In terms of creativity, I’m not sure there’s a more varied and exciting genre than indie horror. The wonderful folks that make these games just have so many twisted ideas they’re happy to use to scare you, be it by trapping you in an endlessly looping subway or forcing you to play Russian Roulette with a sinister and monstrous face. There’s one thing that scares me more than anything though, and that’s the idea of a hard day’s graft in a warehouse. Order 13 has clearly realised this deep rooted fear, with a game about packing boxes and disembodied limbs.
In Order 13 our protagonist seems to exist solely in a fulfilment centre, with a little bedroom they do all their orders from. With a tiny mattress shoved into a corner, a conveyor belt for orders and all other space devoted to your beloved cat, you can’t help but eat, sleep and breathe cardboard boxes and packaging peanuts. Each day has a quota you need to hit to keep your job, so balancing efficiency and vigilance (because mistakes cost cash) is the name of the game.
When you’re ready to get cracking you can print out your first ticket order, which will have all the information you need to find the associated item. Finding the right lettered column and shelf is your first task, then you’ll need to input the code to open it. This takes the form of four specific squares in a three by three grid, which you’ll need to hold in your memory as you make your way down the stacks of electronics, toys and other desired items. Then once you’ve got the item you need to take it back to your room, plop it in a box with little Styrofoam chunks, and tape it up before sending it on its way. It’s actually a very satisfying loop, at least when there’s nothing trying to attack you.
Obviously there are big mutant-like monsters that will make this process more difficult, which are actually pretty disturbing looking. If you make too much noise or get too close to one of these creeps they’ll run straight for you, and they’re fast enough that it won’t take long for them to jump-scare you and send you back to the start of the day. The only way to escape these creepy foes is by finding a place to hide under a nearby shelf, but with limited spaces you’ll need to remember those safe havens if you want to survive.
As if dying wasn’t punishment enough, if you don’t stay safe from the monsters there’ll be nobody to feed your cat. This furry friend is actually a key part of Order 13, acting as your time limit throughout. There’s a meter in the bottom corner of the screen indicating the happiness of your kitty, and if this reaches zero it’ll die of boredom. It’s a pretty horrendous reason to ensure you get your orders done with plenty of time to spare, but there are at least plenty of ways to raise your pet’s happiness with your spare cash.
There’s a full store you have access to in the Order 13, with all sorts of handy upgrades to purchase. Raising your cat’s happiness with cat scratchers and toys means you have more time to hit your quota, but there are also torches to help light the way, scanners that can hold order information and bags you can store extra items in to maximise your profits.
The final items you can spend your money on are certificates, which grant you access to the depths of the warehouse. Down below there are more monsters and less places to hide, but orders collected here will grant a whole lot more cash. As your quota increases this becomes absolutely necessary, although I must admit I thought one of the later areas was pretty dull.
Order 13 is a great concept for a horror game, but there are just a few too many aspects that are underwhelming. The monster you encounter pretty much always looks the same, and it doesn’t take long to get desensitised to it. This alongside the fact you’re always doing the same thing over and over really decreases the shelf life of the experience. There’s also a lack of explanation to the game as a whole, with no way to know how to best avoid the enemy other than trial and error. In fact there are some aspects of the game I still don’t understand, like the jump scares from a different monster that happened twice and didn’t seem to really do anything.
I really like the setting and concept of Order 13, but in practice playing it gets old after an hour or so. If that’s all you need from a horror game then this will likely satisfy you, but for a title that doesn’t really have a proper ending it just ended with a whimper for me.