Employee A shows off credentials in demo

Written by Jack Allin — March 6, 2022 at 10:50

We've all had a bad day on the job, whether being yelled at by a customer, passed over for promotion, snubbed by a colleague, or perhaps forced to work overtime. But as we'll discover sometime later this year, all that is nothing compared to the nightmarish day the protagonist of cross_couloir's Employee A is having.  

Players control the titular Employee A, a young woman who wakes up in the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center with no memory of who she is or what happened leading up to her arrival. Even more shocking is the news that comes next: she was arrested the day before for the murder of someone named Xiao Li! Certain she's innocent but with no alibi or even any recollection of the day, she will need to interrogate her colleagues, search for clues, examine emails and computer files, and do it all while desperately trying to "hold [herself] together as the aftereffects of trauma" threaten to overwhelm her.

Presented via an isometric perspective, Employee A sends players through six distinct hand-drawn environments at the protagonist's tech startup company to scour them for useful information and chat with eight different characters. Inspired by "classic mystery game series like Ace Attorney and Zero Escape," the gameplay promises to "test your logic and deduction skills as you investigate." As new evidence is uncovered, you'll need to "make deductions by combining pieces of information to reveal the truth behind the murder." It won't be easy, however, as you'll need to "break through the selfishness and indifference of the other employees" if you're to get any help whatsoever from them. 

While the full version of Employee A isn't due until August 4th, you can sample its wares right away through the playable demo already available for download either from Steam or itch.io on Windows and Mac.