Night Call

Aside from pursuing interactions with the driver's passengers as the conceit behind the investigation, the gameplay of Night Call also incorporates aspects of a management simulator, which reflects Houssine's need to make a living as a taxi driver. Call received mixed reviews from critics. The game has been praised for its setting, characters and plot, while criticism focused on the repetitive nature of its gameplay design and aspects of its conversation system.

• Title — Night Call • Developer — MonkeyMoon, Black Muffin • Publisher — Raw Fury • Producer — Laurent Victorino • Designer — Anthony Jauneaud • Programmer — * Damien Mayance • Laurent Victorino • Daniele Giardini • Artist — * Mathieu Collangettes • Sandra Fesquet • Writer — Anthony Jauneaud • Composer — Corentin Brasart • Engine — Unity Engine • Platforms — * macOS • Windows • Xbox One • Nintendo Switch • Released — PCJuly 17, 2019Nintendo Switch, Xbox OneJune 24, 2020 • Modes — Single-player

Night Call is set in Paris, the capital city of France. Night Call visual style - low-key, black-and-white - is typical of the film noir genre. The player may choose to play one of three versions of the same story outline, all of which follow a taxi driver named Houssine who wakes up from medically induced coma in a hospital after surviving an attack by a notorious serial killer two weeks before. A police officer blackmails Houssine to investigate his own case by leveraging his interactions with his passengers to track down the serial killer. The gameplay of Night Call has been described as a combination of a murder mystery adventure game and a "night gig economy simulator". Each night, players would drive around Paris as Houssine. From the in-game map, players would select a fare to accept and watch a yellow arrow navigate to its destination. Upon arrival, an overlaying scene of an interior shot of the car with Houssine front right and his passenger(s) in the back seat will play. Conversations are text-based and takes place between minimally animated character models, with players selecting dialogue options on Houssine's behalf, which is occasionally interspersed with his internal observations. Night Call features a “Passidex” that compiles every character the player meets along with important information about their interactions with Houssine, which players may reference when trying to deduce the identity of the serial killer. In total, there are 75 passengers whom Houssine may meet encounter the course of the game. In between passenger fares, players may visit various locations to further Houssine's investigation by tracking down leads and following up on clues. Players must be mindful of the amount of fuel left in the car's tank during Houssine's travels, which is funded with proceeds from cab fares. Night Call offers three levels of difficulty: in the easiest difficulty or story mode, resource management and case investigation is adjusted to be easier, whereas in hard mode, money is harder to come by and the difficulty in terms of investigation is greatly increased.

The development team of Night Call, led by project leader Laurent Victorino and writer Anthony Jauneaud, started planning for the game in 2016 and began working seriously with their publisher Raw Fury by 2017. An important influence for Night Call is the 2011 video game L.A. Noire. The developers decided at the beginning of development that the protagonist is not a competent detective like Sherlock Holmes, or a superhero who specializes in crime fighting. The developers wanted to emphasize his limited skills as a taxi driver and his relatability as an ordinary person who is thrust into an extraordinary situation. In this regard, money earned from taxi fares and managing gasoline levels are incorporated as gameplay mechanics, in an effort to challenge players to make appropriate decisions within the required timeframe. The pacing of Night Call is planned in such a way that players may enjoy it in short bursts and play between 10 and 15 minutes, with a single in-game night session lasting between half an hour to 45 minutes. The developers compared the gameplay experience to a "cool book" that players would want to return to each night. The in-game map in Night Call is based on the real life layout of Paris, which measures 100 square kilometres in length. The cast of characters in Night Call are not just confined to French nationals; the cosmopolitan makeup of Paris and its reputation as one of the most visited destinations in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals inspired the team to incorporate non-French nationals as potential characters the player may encounter during shifts. The developers have described the tone of Night Call to be distinctly "French", and that it does have a sense of humor in spite of its generally dark atmosphere. Night Call was released for Windows and macOS on July 17, 2019. Console ports for Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch were released on June 24, 2020. A port for PlayStation 4 was originally planned, but was officially canceled as of October 2020. The developers cited disappointing sales on other platforms and unspecified issues with their porting partners as the reasons behind the cancellation.