Having grown up in a forest, I know from experience that even the slightest unexpected sound can send a shiver down one’s spine. It’s usually nothing—a mouse, a hungry raccoon—but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling. And in the case of Knock-Knock, it’s clear that protagonist The Caretaker has a legitimate reason to be scared: There’s a strange presence dwelling in and around his house, and getting rid of it won’t be easy.
Having grown up in a forest, I know from experience that even the slightest unexpected sound can send a shiver down one’s spine. It’s usually nothing—a mouse, a hungry raccoon—but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling. And in the case of Knock-Knock, it’s clear that protagonist The Caretaker has a legitimate reason to be scared: There’s a strange presence dwelling in and around his house, and getting rid of it won’t be easy.
Knock-Knock is a hard game to categorize. The best way to describe it, it seems, is a puzzle-platformer with horror elements. The end goal of the game is to resolve the mystery of what’s happening in The Caretaker’s home, and why the strange creatures keep showing up each night. But in order to do that, The Caretaker must retain his sanity in the face of abject terror. This requires keeping the lights on whenever possible, and hiding from the creatures in pursuit of him.
There is, of course, the possibility that The Caretaker is already insane, and that all these creatures and happenings are products of that. But the end result is the same: he needs to figure out what’s going on. Staying alive is one step towards that, but actively pursuing the mystery at hand is an even greater one. The game’s creators promise that every occurrence in the house is some sort of clue as to what’s happening, and so it’s up to the player to pay close attention if they wish to succeed.
One of the major components of the game is dream exploration. Portals will occasionally open up in the house, and while it’s from these portals that the creatures come from, The Caretaker can also enter them and explore the dream within. The goal here is to close these portals up well and good, and while it’s hard to say what will be found inside of them, one could safely assume it will be something spooky.
While all players will be greeted with the same variety of creatures, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have the same experience with Knock-Knock. The house where everything takes place is entirely customizable, and you can combine an assortment of rooms, stairs, and other such features in any way you see fit. Does this mean you can build a house comprised of 20 kitchens? I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll be darned if that’s not the first thing I’ll try.
Ice-Pick Lodge, the creators of Knock-Knock, launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for the game late last year. Their next order of business is bringing it over to Steam, and the game can currently be voted for on Greenlight. What’s been shown so far has us hopeful of the game’s potential, and if you agree:
Click here to vote yes for Knock-Knock on Steam Greenlight
Greenlight Spotlight is a featured series on Gamezebo that profiles Steam Greenlight candidates that deserve your vote. We’re doing this in the hopes of calling attention to interesting projects that would benefit from distribution on Steam, so please, if a game looks like something you’d want to play, don’t hesitate to lend it your support!
“