Steam has seen an avalanche of cheap and cheerful tidying-up games lately, from libraries to magic shops to toy stores, but the genre is about to get weird.
New game Something is Wrong With the Library is still about organizing books, but this time around, you’re doing it while dealing with “psychic manifestations” made of flesh. Makes sense, considering the walls of the building are full of the corpses of homeless people. You can wishlist it now on Steam, ready for its release later this fall.
Unlike most of the clearing clutter genre, Something is Wrong With the Library stands out because it appears to have a (deeply messed up) story to go with all the chores. You play as the library’s former administrator, Phillip Shed, who has one night to organize the books and deal with the gory consequences of the bodies in the walls. According to the Steam listing, players can also expect to find something called The Drowning Room, which doesn’t sound ominous at all.
Meaty monstrosities aside, you can expect brutal bibliophile realism, thanks to the developer’s previous career. “If you’ve ever been in a library at night, you’ll know that it feels unexpectedly warm and full of possibility–until you hear a single sound you don’t recognize and realize you’re surrounded by towering shadows.” says studio head Xalavier Nelson Jr.
“As a former librarian, I truly hope that, despite the objectively messed-up things they’re going to witness, everyone who plays the game falls in love with their local library a little more.”
It’s notable that Nelson was the lead developer on another deeply weird Steam gem, CLICKOLDING, where you have to sit in a room across from a sinister stranger and click a button 10,000 times.
Rachel Weber
Head of Editorial Development
Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She’s been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.
