Cue a movie-like soundtrack reminiscent of 80’s night flicks, while a desperate, middle-aged man relentlessly fends off hordes of invading monsters inside a big old mansion, all the while gathering dozens of scattered survivors and guiding them to the relative safety of the mercenary rescue chopper.

That’s the part-time job you’ll find yourself in when you play My Night Job on PS4.

The gameplay is fast and fluid, and focused on pure arcade action. There’s no progressing storyline or successive stages. You are inside one big mansion. You need to keep the monsters from overflowing and destroying the rooms, rescue at least 100 survivors, and get the hell out of there before it’s too late!

Mixing 80’s Horror and Arcade Gameplay

Even though I was in the process of creating a fast-paced, score-based arcade game where tight mechanics and game balancing are king, I always kept in mind the old horror movies I watched on TV when I was younger — and the cheesy, eerie tension they brimmed with. That’s how the setting for the game came to be: an enormous house overflowing with references from more than 30 of those movies, coupled with the familiar feeling of a labyrinthine endless night escape, with just a tiny amount of hope shining through for those skilled and brave enough.

More than 60 different objects have been designed as weapons, so you can use cutlery, arcade controllers, golden axes, fish, or umbrellas in combat. You’ll also get special items when you guide hidden special survivors to the chopper: a kitten that obliterates all monsters in a room, a reanimation syringe, and more.

The horror movies were a very rich source of inspiration.

Bringing Trophies to a New Level

Trophies are actually useful in-game, too! Deep inside the mansion, there’s the trophy room where ten of the shiny trophies you earn are displayed. You can activate and deactivate up to two of them at the same time, with each of them toggling gameplay modifiers in real-time. Enhanced running speed for you or the survivors, 50% more HP, temporary invincibility while transformed into the demon clown (yes, you can be a demon clown for a few seconds), and so on.

So accept the job, discover all the secrets in the mansion, survive the night, and show off your hi-score on the online leaderboards!