Midnight Evil

**Midnight Evil** is a microphone-controlled horror game developed by Nathan Sanders and published by Impulse Gaming Studios. It was released on February 26th, 2019.

## Story

> *It's late at night and you've discovered a mysterious book that seems to have its own evil agenda. As you begin to read through it, you realize that you are not alone.The only way to free yourself from this fiendish nightmare is to finish reading. In this story driven, voice activated, sit-and-survive horror game, don't forget to check your surroundings... Also, be sure to make direct eye contact. Can you survive the night?* - The official steam store description
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Urklings were first encountered by Druids who described them as a form of Fae, also known as fairies. They are most commonly found in swamps, especially after sundown as this is the time when they emerge to hunt. They are considered to be a beast of legends and many do not believe them to be real. The begin to hunt the children of the Unnamed Village after the village is accidentally settled in the Urkling's territory, and are discovered eating the corpse of a child named Maggie O'Brian. The attack is initially attributed to a wolf pack, however the true nature of the attack was revealed when The Author succeeding a capturing an Urkling in a jar after Maggie's borther, Collin, acted as bait.

The village attempts to find a way to destroy the Urkling to no avail, learning that they cannot be killed and will even multiple if dismembered. This prompts the Author to reach out to his deceased grandmother for assistance as they share ancestry with ancient Druids. His grandmother visits in a dream and tells the Author that the only way to stop the killing spree of the Urklings is to trap them forever, as they cannot be killed. This requires a sacrifice which the Author begrudgingly agrees to. The ritual is a success and the Urklings are trapped within the Urkling's Book, only able to escape if the book is ever opened by a child.

The ritual performed by the Author to trap the Urklings within the book required Collin to act as a human sacrifice to bait the Urklings out. The Author uses a potion to incapacitate Collin and then transforms himself into a Pale Urkling, then traps the other Urklings and himself inside the book.

William Crinkle finds the book in his attic after he is awoken by a loud noise, the book appearing in a chest that he had never seen before. The only way to return the Urklings to the book is by reading the whole thing cover to cover, which William does while defending himself from the now released and very hungry Urklings. Upon trying to return the book to the chest he found it in, he discovers the attic to be empty, and instead buries the book in his backyard in the hopes that it would never be recovered.

## Gameplay

Midnight Evil is played from the perspective of William as he reads the book on his bed. The game progresses by reading every sentence in the current chapter one by one until the chapter is over. This is done either by using the microphone to physically read the sentences out loud, or by allowing the narration to play if Narration Mode is activated in the options. After a sentence is completely the line will turn purple, and the next line can be read. Pausing mid-sentence or looking up from the book will stop any progress made on the sentence being read and will require that sentence to be started over. When the chapter is complete the player will receive a Post-Shift sequence depending on the chapter, and will then immediately move onto the next chapter in the booking. The book can only be read when the player is actively looking at it, which in turn prevents the player from scanning the room for threats.

While the player is reading the book, the Urklings will attempt to attack them. They hide behind various furnishings in William's room but can only attack while not being watched. While the player reads the book they will emerge from their hiding spot, at which point the player will need to look up from the book and move the crosshair over any Urklings in the room to drive them back. Failing to repel them in time will result in a jumpscare and a game over. Getting a game over will reset any progress made on the current chapter so the player will need to start that chapter from scratch, but it does not revert any chapters already completed.

If the player looks up and down from the book too frequently they will experience Panic. While Panicked the screen takes on a red vignette, a loud heartbeat plays, and the center of the screen will become blurred. It is not possible to make progress on the book or repel any Urklings while Panicked due to the blurred vision, which is intended to prevent spamming of the book. The status effect lasts only for a couple seconds, after which gameplay returns to normal.

## Chapters

* Preface
* Chapter 1
* Chapter 2
* Chapter 3
* Chapter 4
* Chapter 5
* Chapter 6
* Chapter 7

## Urklings

* Green Urklings
* Red Urklings
* Pale Urklings

## Gallery

William discovering the book in the chestA Green Urkling behind the cardboard boxThe Otori game screen