"Can you play Inna-Vida-da-Gadda?": A Killer Frequency Review

By Manuel

​Players: 1
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, XBox, PC, Meta Quest

Killer Frequency is a first-person horror game that leans heavily into the ever popular 80s aesthetic. It's available on consoles, PC, and the Meta Quest by way of Team17. At its heart Killer Frequency is a rather simple, even short, game, but there's so much more to this one than first impressions reveal. On paper this might sound like a Five Nights at Freddy's game set in a radio station, but it's anything but that. What do I mean by this? And is this a game that is finally going to tear you away from Tears of The Kingdom? Let's all close our eyes, travel back to the 80s, and find out! Open your eyes before though, as this is a written review after all.

It's 1987 and you're placed in the shoes of late-night radio DJ Forrest Nash. Times are hard for Forrest and he's found his once-bustling career reduced to hosting a local show for the small town of Gallows Creek. He is assisted by his show's producer Peggy, who is forever a distant figure locked in her control booth. What could've been a slow night is interrupted when the town's sole 911 operator calls in with horrible new: the town's sheriff has been murdered and his deputy is locked within a cell. It's your job to walk her through escaping the mysterious figure behind it all: The Whistling Man. The Whistling Man is a serial killer thought to be long dead, but he is back and ready to get his revenge on the inhabitants of Gallows Creek. Seeing as the town's 911 line is all but useless with its operator currently fending off a killer out of your favorite creepypasta, all emergency calls are being routed to KFAM 189.16 and it's Forrest's job (and yours) to take these calls and walk The Whistling Man's victims to safety. He's still a radio DJ though, so as the night continues you're also still performing the duties of a standard radio host; playing music, lining up commercial spots, and maybe mixing a bit of entertainment into the night's horror. The night's horrors are live on the air and The Whistling Man is sure making himself busy.

Our main console if you will.

The town of Gallows Creek.

Describing Killer Frequency's gameplay is quite difficult. Parts of it play out like an old school point and click adventure game, and other parts play out like a visual novel where the main gameplay comes from dialogue choices. Your main goals are to get through the night, help out the emergency callers, uncover the mystery surrounding The Whistling Man's reappearance, and maybe play some sick tunes while you're at it. Since much of the game centers around listening to callers much of the gameplay involved picking the right option in a dialogue tree. Some of these options are timed and others you can think about before choosing. Besides working your radio equipment, you do have to interact with other parts of the radio station building in order to help callers. This can come in the form of looking for clues around the office that might help their situation or even receiving a fax from a caller who provides a hand-drawn map. The latter of which is where things really feel like an adventure game, but with a very limited inventory system. You can only pick up one item at a time, and never carry more than two. This isn't really all that important as these actions aren't the main focus of the game, they mostly help you decide on what choices you're going to make with any particular section of dialogue. This makes up the bulk of gameplay, but simplicity isn't always a bad thing, and even though the game's setting is small, it manages to open up slowly as you proceed through the night.

Peggy, our mysterious, but helpful, partner.

Our masked killer, The Whistling Man.

A funny note before we continue. It's actually an interesting run where you choose to not participate in any of the adventure game mechanics and just try to randomly feel your way through saving people. Doing this can of course lead to the caller's death, but the night continues on through most of these and you can still give a peppy song intro as you move onto the next part of the night. We'll talk a bit more about replayability in a bit, but it's funny that you can encounter a caller that you just simply don't like and choose to give them bad advice without much consequence. Also, despite all your best searches and item exploration, many choices do simply come down to intuition and pure luck, so you're probably going to make a mistake or two even if you're trying your best. It's best to just have fun with your first playthrough and, with that in mind, I'm going to refrain from mentioning anything else regarding Killer Frequency's story from here on out.

I want to play "Guess That Scream"!

Hey! Whistling Man Jackass!

It's hard to talk graphics as they aren't exactly pushing the limits of any platform this game is on, but there is a distinct charm to what is here. Killer Frequency leans hard into the 80s trappings when it comes to the overall look and feel of everything, and it does so in a way that feels genuine and not pandering to a trend. The art style just hits differently as there's a hard-to-describe neon hue to everything. There's actual neon lighting here and there, but that's not what I mean. I'm not sure if it's cell shading or what, but everything looks like it came to life from one of those black light posters, but with a vaporwave image on it. A radio station, offices, and a back alley could be some of the drabbest settings ever, but Killer Frequency makes them all pop and stand out. The attention to detail is everywhere in background objects, album covers, and more. Even Peggy herself, forever locked in her control room, offers an intriguing view of what the other people in this world must look like. It's a truly lonely setting, but not an ugly one. My only possible complaint is that I found myself wanting for a zoom function more than once as some details are hard to make out on their own. Maybe this is better executed in the VR version of the game, but on the Nintendo Switch (where I played it on) I found myself wanting for a way to get a closer look at everything. The world of the game is anything but big, but if anything that just makes you want for more of it.

When you gotta go, you gotta go.

The spooky hour.

​Controls are probably the weakest part of this game... sort of. Killer Frequency feels like it was designed to be mainly played in VR (and there is indeed a Meta Quest version that I'm kind of interested in trying out one day) and that hurts the experience somewhat when playing on consoles. I imagine playing with a mouse on PC would be a much different experience, but I played this game on the Nintendo Switch which means I had one of the least optimal control setups. The button choices felt odd, but like other unfamiliar control schemes it grows on you after a while. The biggest problem was controlling your hand in general. Your hand picks up and interacts with all objects, and it literally makes up the bulk of controls. Unfortunately, by default its control is so floaty that I initially found the game near unplayable. I played with the analog sensitivity a LOT to try to find the best speed, and I'm still not too satisfied with what I settled on. This actually wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't have very small objects, miniscule buttons, and the like that you have to interact with. You hand icon is equally tiny too and it's almost amazing the tiny amount of screen real estate it occupies. Starting and stopping music, hitting the call buttons, and trying to grab the exact item I needed from a cluttered table were just some of the frustrations I had while playing the game. Thankfully there aren't a lot of timed sections that require quick, precise movement, so this is probably something you'll also grow accustomed to after a while.

Those serial numbers though....

Like WTF is this drawing?

Music is another area where Killer Frequency really shines, and I guess that this makes sense when you remember that it centers on a radio station. There is something like atmospheric music in certain parts of the game, but most of the music comes from what you're playing in-between calls on your turntable. This means that you can randomly switch out the music and just vibe for a bit if you choose to; and I definitely made that choice more than once. Going with the game's aesthetic, everything has sort of a synthwave or retro pop feel to it, and this isn't a bad thing as all the songs manage to tackle these sounds in a way that will both have you humming along and also set flow into the game's atmosphere. Not a single song in the game is bad, and many I definitely had favorites I'd go back to by the end of the game.

Elsewhere sound-wise everything is as good as the music. The game is fully voiced and the voice actors playing Forrest and Peggy are really spot on and give admirable performances. This can't be said about ALL the voice actors though, as some gave very cringe-worthy performances. I really don't want to give away story spoilers by naming characters, but let's just say that the first caller gave one of the worst performances I've heard this side of a 90s anime dub, and nearly took me out the game. It never really gets anywhere near that bad as that first caller again thankfully, and that's a good thing since nearly the entire game revolves around listening to these characters talk. Part of me feels that this cheesy acting was intentional though, so I'm not exactly sure how to feel about it in the grand scheme of things. If that's the case, maybe the voice direction should've gone a bit more over-the-top to make it more clear as I'm not totally convinced that this was the case. Other vocals bits include the commercials you play via your tape deck, and these are all quite entertaining. In short, the sound here is spot on and you even have full control of the audio mix via both the settings in the pause menu, as well as in-game by using the mixing sliders on your radio console.

I love that neon lighting.

I REALLY want to read that magazine.

I don't often talk replayability, but Killer Frequency really does offer it up in spades. It took a few callers for me to realize that for the most part their deaths do not mean a game over. One can go back and go for a perfect run, or play the game like a total asshole who wants to see the entire town dead. Better yet, you could do what I what did and settle for something in-between. A full playthrough of the game runs maybe 5-6 hours, but there's no reason to just go through it once. There's a lot of random interactable objects too, and you can even play the game as a DJ who ignores all the calls entirely. Well, you can sort of do that as the game simply won't progress until you answer the calls on the switchboard, but it's worth trying out for a bit just for the great tunes and funny commercials. I was not expecting this level of variation in outcomes, and it really adds to the experience as it allows you to give your first playthrough a very natural run. You can then go back if you so desire (and if you're like me you will) to see the many "what if" scenarios. You really do get a lot of bang for your buck in this one and even if you just give it one playthrough, it'll still be a worthwhile experience.

This question really is the entire game in a nutshell.

In short I can't recommend Killer Frequency enough. Somewhat wonky controls aside, the console versions hold up well and I imagine it plays even better on PC or on the Meta Quest. Run, don't walk, to your local digital store of choice and get this now and enjoy that rare indie gem that all too often flies under the radar. At the time of writing there are several launch discounts available too. I hope that Team17 work on a follow-up of some sort to this game, if not a full-on sequel, as I really enjoyed this one far more than I thought I would. Grab the game, man that radio, and stay alert. After all, it's up to you to stop The Whistling Man and you wouldn't want to see disaster befall the town of Gallows Creek right? ... Right?

For More Information on Killer Frequency:
https://www.killerfrequency.game/

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Story: A
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A+
Sound: A-
Value: A

OVERALL: A

Pros:
+ The overall presentation of this game really hits that 80s nostalgia in the most perfect way.
+ Gives off vibes that would make this a great movie or creepypasta, complete with a surprising amount of twists for what is a pretty simple set-up.
+ There is a lot of replayability in this one, especially if you do what I did and accidentally get a bunch of people killed.
+ The music is just awesome. That's it.
+ Underlying humor really adds to the atmosphere, and this game can be played in a total tongue-in-cheek B-movie fashion if you so desire.

+/- The adventure gamer in me wishes that there was more random object you could interact with.

Cons:
- Console controls REALLY take some getting used to, and can still be a bit confusing at times.
- Voice acting is very hit or miss outside of the two main characters. Though this could be somewhat intentional...
- Some puzzles feel purely based on luck the first time around.
- While it is a memorable experience, the game is on the shorter side of things at around 5+ hours.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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I still want more though...