In the first-person horror game Murderer Frequency, players must defend a small community from a vicious killer.
The upcoming game was created by Team17, who previously also worked on other big titles such as Overcooked 2 and Worms series.
Killer Frequency has now provided Screen Rant with a first hands-on look that showcased its mysteries, dark comedy components, and the nostalgic ’80s setting.
Killer Frequency gamers will take on the role of Forrest Nash, a radio DJ who starts working in the little village of Gallows Creek after his career in Chicago crashes and burns.
Nash hosts KFAM’s The Scream morning show, which can be listened to by dialing the 189.16 frequency.
The town’s 911 dispatcher, Leslie, calls Forrest and his booth partner Peggy in a panic one evening after seeing a lack of reaction from the police over discovering a dead sheriff and unconscious deputy at the neighborhood station.
Leslie thinks the Whistling Man, a serial murderer from decades earlier who everybody had presumed he’d died in a police confrontation, is to blame.
Forrest is now in charge of handling the emergency line and directing all the calls through the station while Leslie goes a few hours to the town across the way to get some assistance.
This introduces the basic gameplay feature for Killer Frequency, in which players seek to save callers from peril from behind the mixing board in a manner similar to the FNAF franchise.
The majority of the Murderer Frequency preview takes place in the DJ booth, where gamers will assist callers in various ways to elude the Whistling Man, such as guiding a caller through the stages of hot-wiring a car or assisting a man on how not to get caught by leading the killer to various locations within an office building.
In addition, Forrest may occasionally have to leave the booth to go around his office for materials in order to assist a caller.
For instance, in order to learn how to hot-wire the car in the first place, gamers will go to the DJ’s desk who leads the station’s car-focused discussion program, in order to obtain a magazine that contains the instructions necessary.
Players will still be putting records on a turntable and playing commercial cassettes in between frantic phone conversations even when there is a murderer on the loose.
In addition to a full soundboard with volume sliders and a sound effects machine, Killer Frequency allows players an entire box of records to rummage through.
These features may be amusing to employ while assisting a caller’s escape.
In spite of the constant undertone of anxiety, this contrast, together with the back-and-forth between Forrest and Peggy, prevents things from ever becoming overly serious.
Although some believe that 2023 has an excessive amount of survival horror already, Killer Frequency presents an intriguing variation on the genre in which players prioritize rescuing others above surviving themselves.
Forrest and Peggy receive a weird tape in the station’s mail slot at the conclusion of the two hours of gameplay that serves as a prelude to a far greater mystery that is yet to come.
When Killer Frequency launches later this year, it appears like it will have a lot to offer gamers thanks to its distinctive vintage aesthetic and enjoyable blend of humor and horror.
On June 1, Killer Frequency will be made available for PC, Meta Quest 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and Nintendo Switch.