From Press Release:
Clock-in for the night shift. As a TEREBRO INC. Risk Assessment & Management Data Processor, you protect the company’s legacy.
In your antiquated workspace, you navigate instruments and sift through documents illuminated by the incandescent bulb of a desk lamp and the moonlight. Static crackles through tunes playing on a portable radio as you parse data. Unusual diagrams and photographs draw you in as you cull eerie details from archived files. Urgency mounts in the small hours. Your supervisor, looming via intercom, leads you through a long-buried episode from the company’s past. Can you reckon with what lays bare on your desk – will you set right a decades-old wrong? Set against the Mississippi River in 1986,
Things Too Ugly twists experimental narratives within a challenging puzzle game. Wielding retro technologies, nostalgic aesthetics, and environmental horror, Things Too Ugly delivers a tense, interactive story that can be experienced in one sitting.
Key Features:
- Find Clues & Solve Puzzles
- Parse information from archived documents, photos, and other ephemera
- Crack challenging math, language, and logic puzzles by triangulating data
- Progress a Timely, Eco-Horror Narrative
- Compelling, voice-acted characters command investment in the narrative
- Mysterious questions culminate in a gripping conclusion
- Experience a Unique Soundtrack
- Find a favorite station on the in-game radio
- 80s synth meets rurality through tailor-made, late-night programs
About Professor Space Games:
Professor Space Games is an indie studio run by solo developer Kevin Mercer. Launched in 2023, the studio focuses on producing unique, high-quality titles. Professor Space Games’ development projects prioritize rewarding gameplay experiences and meaningful stories. Things Too Ugly is slated as the studio’s first commercial release, and highlights Professor Space Games’ interest in science fiction storytelling within rural settings.
Kevin Mercer on Things Too Ugly:
“Things Too Ugly is a game about uncanny and tragic happenings in the midwestern United States, a place I know well and love. Science fiction and rurality combine in a gameplay experience that highlights a number of ideas: labor, surveillance, workplace culture, and the environment.”
“Things Too Ugly is grounded in a real-world location. Radio broadcasts, photographic references, and audio samples from wildlife lend authenticity to the rural setting. The outdoors are brought into the oppressive office as a reminder that a whole world lies beyond the player’s desk.”
“It was important to me that I develop Things Too Ugly as a single-sitting experience similar to a film. I wanted this game to accommodate players’ busy schedules. As a person with a deep backlog, I often appreciate shorter experiences with rich storytelling and beautiful visuals.”
“The format of this game, a story-focused puzzle sim, was inspired by mystery books from my childhood. I always loved how all of the clues were laid out for me and I could dig into the work of putting them together. The various notes, drawings, and photographs of Things Too Ugly work this way, too. The player is trusted to triangulate the most important clues.”
“This is an experience that situates players in a workplace that demands anonymity. It raises questions about labor, corporate culture, and surveillance. Things Too Ugly represents an addition to the budding genres of corporate and interface horror, asking players to perform work through a retro computer terminal. The intercom affixed to its side means that the supervisor is never far away.”
“Corporate horror recognizes that the workplace is a place for earning pay as well as a site of resistance. It explores power dynamics, institutional memory, and the costs of abiding or disrupting either.”
