Everyone has had a job they hated. Maybe you didn’t like your coworkers or the management. Perhaps the environment or work itself was terrible. You probably didn’t get paid well either, or it was a combination of everything here. Working a horrible job is almost a right of passage that is sadly normal in our lives. We all have some form of escape at home, and yours is probably video games. But what happens when you take that horrible job and make a video game around it? You get ORDER 13, a game that might simulate the experience too well.
ORDER 13 is a horror game about working in a delivery warehouse like Amazon. It aims to simulate the experience of working in one of these fulfillment centers down to the quotas and unsafe work environments. I do like this idea, and it could work. A warehouse environment feels like a great place for horror, and adding the already stressful job has great potential. Sadly, ORDER 13 doesn’t hit that even if it tries to. There is still fun to be had here, and you even get a cat.
Clock In
In ORDER 13, you play as someone who needed a job and immediately regretted taking it. You handle prepping deliveries in this warehouse, and it’s up to you to get items, pack them, and ship them out. The shipment center is also your home, and while you’ve made a nice living space for yourself, it’s still a dark and eerie warehouse. At least you have a cat to keep you company, but that’s not the only thing keeping you company. Monsters roam the warehouse halls, and it’s up to you to avoid them while trying to do your job.
ORDER 13 is both a horror game and a simulator. One half is successfully shipping off items to hit your quotas and make money while managing your cat’s happiness (yes, this is an actual part of the game). The other half is traversing the warehouse trying to stay alive by avoiding the monsters roaming the halls. The core gameplay involves printing out an order, finding it, and bringing it back to the shipping center to send out. It gets harder as you expand the warehouse, but you can also unlock upgrades to help you out.
The core gameplay loop can be fun, but also brings out my biggest criticism. Traversing the warehouse and avoiding the monster is fun and can be scary, but it becomes routine after a while. The shipping part is also monotonous and does not feel fleshed out. It’s the same three tasks every time, and I think there could be another gameplay element here. There is also no time limit in a day, but there is something else in its place.
Instead of a time limit, you have to monitor your cat’s happiness. Your cat’s happiness decreases when you leave the shipping center to traverse the warehouse. When it hits zero, the game ends because your cat dies of depression (yes, it says that; yes, I was sad when I let it hit zero to see what would happen). You can buy items to increase your cat’s base happiness and restore it. A traditional time limit would’ve provided more challenge, but it is a nice novelty, even if it comes up short.
Workplace Hazards
Much like an actual delivery warehouse, you are not safe here. The horror element of the game comes from having to traverse a dark warehouse with monsters around every corner. If the game excels at something, it’s the atmosphere. While it falls short of the overall premise, I think it nails exploring the warehouse. Throughout the playthrough, there was no shortage of scary or tense moments. As the warehouse expands, it can keep that feeling as it introduces new environments.
Your living area/shipping center is also a nice break from the horrors of your job. It is a safe zone, and your cat’s happiness won’t go down either. You can also pet and customize the cat’s fur and name (I made mine look like my roommate’s cat, Chewy). There isn’t much customization outside of that. You will buy items to make your cat happy, but that’s about it. The shipping center is the aspect that is lacking here the most, but it doesn’t hurt the game overall.
While I like the environments, that sadly doesn’t apply to the monster designs. While getting chased by them and hearing them yell does make me run, none of them looked interesting. When I first saw one, I had to keep looking at it because it sounded scary but looked goofy. The monsters look like rejected SCP designs, and the game loses steam the more you see them. It does start to hurt the game, especially in the final area, as you are in a confined room, which becomes the lamest game of cat and mouse.
Clock Out
ORDER 13 is a very short game, and I beat it in about three hours. I don’t have an issue with the length because it ends at the right time. Near the end, the game was already starting to lose steam. It probably couldn’t pick itself back up if the game were any longer. I think the idea is solid but needs more work. The shipping center feels like a missed opportunity, and the cat happiness mechanic could use work. While I don’t think it reaches the full potential of its premise, I can say I had fun.
I have mixed thoughts on ORDER 13. On one hand, it falls short of its premise and sometimes feels repetitive. But I also enjoyed exploring the warehouse and even had tense moments. Having the cat is nice, but they need to do more with it. The game is short but the right length, and I enjoyed playing it. After everything, I can still call this an enjoyable experience, even if it falls short. ORDER 13 is a fun time, even if I wish it did more, and I’ll keep an eye on whatever the developer decides to do next.
Disclaimer: Oro Interactive provided Final Weapon with a PC (Steam) copy of ORDER 13 for review purposes.
