This My Night Job Review is played and tested on Nintendo Switch. The game is also available on PC (Steam) and Playstation. The game is €/$ 3,99 and available now.
Among the endless stream of rogue-lite deck-building indie games, a true arcade game occasionally emerges—one that is simply intended as a quick, score-driven 2D action game and nothing more. Brazilian developer WebCore’s My Night Job is exactly that. The game’s menu, consisting of a simple option to start the game, a leaderboard, and a settings menu, makes it clear that the game focuses solely on its core arcade gameplay.
One stage, a gigantic mansion, and two objectives: rescue the 100 people roaming inside the haunted villa and prevent the house from being destroyed by the never-ending hordes of zombies, ghouls, bats, gargoyles, and other creatures from the Netherrealm. These enemies continue to spawn and challenge your survival.
Navigating the Mansion
The in-game map of the mansion reveals a somewhat complex collection of interconnected rooms, accessible via stairs, elevators, and portals, giving you multiple options for navigation. While every room contains people in need of rescue, open windows, cat doors, and sewer openings allow undead creatures to gradually invade. Managing crowd control while rescuing people is crucial. Bringing them to designated helicopter extraction points rewards you with power-ups, money, and special abilities—all essential for survival and improving your score.
The undead slowly but steadily destroy the rooms they occupy. If four rooms are completely destroyed, the game ends. The room status is displayed on the map: green means safe, yellow indicates increasing enemy presence, and red signals an emergency. Once a room turns red, you must act quickly to eliminate the monsters before the room deteriorates further and is ultimately destroyed.
Finding Your Way Around
Not all rooms are directly connected to their adjacent spaces. Some elevators or staircases transport you to entirely different sections of the map, requiring you to discover alternative routes from one room to another.
As an employee of what appears to be a powerful government organization, you might expect to be sent into this mission with a set of firearms or specialized weapons. However, that is not the case. You must rely on your bare hands and whatever objects you can grab within the mansion. Fortunately, the house is filled with makeshift weapons—chairs, vaults, crates, bicycles, plants, kitchen appliances, and more. Each item has limited durability, and some are far more effective than others. The combination of impact and durability varies widely, encouraging you to choose the best weapon for each situation. Attempting to clear a red room armed with an umbrella, for instance, is not advisable.
Weapons and Survival
Hidden in the basement, you’ll find the chainsaw—the most effective weapon in the game by a long shot. When facing a desperate situation with multiple rooms on the verge of collapse, the chainsaw can quickly turn the tide in your favor.
Delivering people to the helicopter extraction point grants bonuses like extra health, additional money (score), or temporary access to firearms, which can significantly help clear rooms.
Visual Style and Presentation
The game’s visual style is an eclectic mix of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Maniac Mansion. The sprites have a slightly comedic yet distinct look, with a nostalgic touch. The animations are fairly elaborate, with fluid movement and satisfying zombie-whacking sequences. Exploring the mansion and discovering all the details in its distinct rooms is an enjoyable aspect of the game on its own.
My Night Job keeps things simple—one level, no extra modes. At €/$3.99, it feels like a reasonable deal. The core gameplay and straightforward objectives are addictive, drawing players in with each attempt. Over time, you become more familiar with the mansion’s layout, allowing you to refine strategies and experiment with different approaches to balancing combat and rescue efforts.
Replayability and Leaderboards
Each playthrough offers opportunities for improvement—whether rescuing people in large groups or extracting them in smaller batches. I’ve played for hours and still find ways to rethink my strategy. The game’s distinct rooms help with visual memorization, making navigation more intuitive over time. One of the few persistent elements across playthroughs is the perks tied to achievements, which can be activated in the mansion’s control room.
It’s refreshing to focus purely on score and leaderboard rankings. At the time of review, the game had not yet officially launched, and the leaderboard had a limited number of entries. Hopefully, it will become more competitive post-release. However, I did encounter an issue where my scores stopped recording and the online leaderboard failed to load. I assume this will be resolved once the game is officially released.
While My Night Job may seem limited in scope and primarily geared toward gamers who enjoy chasing high scores in classic arcade style, it offers surprising depth, balance, and attention to detail within the floors of its haunted mansion. Its price tag is more than justified for those who appreciate a quirky but deep experience like this.
The Good
- Looks quirky and fun with great animated 2D sprites
- limited in scope but deep in gameplay
- Great price point
- Addictive!
The Bad
- Buggy online leaderboard
