Elevator Hitch: A Surreal Horror Escape Room Experience
Elevator Hitch is a short 2.5D surreal horror visual novel that blends escape room mechanics with point-and-click puzzle-solving. Set in a "Perfectly Normal" 1970s office elevator, the game follows two co-workers who suddenly find themselves trapped in an eerie, liminal nightmare. As they explore bizarre and unsettling floors, they must work together to uncover clues, solve cryptic puzzles, and find a way to escape.
A Journey into the Uncanny
The game centers around Protag, a nameless job applicant on his way to an important interview. However, his simple elevator ride takes a terrifying turn when he and an unnamed Co-Worker become trapped. Instead of reaching their intended destinations, the elevator now stops at floors that defy logic—each one more disturbing than the last.
The game’s unsettling atmosphere is heavily inspired by The Backrooms and weirdcore aesthetics, featuring distorted office spaces, surreal architecture, and cryptic messages. As players progress, they will encounter a series of nightmarish rooms filled with horrifying entities, deadly traps, and mind-bending puzzles that determine their fate.
Exploring the Nightmare: The Floors of Elevator Hitch
Each floor in Elevator Hitch presents a unique puzzle or threat, with many leading to gruesome game-over endings if the player makes the wrong choices.
- Floor 1 - The Lobby: The starting location of the game, inaccessible until unlocking Floor 9.
- Floor 2 - The Black Hole Room: A white room with a chair and a mysterious black hole. A note reads, "Give it something Alive." Interacting with the hole without an offering results in Protag being dragged inside.
- Floor 3 - The Mouth: Appears as a pitch-black void, but when illuminated, reveals itself to be a massive human mouth that devours Protag if he steps inside.
- Floor 4 - The Bedroom: A creaky wooden-floored room with an unseen entity pretending to be a parental figure. Players must hurry to investigate before it arrives.
- Floor 5 - The Nuclear Room: A toxic warehouse filled with green radioactive liquid. If Protag stays for more than 15 seconds, he dies from radiation poisoning.
- Floor 6 - The Office Party: A seemingly normal cubicle decorated for a birthday party. Protag must fill out a job application correctly and call a given number to receive a drugged birthday cake slice.
- Floor 7 - The Butcher Room: A bloody chamber with hanging animal carcasses. Cutting open the wrong one leads to a violent, gruesome demise.
- Floor 8 - The Mirror Elevator: A reversed version of the original elevator, occupied by older versions of Protag and Co-Worker. Choosing the wrong interaction results in permanent floor blockage or death.
- Floor 9 - The Interview: A sky-blue void with a floating chair and a faceless man in a suit (referred to in the game files as "NORMAL GUY"). Here, Protag undergoes a job interview, where his answers determine his fate. A negative response results in death, while a positive one leads to the true ending, where Protag is "welcomed" into his new job.
A Unique Blend of Horror and Psychological Mystery
Elevator Hitch stands out as a psychological horror experience that plays with existential dread, corporate horror, and surrealism. The game combines unsettling imagery with puzzle mechanics, forcing players to think critically while navigating a world that constantly shifts between reality and nightmare. With multiple endings, disturbing encounters, and a cryptic storyline, Elevator Hitch is a haunting experience that lingers long after the credits roll.
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