Carry On Kampffing: Between The Needle And The City

Between the Needle and the City [official site] looks a little like Papers, Please by way of Blade Runner. As an employee of Honest Minds, initiators of the Humanity Purification Protocol, your job is to interview suspected alien imposters in human form. They believe you're a psychologist and using that cover you'll be able to dig into their history and their secrets, attempting to discover the truth. When the conversation is done, the decision as to whether the suspect should be freed or exterminated is yours. The first in-game footage is below.

When that first chap appeared, I had flashbacks to every Northern Quarter bar I've ever visited. If this were a game of Spot The Boutique Imported Beer drinker, I'd be quids in.

There are 40 suspects in all and because an autopsy is the only way to know for sure if an individual is an alien, setting somebody free means living in doubt for the rest of your days. Or until the game reaches one of its nine endings.

The decisions you make will guide you toward one of those endings and will also influence your dealings with colleagues at Honest Minds.

Use the electronic messaging system at your terminal to communicate with co-workers. As your personality is defined by how you play, expect NPCs who act similarly to yourself to reach out to you.

There's no release date yet but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this one. After all, who knows what it gets up to when its not under observation. Panopticons for all, I say.