Recall: Empty Wishes fulfilled on Windows, Mac and consoles 

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Taiwanese psychological thriller available now on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch platforms

For most of us, the worst thing on the other end of a telephone is an annoying telemarketer or someone you've accidentally butt-dialed. But the seemingly harmless phone at the center of Recall: Empty Wishes, the newly released psychological thriller from indie Taiwanese developer Puff Hook Studio, proves to be a very different kind with intriguing but potentially terrifying powers. 

One day in New Taipei City, a "smart and considerate" teenager named Tommy Lin left home and disappeared without a trace. His sister Yonny misses him terribly, but no answers come until she "discovers an old toy phone receiver she and Tommy used as children." This unusual device connects Yonny and her friend Phoebe to "a surreal realm where they can enter the memory echoes of certain individuals linked to Tommy." With it, the two girls are able to "tap into people’s deepest desires" in the hope of uncovering clues to the teen's sudden disappearance. But the human mind is an unstable place, and the deeper they dig, the darker, more "unsettling secrets" they uncover, "blurring the lines between reality and illusion" in the process

Recall is presented through a combination of hand-drawn visual novel-styled dialogue and side-scrolling pixel art adventuring. Based on "the culture of Taiwanese students in the 2010s" and inspired by story-driven games like To the Moon, The Coma and Detention, it promises to blend elements of mystery, fantasy and even horror in a narrative exploring "the fragile boundaries of memory, truth, and longing." The nonlinear tale revolves around its five main characters, each with their own distinct personalities and perspectives. There's the two protagonists and the missing Tommy, of course, as well as the Lin siblings' mother Eartha and the creepy-looking liar Mocky, one of Tommy's friends. Each chapter of the game relates to a certain person's past as you "relive pivotal moments" in their lives. In doing so, you will scour environments for clues, interact with other characters, collect and use important items, solve puzzles, and make important choices that will "unravel a tangled web of mystery and emotion" and ultimately "shape the story’s haunting conclusion." 

If you feel this game calling to you, you can pick it up right away as Recall: Empty Wishes is available now on Steam for Windows and Mac, along with console versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.

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