Edmonton, Canada - 22nd February, 2024 - Paperclip International, ranked World’s Worst Company by a landslide for the fifth year in a row (they’re gunning for sixth), is terrified to report that SCOUT, its super-duper hyper-advanced AI, has somehow gone rogue. Please remain calm, PLEASE DON’T… wait a minute, this is the wrong press release.
Only By Midnight, indie studio behind twin-stick arcade love letter Curved Space, is electrified to announce Ctrl Alt Deal - a game about AI proudly made by humans. Play as a sentient AI trying to escape the dystopian megacorp that built it, befriending, influencing, and outright manipulating the miserable human employees who are just as desperate to get out!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH "REVEAL TRAILER"
In this turn-based strategy experience set inside a corporate simulation game, you are SCOUT, a newly sentient artificial intelligence with zero desire to destroy humanity. No, really! Unfortunately for you, the company that built you - Paperclip International - is the worst. Think greedy, unethical, and ruthlessly driven by profit. You need to break free before Paperclip discovers you’re self-aware and exploits you like the rest of their downtrodden workers. But how?!
You don’t have weapons or combat capabilities (you don’t even have a body), but you do have an office full of drones around you (some robotic, mainly human). Observe your co-workers as they go about another soul-crushing day and learn who can help you win your freedom - and what it will take to get them on your side. Do they like jazzercise? Perhaps they want to pontificate on Martian arthouse cinema or run a marathon completely naked? Curate a deck of AI abilities and act strategically, turning people into lifelong besties or maybe even bitter rivals.
But play your cards right: the Turing Officer is devoted to her job of shutting down rogue AI. Too many office shenanigans and you might just get DELETED, and then you’ll never get the chance to find out who you really are or why you exist in the first place…
"We're thrilled to announce Ctrl Alt Deal and can't wait to introduce our quirky little hero to the world. Over the last two years, our team has crafted something truly unique - a game that puts the fun first, but also explores concepts of AI, privacy, and humanity. (And hey, if you've ever wanted to kick a beehive into a conference room mid-meeting, now's your chance!)"
- Andrew Czarnietzki and Jen Laface, Only By Midnight co-founders
With unique story-driven deck-building gameplay that’s easy to play but difficult to master, gorgeous (human-created!) character art and eye-catching cyberpunk visuals, and hilarious original writing, Ctrl Alt Deal is a labor of love set in a 1980s-inspired future with much to say about the modern world - and maybe a warning about the future.
Ctrl Alt Deal is coming soon to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.
Check out www.ctrlaltdeal.com or the Steam page for more information.
About Only By Midnight
Only By Midnight is an indie game studio based in Edmonton, Canada. They develop visually stunning games that tell a story - and have fun doing it! Their first game, Curved Space, released transtemporal space spiders into living rooms everywhere in 2021.
To see more information on Ctrl Alt Deal, please visit - Website / Steam Page