t seen the monster. So it’s probably not there.
• Receive helpful calls from your manager, voiced by Luke Austin, who’s here to make your job easier. Probably.
• Connect with a cast of queer characters, who we definitely cared about and will miss dearly. Oh hey, have you signed that waiver yet?
• If you hear it, turn away.

After labor rights movements sweep large parts of India and Southeast Asia, companies around the world lose their supply of cheap exploitable workers. Melbourne-based tech startup Neuras decides to attempt the impossible: installing AI drives into the freshly dead to create a cheap and endless supply of workers.

After a year of disappointing results, the Neuras lab suddenly cuts all contact with their investors. You, a contractor for the country’s largest investment firm, have been tasked with investigating the lab and recovering the firm’s rightful IP. But it’s the firm’s other investment project — the SONA visor — that might end up being your bigger problem.

That, and the breathing you keep hearing behind the door.