Night of the Consumers

About

Night of the Consumers is a first-person horror game in which a player takes on the role of a retail worker in a supermarket who is tasked with stocking up empty shelves and guiding customers. The game includes multiple anxiety-inducing elements, with the horror element stemming from reinterpreting everyday interactions of a retail job. Following the release in March 2020, the game gained significant popularity among YouTubers.

History

On November 16th, 2019, indie game developer GERMFOOD^[1] teased his then-unnamed PlayStation 1-styled horror game set in a supermarket, making more posts^[2] about the development of the project in the following months. On January 31st, 2020, GERMFOOD^[3] announced the name of the game, Night of the Consumers. On March 2020, a trailer^[4] for the game was released (shown below).

On March 7th, 2020, GERMFOOD^[5] released the game on the open indie game marketplace itch.io.

Gameplay

The Night of the Consumers is a PlayStation 1-styled horror game set in a supermarket. The player assumes the role of a retail worker tasked with stocking the shelves within a limited amount of time. The player is constantly accosted by shoppers who demand him to guide them to the sections of the supermarket. If the player fails to fulfill his duties within the given time, they get fired and the game ends.

Reception

Following the release, the game gained significant attention from the YouTube audience. On March 8th, 2020, YouTube channel Alpha Beta Gamer^[6] uploaded a gameplay video of the game which received over 500,000 views in two weeks (shown below).

In the following weeks, the game received further spread in the YouTube and streaming communities, with Let's Play videos and streams by Markiplier ^[7] (shown below, left), Vinesauce Vinny ^[8] (shown below, right), Kubz Scouts ^[9] and other YouTubers and streamers.

On itch.io, the game maintained a 4.7/5 score as of March 20th, 2020. On YouTube^[10][11] and Twitter, multiple users praised the game for translating the feelings of anxiety one could get working in a retail job. For example, on March 17th, Twitter^[12] user @trillvalentine tweeted about the game, with the post gaining over 2,700 retweets and 8,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Search Interest

External References