Demo unpacked for The Bagman 

• Announcements by Sam Amiotte-Beaulieu
• Published:

Clock Tower-styled 16-bit point-and-click survival horror coming soon to Steam and retro consoles

Babysitting tends to be a pretty easy – or at least, non-life-threatening – job, but the star of UK developer BadTasty’s upcoming The Bagman is unknowingly in for a night of “horror, slaughter, and terror” instead. 

Eloise just wanted a normal night of “free pizza, a sleeping baby, and a few friends sneaking in” to keep herself from dying of boredom. Unfortunately for this young woman, who has been plagued by nightmares since a traumatic event she witnessed as a child, the monsters become all too real when she and her friends find the child in her care isn’t “the only thing asleep [as] something much older refuses to rest” this night. Now it’s up to Eloise to work together with two good friends in an attempt to outsmart the horrors stalking them throughout the house. If things go well, they just might make it out alive. If not… 

The Bagman is a “retro 16-bit point-and-click/survival horror” adventure game that “layers in stealth, commandable NPCs, and gratuitous slasher gore.” The game is heavily inspired by the original Clock Tower first localized into English in late 2024, but brings an interesting mechanical twist all its own. You control Eloise through a mouse-only interface (or gamepad, but even there it’s designed to simulate point-and-click) as you move through the various locales, gathering items and solving puzzles while avoiding the wrath of omnipresent stalkers. Different monsters have “their own behaviors and cravings” but can “also be tricked and coerced depending on your survival and stealth skills.” Every location has hiding spots where you can temporarily elude capture by an oncoming foe. 

Unlike its inspiration, however, here you have the ability to use a walkie-talkie and issue orders to Eloise’s friends separately. There are a variety of dialogue menu options for issuing commands, from distracting a pursuing monster to picking up an item that Eloise can’t hold herself (each character has their own inventory with items they have collected.) While helpful to have friends along, their safety becomes your responsibility as “they’re counting on your instructions to help them survive.” One wrong move and your friends can die – permanently. Whether or not either or both of them live, as well as other choices you’ll make along the way, will lead to one of multiple possible endings. And with certain events occurring “whether you are there or not,” there should be plenty new to experience when replaying the game. 

The Bagman’s authentic retro style isn’t purely aesthetic, as the game is being developed not just for modern hardware but also for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It does not yet have a release date, but a playable prologue is available now on Steam for Windows PC for those brave enough to test out their slasher survival skills.

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