| Not Tonight | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | PanicBarn |
| Publisher(s) | No More Robots |
| Director(s) | Tim Constant |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch |
| Release | Microsoft Windows 17 August 2018 Nintendo Switch 31 January 2020 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, role-playing |
Not Tonight is a post-Brexit management game, fusing a time-pressure RPG with a politically charged story where every decision matters. Will you join the resistance and fight the regime - or keep your head down and hope that one day this will all be a distant memory? Source: The Game Website. Not Tonight is a post-Brexit management game, fusing a time-pressure RPG with a politically charged story where every decision matters. Will you join the resistance and fight the regime - or keep.
Not Tonight is a role-playingadventure game by British studio PanicBarn, released for Microsoft Windows in August 2018, and for Nintendo Switch (as Not Tonight: Take Back Control Edition) on 31 January 2020, the actual date of United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Set in an alternate timeline shortly after the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union, the player takes the role of a citizen of European heritage who must survive under an authoritarian British government, working as a bouncer across various venues and earning enough to avoid deportation. Along the way, the player must make decisions on whether to change the course of events or remain complicit with the new administration.
A downloadable content game called Not Tonight: One Love was released for Steam on 25 June 2019;[1] the DLC later came bundled up for the Take Back Control Edition at the time of the game's release.
Gameplay[edit]
The gameplay of Not Tonight is based on the responsibilities of a bouncer, working for Albion (England) as a citizen of European heritage. As a bouncer, the player must analyse various parts of the guests' licenses, checking whether they are under age, provided fraudulent information or have an incorrectly matching photograph, and determine whether to allow entry to an establishment. As the game progresses, the player must undertake additional measures as requested by larger venues or by the state. This includes: stopping various nationalities from entering, those who wear certain clothing, individuals who are not on the guest list, people without tickets and various other rules as gameplay becomes more challenging. Additionally, the player can also accept bribes which will immediately gain money at the expense of losing social credit score (similar to the philosophy of social credit). Failing to pass a mission will lower credit score. A loss of social credit can prevent the player from gaining more jobs and damage their progress, and will result in the player being deported if the score reaches zero, ending the game. After every mission, the player returns to their flat to interact with characters, pay any outstanding rent and to purchase any items that they may need. While playing the game, the player must make decisions which will affect the story through various characters that can be encountered.
Plot[edit]
Setting[edit]
Not Tonight Game Online
Not Tonight takes place primarily in England, which increasingly falls under the control of the nativist Albion First party and Prime Minister Simon Tavener. Taking advantage of social upheaval following a post-Brexit economic crisis, the British government has stripped citizenship from all Britons found to have ancestors from EU countries, relocating them to slum-like housing blocks in preparation for mass deportations.
The player is one of those residents, stripped of their identity and referred to only as 'Person of European Heritage #112' or #112 for short.
Synopsis[edit]
On 31 December 2018, #112 is working as a bouncer taking tickets at a New Year's Eve ball at the British Museum when a terror bombing suddenly occurs.
The game then returns to 1 January 2018. Using their government-issued phone, #112 must take bouncer jobs in order to please their immigration officer Jupp and delay their seemingly-imminent deportation. As time progresses, #112 can make various decisions to either support the government or the resistance building up against Albion First. Jupp also conscripts the player into supporting his side hustle Jupp Security, potentially exposing dirty secrets of his own.
If #112 survives and avoids deportation by the end of the year, they are arrested following the bombing and sent to a televised court hearing. #112's - and by extension, Britain's - fate will be decided based on the actions they took over the course of the game.
Reception[edit]
| Aggregator | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| NS | PC | |
| Metacritic | 78/100[2] | 71/100[3] |
| Publication | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| NS | PC | |
| 4Players | 70%[4] | N/A |
| GamesTM | N/A | 7/10[5] |
| Nintendo World Report | 7.5/10[6] | N/A |
| PC Gamer (UK) | N/A | 71%[7] |
Not Tonight received above-average reviews, while the Take Back Control Edition received 'generally favourable reviews', according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[2][3]
Screen Rant gave an independent review of 4 out of 5 stars.[8]Trusted Reviews summarised 'Not Tonight proves that the Papers, Please formula can work in a less Soviet setting, but the experience is slightly diminished by the transplant. Yet its eccentricities remain endearing, with characters, landscapes and a haunting sound of muffled music that will be rambling around my skull for a little while yet.'[9]
Many reviewers have mentioned the likeness of the game to that of Papers, Please.[10]
Not Tonight Gameplay
References[edit]
- ^'Not Tonight: One Love'. Steam. Valve Corporation. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ ab'Not Tonight: Take Back Control Edition for Switch Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ ab'Not Tonight'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
- ^Cramer, Eike (6 February 2020). 'Not Tonight'. 4Players (in German). 4Players GmbH. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^'Review: Not Tonight'. GamesTM. No. 205. Future plc. p. 84.
- ^DeWitte, Joel A. (10 February 2020). 'Not Tonight (Switch) Review'. Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^Iwaniuk, Phil (28 August 2018). 'Not Tonight review'. PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^Gordon, Rob (17 August 2018). 'Not Tonight Review: A Darkly Comic Look At A Dangerous Timeline'. Screen Rant. Valnet Inc.
- ^Hatfield, Tom (19 August 2018). 'Not Tonight Review'. Trusted Reviews. Incisive Media.
- ^Summers, Nick (29 March 2018). ''Not Tonight' makes you a bouncer in post-Brexit Britain'. Engadget. Verizon Media. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
