Elevator Hitch

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## Miscellaneous

### Developer/s

Studio Investigrave

**Elevator Hitch** is a short 2.5D surreal horror/escape room visual novel with point-and-click and puzzle elements following the story of two co-workers suddenly finding themselves stuck together in a "Perfectly Normal" 70s office elevator. They must explore each liminal-looking floor and find a way to get off the elevator to their actual destinations.

The game features extreme themes of gore, blood, violence, implied family abuse, flashing/shaking images and eyestrain.

## Plot

The game follows Protag, a nameless soon-to-be employee trying to find his way to his interview. As he gets into the elevator of the building, Co-Worker follows in and gets on the elevator alongside Protag, headed for the last floor. However, they soon find themselves blocked completely in the claustrophobic elevator, and they must traverse the different floors to find resources and solve puzzles to get to the last floor. The floors have now changed into creepy, disturbing liminal-looking spaces with elements that could remind one of The Backrooms or Weirdcore-related aesthetics. The floors are as following:

* Floor 1 is the lobby, the starting location of the game. It cannot be accessed until after unlocking Floor 9.
* Floor 2 has the appearance of a small, white room with a chair stuck to the floor and a completely black hole on the wall. A small note is stuck below the hole reading *"Give it something Alive"*, hinting at one of the first puzzles encountered. If Protag tries to interact with the hole without the "something alive", then a black hand will emerge from the hole and pull him inside the hole, resulting in a game-over ending.
* Floor 3 is first seen as a completely black room, with no light present inside. Protag claims to feel a warm breeze whenever he's in front of the room, and if the room is finally lit up further in the game, it is revealed to be a giant human mouth that eats Protag whenever he steps inside, resulting in a game-over ending.
* Floor 4's appearance is unknown, as the elevator door to it would not open. However, a brown door with the number [4] can be found on the opposite side behind Protag, leading to a small bedroom with interactive elements in it. The floor, according to Protag, creaks wherever he goes, so he must hurry up to check everything before an unknown entity, pretending to be a mother or father, enters the room and gives the player another game-over ending.
* Floor 5 seems to be a nuclear warehouse room of some sort containing a large, green and corrosive green liquid at the bottom. If Protag remains in the room for more than 15 seconds, as seen on the timer at the top right, another game-over ending will happen after Protag dies from radiation.
* Floor 6 has the appearance of a small office cubicle with birthday hats and decorations seen on a prop computer and around the walls of the cubicle. There is a phone and a set of drawers, which are both interactive. The drawers contain a single job application questionnaire, which can result in a game-over ending if answered 'incorrectly'. The phone is also interactive, and Protag can only call a single number given to him if he completed the questionnaire. The person on the other line will inform the player that there will be a gift waiting for them on the same floor, which is a birthday cake slice that Protag can drug.
* Floor 7 is a small, bloody room with two animal carcasses hanging from the ceiling on sharp metal hooks. Protag can cut open either of them, but only the left one is safe to cut and rewards the player with a bloody screwdriver. If the right carcass is cut open, two metal hooks will descend from the ceiling and pull up Protag, resulting in a bloody game-over ending.
* Floor 8 is probably one of the strangest floors of the game. The floor has the same exact appearance of the elevator but mirrored, in which two older-looking versions of Protag and Co-Worker can be met. Protag can choose to talk to either of the two clones, resulting in either a game-over ending or for the floor to be permanently blocked after manipulating Alternate Protag into giving up his only weapon, the scissors.
* Floor 9 is locked for the whole game until a CD is inserted into a computer stuck to the wall of the elevator, and it has the appearance of a clear, blue sky with a floating chair and a monochromatic man in a suit. This floor is the metaphorical representation of the interview Protag is supposed to attend, and the man (*nicknamed "NORMAL GUY" in the files*) will ask him a series of questions. Depending on Protag's answers, the player could receive yet another game-over or the true ending of the game. If the player responded negatively to the interview, Normal Guy will grab Protag's face and kill him. If the player responded positively to the interview, Normal Guy will welcome Protag to his new job as a final cutscene plays out. The credits will then roll.

## Cast

* Protag (protagonist);
* Co-Worker (deuteragonist);
* Normal Guy ("antagonist").

## Trivia

* *Elevator Hitch* is currently the only game developed by the Studio without an actual manual saving system, instead relying on automatic save files after every death or game-over ending.
* Protag and Co-Worker are the only characters created by the Studio without actual names. However, Co-Worker does affirm his name being "Clayton Cox" once when meeting the Fake Protag and Co-Worker clones, but it's unknown whether that is his actual name.
	+ RachelDrawsThis has confirmed that Protag, Co-Worker and Normal Guy all do have real names, but they'll never be revealed.
* The origin of the Alternate Clones of Protag and Co-Worker is currently unknown; but based on their dialogue, they seem to be an alternate version of the two protagonists who actually got stuck in the elevator forever. Apparently, the elevator on their side does not have any buttons, hinting at the fact that they could've been stuck there for a long time (confirmed by Alternate Protag).
* Protag, and possibly Alternate Protag too, are the only characters in the game able to somewhat break the Fourth Wall and notice how they are in a constant loop of dying and game-overs.
	+ It's currently unknown whether the events of the game were hallucinations, a dream or actually real.
* Based on Floor 4, it's presumed that Protag may have had a rough childhood or may have even lived in an abusive household.