Killer Frequency

If you're a little older, you might remember the TV series "A Voice in the Night" from the early 90s, where a former policeman, after an accident, ended up becoming a nighttime talk show host on a San Francisco radio station. In a way, Killer Frequency reminds me a bit of that TV series.

Killer Frequency is a first-person horror-adventure set in the 1980s at the small radio station KFAM in the sleepy town of Gallows Creek. You take on the role of radio DJ Forrest Nash, who has been fired from his radio job in the big city and is now a DJ and radio host on "The Scream" talk show that runs nightly in the small town in the middle of nowhere.

On this particular night, however, there's a killer on the loose in the small town and the evening turns into Forrest Nash's wildest night shift. When the town's sheriff mysteriously dies and no one at the police station answers the phone, the killer's victims call in to the radio for help to escape The Whistling Man. Together with your producer, you must now find clues in their calls and explore the nearly blacked-out radio station to find out how to help the desperate callers.

An example, taken from early in the game, might be figuring out how to start a car without the keys, as a victim has locked themselves in a car and the killer is now on his way there. You find clues by going to the desk where the hosts of the radio station's car show sit and go through their paperwork thinking they must know which wires to short-circuit to get a car to start. Tell the listener to cut the wrong wires and the car will start honking loudly or playing loud music, revealing where they're hiding.

All the action takes place via phone calls and dialogues with callers. These range from real victims, to the local pizza joint owner who sees the opportunity for some free advertising, to the local teenagers pretending to be The Whistling Man. Between calls, you have to keep the radio show alive by chit-chatting with your producer, playing music and running the commercials.

It's quite a different concept from what I had imagined. It's a very dialogue-heavy game, because by nature there's a lot of talking, so you have to be prepared for that. The tasks of helping the victims are varied enough, but sometimes it can be a little difficult to figure out how to help them. You have to find the right clues, otherwise it can be very tricky.

The graphics are quite nice for an indie game of this type and the soundtrack is really good. For a game where dialogue is so important, they have chosen some pretty good voice actors who do an excellent job, and the records you can play on the radio give a cool 80s vibe to the whole thing. The PC version can be played in VR with Oculus Quest 2, while PlayStation VR is not supported.

All in all, Killer Frequency is a nice little adventure game that I mostly played for short periods of time. There is a lot of talking - a little too much at times, but then you suddenly get a call and you have to solve a task in quite creative ways.

If you're into adventure and puzzle games where you want to use the little grays a bit, Killer Frequency is a nice and slightly different take on a game in that genre. But it's not a game for everyone.