Dancing with Danger: Falling for a Heartless Archdemon in Sorry We’re Closed

Every aspect of Sorry We’re Closed ignites my rebellious spirit, from its low-poly 3D visuals to its awesome original soundtrack, not to mention its casually monumental plot featuring heartbroken club-goers and lustful demons. Set in a vibrant city of neon-tinted nightmares, I would eagerly relocate there without a second thought.

We meet Michelle, a casually cool twenty-something grappling with existential doubts, as she encounters The Duchess, an archdemon with a captivating presence and thigh-high boots. Affectionately marked as The Duchess’ romantic interest, Michelle finds herself cursed with a potent Third Eye. While The Duchess struggles with her cruel nature and yearning for affection, Michelle, still healing from a devastating breakup three years prior, has a finite period to uncover the reason for her selection and how to break free from the curse to survive.

The ensemble in Sorry We’re Closed is genuine, humorous, and relatable, with their intertwined lives being refreshingly chaotic. Characters include Oakley, the diner proprietor; Marty, the music shop manager; Clarissa, the performer; Robyn, the local thrill-seeker; Darrel, Oakley’s boyfriend who serves as the resident jerk; along with a plethora of supernatural entities. Some of these characters remind me of people I know in real life, while others I’d cherish meeting to help fulfill their eccentric dreams. The game boasts a stylish aesthetic, from the chunky 3D avatars to the richly drawn icons that appear in dialogue boxes. The city features a delightful assortment of genders and sexualities, feeling both wonderfully authentic and incredibly inclusive, resembling a captivating fever dream of what society could look like if The Gay Agenda truly took charge.

It’s definitely a world where I would want to reside.

Throughout her journey, Michelle delves into the underworld and hunts the phantoms of The Duchess’ past lovers—err, victims—while gathering the courage to confront the archdemon directly. Sorry We’re Closed offers four distinct endings, with your choices to support or sabotage your friends shaping the outcome significantly. Many entities in this realm exhibit sadistic tendencies, and Michelle’s path features scenes of intense gore and body horror. Therefore, be cautious in your decision-making.

The gameplay unfolds from a fixed-camera angle for exploration, shifting to a dual-stick, first-person perspective during combat. Utilizing a DualSense controller, you can engage first-person mode by pressing LT, and then attack with RT while directing your aim with the right stick. Michelle wields three weapons: a wolf-motif axe, a pistol, and a shotgun. Additionally, she has access to a formidable Heartbreaker attack that charges as she inflicts damage and ultimately enables her to unleash a powerful shot aimed directly at an enemy’s heart. Collecting ammunition and health items is an ongoing endeavor in Sorry We’re Closed, and the first-person perspective proves invaluable for breaking and scavenging items from vases.

The transition between third-person and first-person views is seamless, and the game masterfully combines classic Resident Evil-style gameplay with contemporary elements. With her Third Eye activated, Michelle can perceive and engage with an alternate reality revealed in a circular area surrounding her. Demons ensnared by the Third Eye are momentarily dazed, causing their vulnerabilities to manifest as stained-glass heart symbols. You can only target weak points during Third Eye engagement; however, the ability can be deactivated at any time for unrestricted attacks. The duration of the Third Eye’s stunning effect can be prolonged by spending yowzas—the game’s currency—at a shop run by a levitating goat head. Other upgrades for ammunition and health capacity are also available, which Michelle carries as water bottles.

As Michelle ventures deeper into The Duchess’ realm, the environments shift to a more M.C. Escher-inspired aesthetic, complete with a range of puzzles to tackle when not battling demons. The challenges aren’t overly complex, although they do involve some fetch quests and physical riddles, while the reality-bending mechanism of Michelle’s Third Eye maintains engagement. There’s an ideal mix of variety in this game, providing ample opportunity to experiment with every fresh concept introduced.

I absolutely love how Sorry We’re Closed plays with visual perspective. While there are traditional top-down scenes, it also employs cinematic angles peeking through chandelier gaps, expansive shots showcasing the scale of various settings, direct running sequences, and moments of breathtaking yet impossible physics, particularly involving The Duchess. As you may have gathered, I find myself quite enamored with The Duchess, even with the awareness that they would likely lead to my demise—perhaps that’s part of the appeal.

Sorry We’re Closed is a delightful blend of camp, relatability, horror, and stunning visuals. The same could be said of The Duchess.

With the launch of today’s console, all iterations of the game will receive rebalanced combat sections, enhanced controller sensitivity, aiming assistance, new difficulty settings, a Time Attack mode, and New Game+. Currently, Sorry We’re Closed is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, along with a premium physical bundle for Switch and PS5 set for release later this year, available for reserve now. The game marks the debut of à la mode games, a duo from Bournemouth, UK, and is published by Akupara Games.