Demo reveals first glimpse of Things Too Ugly

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Workspace research thriller set in the 1980s coming this year to PC and consoles

It may feel a little meta to sit in front of a computer playing someone sitting in front of a computer, but sometimes you've got all the tools you need right at your fingertips. The latest such game to make use of a single workspace is Professor Space Games' upcoming corporate thriller, Things Too Ugly.

It's April 25, 1986, and you've just begun your night shift at TEREBRO INC., located somewhere along the Mississippi River. It's your job as a Risk Assessment Data Processor to test software and "protect the company's legacy," but from what? It seems that TEREBRO's reputation "teeters on the brink of the secrets you'll uncover." To do so, all from the discomfort of your "antiquated workspace ... illuminated by the incandescent bulb of a desk lamp and the moonlight," you'll need to operate a variety of period-appropriate equipment and pore over archived documents and "unusual diagrams and photographs," all while "static crackles through tunes playing on a portable radio." Slowly but surely you'll begin piecing together a "long-buried episode from the company’s past that ... should perhaps remain uncovered," guided only by your supervisor communicating via intercom. The more you learn, the more urgent the task, as ultimately it will be up to you whether to be your employer's "guardian or its destroyer."

Created by solo developer Kevin Mercer, an Assistant Professor of Digital Media Arts & Animation at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Things Too Ugly may have a simple first-person setup but unraveling its mystery promises to be quite complex. There will be many clues to find and "challenging puzzles" to solve, ranging from "logical deductions to deciphering encoded messages." You'll have access to your computer, of course (1980s old school style), as well as a GPS, an encoder device, and a radio that you can – and must – manually tune at times. But it's not all about the retro technology, as there's a "trove of documents and recordings" to sift through, each piece "a fragment of [TEREBRO's] hidden history." As you come to grasp the crucial role you play in all this, an atmosphere of "unsettling environmental horror" will begin to pervade what intially seems like a safe and sheltered experience. 

Things Too Ugly isn't far off, with an expected release sometime later this year on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch platforms. But for those who'd like a sneak peek, you can punch in early with the playable demo available now on Steam. 

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