Night Call: A "pretty dynamic and non-linear" murder mystery

We caught up with project lead and programmer Laurent Victorino to talk about the rather intriguing murder mystery game that is Night Call.

"Night Call is a very narrative game, with a noir ambience," says Victorino. "You play as a taxi driver in Paris and all you have to do is talk with your passengers but at one point there's a story with a serial killer and you are involved in that and you must help the police to catch that killer. So it's a narrative game, investigation game, with some economy in it. It's kind of a weird mix."

The game features a procedural structure, you never know what passengers you'll pick up and what clues they may hold to the investigation and with each playthrough, there's a different scenario. You need to balance your need for knowledge and clues with the need to get enough tips to cover your expenses.

"We have more than 75 passengers in the game, I am the programmer and I have no idea who will enter your taxi. The game will come with three different killers, so there's three different stories to have and every time you will meet probably 20 passengers, so a lot of possibilities, a lot of mixed possibles, so it's pretty dynamic and non-linear."

The conversation also touched on the inspiration for the game and the "very special intimacy" between a passenger and a taxi driver at night. Two strangers who'll likely never met again. The art style (black and white) was also discussed and the choice of using the actual map of Paris.

Night Call is scheduled for release early next year on PC and Nintendo Switch, with more console versions likely to follow.