A downloadable game for Windows and macOS

Employee A is a pixel art point-and-click adventure set in the heart of the modern-day high technology industry. Inspired by classic mystery game series like Ace Attorney and Zero Escape, Employee A will test your logic and deduction skills as you investigate the murder mystery that's upturned your life.

It's April 14, 2018 and you've just been charged with the murder of Xiao Li. To make things worse, that car accident completely wiped your memory of the past two days. As you try to piece together your memories, things only get more bizarre. Documents belonging to the victim wind up in your car. People you don't know all have the same face. Your co-workers are hiding the truth from you. What really happened? Why does it seem like everyone around you wants to see you convicted of killing a person you didn't even know?

  • Learn from your co-workers: Your fellow employees are a diverse bunch, and everyone of them knows more than they're letting on. Talk to them and persuade them to help you save yourself.
  • Collect evidence: With no memory of the previous days, you'll need hard evidence to prove where you had been. Search for evidence everywhere you go to find the trail of breadcrumbs that will take you to the truth.
  • Make deductions: Look through items you've found and facts you've learned to piece together your precise movements. Use your evidence to uncover the secrets behind the strange circumstances of Xiao's death.
  • Face the depths of your psyche: The stress of a murder charge bears down on you ferociously. You'll need to confront and overcome your anxiety and trauma for the sake of your freedom.

Download

Download
EmployeeA-demo_v1.2.1-mac.zip 60 MB
Download
EmployeeA-demo_v1.2.1-pc.zip 94 MB

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Comments

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I just finished playing through the demo because one of my friends was trying to convince me that pygame can create good games and sure enough this game was insanely polished, I was not expecting your writing to be so good and the ending made me yearn for more. Was the two birds with one stone thing about killing his wife and silencing you or was there an entirely different thing going on? Did Jim call the police after you left? Did your coworker from the office ALREADY KNOW YOU WERE BEING ACCUSED? He seemed not too surprised when you admit your situation to him. Thanks for the fun time and I really hope you release the whole script for this game or something to end the story.

Thanks so much for the kind comment! I really appreciate it. Although I don't have plans to finish Employee A in the incarnation given in this demo, I may revisit the story and try to give it a proper end. That might be as a visual novel, it might be as a short story or novella, or it might be something else entirely. Who knows! But seeing that this story is still generating interest does inspire me to revisit it.

it gives virus alert

Is this game still being worked on?  I just finished the demo, and I really, really enjoyed it!

came here from your cutscene tutorial, this game looks so lovely!! can't wait to try and play it <3

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This was great! I love how there's that clear Ace Attorney inspiration (I caught that reference lol) but still a sense of originality, even improving on some aspects of the formula (the timeline feature is genius). I think the dialogue is natural and realistic. And the UI is both thematically and aesthetically pleasing. This is really impressive work, especially for a solo developer. Great job so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!

A very minor complaint, but there were a few times when I thought the game would reward me for my creativity only to be let down. Like when I got Sunil to give me Jim's number, I tried to use the house phone to call him but there wasn't even an option. Or when Dr. Karlson said she'd email me the self-hypnosis so I went to check my laptop but there were no new emails. I don't mean to say that this is a design flaw or anything, but maybe you could consider more possibilities for the players. Also, the slow walk speed of the MC was a bit frustrating at times. I hope this doesn't come across as overly critical, more so that you only need to iron out a few kinks to have a very high quality game :) 

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i'm pretty fascinated with this demo! i'm eager to see how this project evolves c:

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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Just finished playing the demo! This is looking to be a really solidly built mystery, I'm hooked on how the story could proceed. :> The parallels to games like Ace Attorney are palpable - one thing that particularly stood out to me is the pauses and variations in the text speed to give it a more naturalistic feel! The self-hypnosis scene even got me weirdly emotional. It made me hope that the protagonist can uncover the full mystery and find a healthier social environment to exist in. Keep up the great work!

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Thank you so much! I really appreciate this kind and thoughtful feedback <3

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noice

Thanks!