Every night, after the last customer leaves and the lights go down, a war begins.
The Easter goods — reduced to clear, still on the shelf — defend their aisles against the Summer stock pushing in from the back. Garden gnomes in makeshift cardboard armour. Waves of them, every night, before morning saves everyone.
The store staff don’t know. That’s the point.
Night 2 of that war is now in the playtest. Version 0.40.0 is out — playable from Commander Eggustus’s pre-wave briefing through to the Morning Truce. Here’s what went into it, and what’s coming next.
How the nights work — and what Night 2 adds
Each night follows the same shape. Waves, then morning.
When the last wave breaks, the Morning Truce begins: the store staff arrive for their shift, and you have a window to clean up — restock shelves, clear wreckage, hide the evidence of whatever happened after hours. The Auditor watches. Every morning visit feeds a Suspicion rating that tracks across nights — the sold-items screen now shows your suspicion delta alongside revenue, so you can see whether last night’s sales pattern is starting to raise eyebrows.
Night 1 teaches you the basics. Survive the waves. Don’t arouse suspicion. Get to morning.
Night 2 adds a layer. The Safe Zone at the back of the store has to be prepared before you can evacuate — your worker needs to run production while the main assault is happening, and production needs protecting. Surviving the waves is necessary. It’s no longer sufficient. You decide when to pull the trigger — wait too long and morning catches you mid-evacuation, which the Auditor takes personally.
The gnomes found the shelves
In Night 2, gnomes that breach far enough stop fighting the towers. They go for the shelves.
Multiple gnomes coordinate the approach — peeling off from the main advance to hit the aisles directly. You can’t just hold the front any more. Something has to be watching the flanks.
Meet Commander Eggustus Vindex
Every night starts the same way: a briefing.
Commander Eggustus Vindex commands the Easter Defence Force — your units, your towers, your entire operation inside the store after hours. He is gruff, resolute, and deeply, personally offended by the Summer stock and everyone associated with it.
Eggustus has had a voice since Night 1. This week he got a face. His character portrait now appears alongside every line of Vindex dialogue — pre-wave briefings, mid-wave commentary, the lot. The man behind the voice is exactly what you’d expect, and somehow worse.
The store is darker (in a good way)
There’s a lighting pass across all three nights now. Non-walkable areas — shelf backs, walls, the dead zones between aisles — sit in shadow. The walkable paths stay lit. It’s a small change to describe and a significant change to how the store reads on screen. Every night feels like it’s happening at night.
Night 3 is next
Night 3 is scaffolded. The scene is rebuilt from the Night 2 foundation, the pre-wave briefing is in, and there’s a two-act story running through the waves — something involving smoke, which you’ll encounter at wave 2 and understand by wave 3.
The level itself is still being built. It’s not a preview so much as a signal: the structure is solid and the work is in progress.
Night 1 and Night 2 are in the playtest now. If you haven’t tried it, access requests are open through the website.