You play as an employee, Debra, working the night shift at a gas station in the middle of the woods. Things start out normal, but slowly take a turn.
This game serves as a prequel of sorts to Stay Out of the House. Has a character page here.
Night Shift contains examples of:
- Alone with the Psycho: After Katz leaves, Debra is this, as it's implied the killer stole the bathroom keys, hence why Katz couldn't find them, locked himself in the bathrooms, and emerged to kill off Debra later.
- Ambiguous Situation: The killer attacks Debra, and while she is knocked head first into the pavement, with the screen going bloody, it's not actually specified whether she is dead, or just knocked out so the killer can sacrifice her to the entity later, and if it’s the latter is Debra the protagonist of Stay Out Of the House or was she killed offscreen. The Steam version of Stay Out of the House confirms the protagonist of that game is another woman, Roxanne, and Debra is shown to be alive as one of the Butcher's prisoners, who the player can save.
- The Bad Guy Wins: There's no happy ending for Debra, as the game's only ending has her being captured by the killer.
- Bland-Name Product: The player works at gas station called Ecoq, an obvious knock-off of the real-life gas station chain called Esso. For good measure, the station's logo is near identical to the real-life one.
- There's also a Coke dispenser machine called Broke. 'Nuff said.
- The Butcher: This game's killer is the same as the one from Stay Out Of The House, and his actions in that game, along with his weapon choice against Debra.
- But Thou Must!: The back door to the store is locked, so you're unable to carry out your boss' request to clean the washrooms. That is, until the killer unlocks it...
- The Cameo: Loyal Puppet Combo supporter and horror game let's player PhuCatGeek is the player's fellow gas station attendant in Night Shift.
- Canon Welding: In this game's world, Power Drill Massacre is an arcade game.
- Casanova Wannabe: The impression that your co-worker Katz gives off.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: The game's ending has Debra hear strange noises from behind the building, and discover that the bathrooms are both open and empty, when previously they were locked with the key missing. Shortly afterwards, a bag-headed killer appears out of nowhere and attacks her.
- Creepy Gas-Station Attendant: Played with; some dialogue options allow you to creep on the female stoner customer, though you don't have to go this route. Outside of this, you're a perfectly normal attendant performing completely mundane tasks.
- Creepy Stalker Van: Multiple times throughout the night, an unmarked white van will pull into the parking lot, slowly circle it a few times, then leave. It never stops, nobody ever enters or exits, and the windows are too tinted to see who the driver is.
- Deadpan Snarker: Dialogue options suggest that the player is this. Katz is this big time if you're less than pleasant with him when you clock in.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: There's a few different people who might be the killer.
- The creepy guy who appears a few times in the night. He asks a few cryptic questions, and he seems to just walk right out of the woods, despite the gas station being in the middle of the woods. The ending of Stay Out Of The House deconfirms this, though the fact he's apparently the Butcher's neighbor and has a very emotionless reaction to a terrified victim showing up at his front door does raise more suspicions about him.
- Whoever drives the van. Their motive is unknown, and they just seem to observe the gas station. Stay Out of the House reveals the killer owns a white van.
- Katz. He's the one who mentions the bathroom keys not being where they should be, and he also vanishes after walking out of the building. He does mention he has a date, but it's possible he meant Debra. Stay Out of the House implies the Butcher is mentally impaired and incapable of speech, which would rule out him being Katz.
- Featureless Protagonist: We have no way of knowing what the player looks like. Given Katz' warning that he can't unlock the bathroom door for you, and the fact that the mens' bathroom door can be opened (before punching in), it is at least confirmed that they are female.
- Later confirmed by Puppet Combo: The Night Shift protagonist is Debra Kopiske, explicitly named by a newspaper found in the butcher's house during the third chapter of the game (which takes place 9 days after Night Shift). In the Steam version of the game she's voice acted along with all the other characters.
- Foregone Conclusion: Because Night Shift is a prologue to Stay Out of the House, the killer will get you no matter what.
- Game-Breaking Bug: When the killer spawns, there's a glitch where he can be temporarily stuck in the wall, offering the player enough time to get away. With this, it becomes apparent the killer's AI has almost no pathfinding in it, as he continuously attempts to walk into walls and store shelves to get her. Due to the killer getting Debra being the only ending, the player must walk into him intentionally to get the ending.
- Gas Station of Doom: The protagonist of Night Shift works the graveyard shift at an isolated gas station in the middle of nowhere, making her ripe pickings for a Serial Killer.
- Genre Blind/ Genre Savvy: The player doesn't appear to be the least bit bothered at the idea of working the overnight shift at an isolated gas station, nor at the idea of going out the back door to investigate a loud noise. However, she seems knowledgeable enough to lie about being all alone when a creepy customer asks her.
- Nothing Is Scarier: As per usual, Puppet Combo is an expert at building tension through silence and emptiness. Averted in the main game, Stay Out of the House, which is a tense cat-and-mouse challenge between you and the roaming killer inside the killer's decrepit and heavily boobytrapped house.
- Red Herring: The last customer in Night Shift is exceedingly sketchy and lingers in the store for quite a while. He's not dangerous, but the killer attacks immediately after he leaves.
- Shout-Out: The newspapers on the stand beside the front entrance references the space shuttle Challenger disaster back in January of 1986.
- The Stoner: One of the customers the player has to tend to in Night Shift.
- Tempting Fate: Amber states they will see each other again when Debra gets off work, but with Debra being a horror game protagonist, it's obvious that's not going to happen.
- Van in Black: The killer stalks the player with a white van.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Amber and Katz both vanish completely after they leave, not being seen or heard again. Whether the killer got them or they got away is unknown.
- Workplace Horror: A survival-horror game about a gas station attendant named Debra attempting to do her job while a customer behaves rather strangely...
