One of the things I love the most about reviewing games is that we get the ability and privilege to play games that I might not otherwise hear about or get to play. While not every game falls into this category, Killer Frequency by Team17 and Fireshine is definitely one that does. A first-person horror puzzle game set in 1987 places you in control of a radio station talk show host in BFE whose callers are being stalked by a town-famous killer from years ago. It’s basically a slasher told through a visual novel with minimal violence shown on screen, in case you’re a parent wondering if this is okay for your kids.
Killer Frequency is not only a proof of concept; it’s a terrific game. Everything about the game works. The story might be a little silly, but most slashers have ridiculous premises, and nobody is engrossed in this genre for realism. The game shoots for an 80’s slasher vibe throughout and achieves its goal in every possible way. The dialogue for the game is cleverly written and showcases the ability of the writers outside the genre. Any notion that the writers were just following a mold is thrown out the window within the first two callers.
Adding to the game’s intensity, different prompts will pop up as you’re trying to keep callers alive, and these prompts will disappear as quickly as they pop up. These are meant to emphasize the quick reactions that must go into your decisions in situations like these, but it also adds to the immediacy of everything. One really delayed reaction can have drastic impacts on your playthrough, exactly as they would if you were really running from a killer. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
After the town’s sheriff is killed and the remaining deputies have to leave to get assistance from a neighboring town, you know, as you do when a killer is stalking your town, and you’re the one in charge of protecting it. For some reason, the living deputy thinks that your skills as a radio host will enable you to act as a 911 operator, you know, as you do. As such, you take calls from people being stalked by the killer, and it’s your job to either guide them to safety or… not. Every choice you make has an impact, and you’ll be responsible for looking around and locating different pieces of information capable of helping the respective callers.
Without giving too much away, these tasks include things like moving a person around to different rooms as a killer is looking for them and helping someone hotwire a car to run from the killer, as well. How you respond and interact will ultimately determine the fate of these people. It’s a concept I’ve not really seen before in games and it’s been stuck in my brain ever since I began playing.
The total playtime for Killer Frequency clocks in at under 10 hours, so this game is absolutely perfect for someone looking for a short but entertaining indie game. It’s also a great title for anyone who loves the slasher genre. Fans of visual novels may also want to give this game a try. It really does intersect a lot of different fan bases, and that’s why the game has a 95% approval rating on Metacritic and a 9/10 on Steam. It’s rated that highly because it’s that damn good. It was so good that even Bloody Disgusting did a round-up on the game and lavished it with praise, and they cover horror more than video games. Ostensibly, this also means it’s a great horror game.
Killer Frequency is probably one of my favorite indie titles of the year so far. Team17 and Fireshine have done a hell of a job here. I would be super curious to see a larger and more fleshed-out version of this concept, but that doesn’t mean any part of Killer Frequency was subpar. This game made me want as much of this game as possible, and I genuinely hope that its runaway success has given the developers confidence that they can and should do even more with it.
BSO Rating: 10/10 Game of the Month
