# Content Warning

Content Warning is a 2024 co-op survival-horror video game published by Landfall Publishing. It was released on April 1, 2024, as a part of Landfall's tradition of releasing a game on April Fools' Day.
In Content Warning, the player can set a team of up to four players to take a deep dive into a vast underground abandoned ancient world, coined "The Old World". The players do this to film scary footage of monsters and return to the surface to upload the recording to a website known as "SPOOKTUBE", to earn a lot of money, viewers, and most importantly, meet quota.

## Gameplay

The gameplay of Content Warning bears similarities to Lethal Company and Phasmophobia, which is a co-operative survival horror video game played from a first-person perspective. The player teams up with up to three other players to venture through the diving bell into the Old World, underground ruins with descending entrances to procedurally-generated rooms alongside lost items, artifacts, and hostile creatures. There are different areas, and the Old World is more than hundreds of millions of meters across. (This is because the Old World is auto-generated, as previously mentioned). While players are in the Old World, they have oxygen meters that slowly deplete over five hundred seconds unless they are inside the diving bell, which pauses the timer.
Players are tasked to bring a camera with them to record the monsters they encounter, then escape with the diving bell to return to Sky Island to upload the recorded video to Spooktube to gain views and ad revenue. The number of views and money gained are scaled by how dangerous the captured monsters are, their presence on the screen, and their interaction with players. Some uses of gadgets boost the numbers when recorded as well. Once uploaded, players can save the video to their computer file in .webm format.
Players have three days to reach the views quota. Players can upload a recording to Spooktube once and only one deep dive is permitted per day before players need to rest in the bedroom and conclude the day. Failure to reach the number results in a game over, all equipment and money are lost, and the view quota is reset to the initial number. Additionally, players can accept a sponsor, a side objective that rewards Metacoins once completed. Metacoins can be used to purchase customization to the Sky Island like a trampoline and swimming pool, or player's cosmetics like hats.

### Equipment

At Sky Island, players can interact with a kiosk in front of the house to purchase items with earned money. The purchasable items are sorted into the following categories;
* Lights: These items provide illumination, such as flashlights and flares. Flashlights can be recharged at a designated station near the diving bell.
* Medical: This category includes items like the Hugger, which gradually restores health to nearby players, and the Defibrillator, which can revive a deceased player.
* Gadgets: Gadgets are items intended to enhance in-game recordings or offer defense. Examples include the clapper, sound player, and boom mic, which increase view counts in recordings, as well as defensive tools such as the goo ball, grappling hook, and shock stick. The goo ball creates a large slime sphere that slows any entity it touches. The shock stick temporarily stuns any creature or player that comes into contact with its end. The grappling hook allows players to pull other players or creatures towards them or pull themselves towards an anchored point in the environment.
* Emote: This category includes a set of consumable emote books. Players can perform various emotes, which increase view counts when used in front of a camera.
* Misc: This category contains the party popper, a consumable item that emits a loud noise and releases confetti when used.
Each item occupies a single inventory slot, and players can carry up to three items at a time. In addition to purchased items, players may discover items scattered randomly throughout the Old World environment. Artifacts, which provide a slight view count boost when recorded, are unpurchasable items that may have unique hazardous effects. Artifacts cannot be transported back to Sky Island, and any items left in the Old World are permanently lost.

### Monsters

As of the May 2024 update, Content Warning features 32 monsters. These monsters interact with players in different ways. For example,
* Snail: A bipedal creature with a shell on its back and a hollow face. They will chase players with sluggish movement speed and will catch a nearby player within contact and temporarily hold them, depleting their health over time.
* Bomber: the creature that will stalk the player from a distance before throwing a bomb at the player. The bomb has slow projectile speed and takes some time to detonate, dealing area of damage and knocking back anyone within the blast radius.
* Knifo: A small ghost-like creature with a knife that it uses to stab the players. When running at you it will make noises similar to a kid/child laughing.
* Patrick: A star shaped creature that sits on the top of the roof. If you walk under it it will grab you and slowly damages the player until they die. Make sure to look up to make sure not to get grabbed.

### Customization

The players can customize their character's face by using a monitor located in the bedroom in the lobby area. This customization feature allows players to change their diving helmet visor color from a preset palette and input emoticons—text-based symbols made up of punctuation marks and letters to represent their character.

## Release

Content Warning was developed from February to April 2024 by a team of five developers. It is stated on Landfall's website that the game was mostly developed during an internal game jam in Seoul, South Korea. The game launched on April 1, 2024, and was available for free for the first 24 hours.

## Reception

Content Warning received positive reviews on online game platforms like Steam. Within twelve hours of the game's launch, it reached 50 thousand concurrent players on Steam. The game reached an all-time high of over 200 thousand concurrent players in less than 24 hours after launch. During the launch period, it was stated that the game was claimed by around 6.2 million Steam users. By mid-April 2024, Landfall stated the game had sold more than one million copies atop those claimed while it was free.