Midnight Heist is a new co-op heist horror survival game, created and published by MediaTale. Players will take on jobs to investigate companies by breaking in after hours to find evidence of crimes, steal paperwork around topics, and hack into software to find answers, but there are no security guards on duty. Instead, the locations are haunted and you will be hunted by a ghost. Why? Not sure honestly, but it does make for an interesting concept. Who needs Dave, the security guard, who you have to pay weekly and give a Christmas bonus when you can just have a ghost scare off and deal with intruders?

The gameplay is very similar to other ghost-hunting games on the market, and just like those, you’ll have a few gadgets and tools, but the goal is nothing alike – you are not trying to find out what the ghost wants or to exercise it. The tools are for you to hack door panels and computers, or use the phone’s camera to take photos of evidence of crimes. You can photograph items such as illegal drugs in an office or the toolkit of a serial thief, and while hacking into computers, you’ll find some very familiar tasks, including systems similar to Among Us, and as Simon says, connect the wires.

While the ghost has no main objective or reason for your concern, you still want to run and hide when you know it is coming, sneaking away to hide in a locker, but you’ll need to be quick. The amount of time between the initial warning and how soon it can get you is very short, so be aware of your surroundings and avoid getting caught on anything. Knowing where the closest hiding spot is will always help.

Unfortunately, during the time for the review, I was unable to find anyone to play with online, and I never finished a full heist, but, thankfully, if you fail to escape, you still are rewarded with experience and money. Money can be spent on cosmetic items for each of the four characters, with each having a unique look, and seeing as you don’t need to prep before a mission, you won’t be wasting your money buying torches in bulk to supply teammates.

You also don’t lose anything if you fail a mission, which is a nice change. Experience, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to do anything at this stage, but it’s just come out of its demo phase, so this should change, as it seems strange to have experience but no reason for it.

The graphics are very similar to many of the other ghost-hunting games out at the moment, filled with dark rooms, and turning on lights can trip the circuit breakers. The only major thing Midnight Heist has going for it is that the level locations are not run down or abandoned locations. They are regular, everyday office spaces, so you’ll explore locations filled with cubicles, side offices, and meeting rooms for the higher-ups within the company.

There are only two maps available at the moment, and they both take place in the same company, so the second location is just a mirrored version of the first map, but the roadmap does suggest that there are more locations on the way. I do hope they make some smaller maps for the players that may be going solo, as the large offices designed for a full team are just brutal for one person to do.

There isn’t a lot in terms of audio that stands out in this one. It uses loud noises and spooky sounds to try to deliver the scares, like phones randomly ringing well after office hours, or someone knocking on the door that you have just closed. When the ghost is out and hunting, you can hear footsteps as it walks around, and the lights start flickering to let you know that the hunt has started. Music is pretty much non-existent, which is a good thing because the audio cues are often quiet, so you really need to pay attention to every little sound.

Midnight Heist has the potential to be a fun and thrilling experience, but it’s not quite there yet. While I do like the concept of not losing anything when you fail the heist, or not having to buy anything to take on jobs, I do hope they add something in as time goes on, because there isn’t much of a risk vs. reward system. There’s no real incentive to not fail, and aside from having unique clothing, there isn’t a reason to pick one character over another.

These oversights should hopefully change with the future updates on their roadmap, and I hope there are plans for a way to adjust the size of the map depending on how many players will be playing. The concept of a haunted office building is a bit of a miss for me, especially seeing as it only seems to be haunted at night, but in saying that, I am glad to be running around a modern workspace instead of an old prison or high school.

Written by: Shane Walsh