A wild psyhcological horror concept that focuses on giant consequences. Literally.
The new project from Tallboys and Critical Reflex, Militsioner, can best be described as an escape simulator where instead of a camera the watchful eye is actually a giant police officer ready to throw us into jail.
Except, well, he’s got some emotional issues.
The opening moments of the game’s latest demo begins as we dangle from the officer’s finger tips while he reads through the sentencing paperwork for some sort of crime that we are convicted of. Except, well, we don’t really have a recollection of doing anything noteworthy. This is a small European town under the thumb of authoritarianism and we don’t have a chance in hell of surviving. But that’s where our wits and the officer’s personal issues can work out well together.
You see, this game presents itself as a first person adventure escape game, but so much of that is us trying to appease the colossal officer through slight nods of compassion (or negativity, depending on the situation) while we make our way through the city. For instance after promising that we won’t try to run away (and don’t bother, he’ll catch us every time early on) the officer sets us down while he waits for commands from home base. We’re immediately greeted by a mysterious hand in a sewer offering us an apple. We can take it, or we can give it to the officer as a gift. He *is* a bit hungry, and even a tiny apple by comparison can satisfy him enough to start affecting his mood positively. Further down the road we see a cat on a window sill, and noting how the officer seems alone we can grab the cat and give it to him. Suddenly he lets us know how he’s always wanted a cat, and his positive emotional levels spike. Was this all going to be that easy? Nope. The cat instantly runs away and now our eye in the sky is even more sad than when we started.
We can continue walking around the sparingly inhabited town, hopping into buildings, red light video shops, even heading into a sewer while we look for stuff to do and a way out — but it’s not going to be that easy. We can’t hide from him for too long or he will get angry, and we can’t dilly dally around either, since the town is known to flood often (and in my first run I end up drowning in that sewer). That all brings a sense of tension that isn’t overwhelming and yet still foreboding. We know something bad is going to happen, we’re just not sure how or what, or when.
And that’s the process, right? Make him happy and maybe he’ll let us escape, or maybe he’ll be too distracted to notice us, or maybe he’ll be angry or sad and something else might occur.
Militsioner isn’t a difficult concept to wrap our heads around, but it’s the execution that’s so fascinating. This could have just been a camera, but a giant policeman? With internal fears and hopes? And a strange European town that isn’t quite normal? It seems to work together really well, and potentially a strong take on what’s possible when we really want to fuck with the minds of players.
Militsioner doesn’t have a release date yet.
SideQuesting had a chance to play the game at PAX East. This video first appeared on The SideQuest LIVE for May 9, 2025.
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