First Impressions of ‘Not Tonight 2’

I have never played the original Not Tonight from developers PanicBarn. However, when they offer the promotional material for its sequel (appropriately named Not Tonight 2) I was instantly intrigued by the game play and tone of the story. It’s impossible to see the gameplay and not think of Papers, Please, the 2013 indie darling where you checked immigration papers for the fictional country Arstotzka. Upon research, it looks like the original Not Tonight adapted the approach to a slightly more modern setting, and Not Tonight 2 drags the idea of checking documentation all the way to the year 2021.

https://twitter.com/ChimericNotion/status/1442959885906309121?s=20

The premise of the game is simple: in an alternative version of the United States of America, the world hasn’t exactly been the same for quiet some time. For example, Canada annexed Montana, a chunk of the Midwest has been repurposed to a full-scale Medieval Times, and there’s a Gulag in Miami. Although not all of that is immediately obvious from the get. The story outs with a small group of friends staging a protest in Seattle on New Year’s Eve. Of course, protesting is a great way to get flagged in dystopian American. One of your friends get detained and flown all the way out to Miami, Florida and is threatened with deportation unless he can provide his passport and family tree in person within 30 days. And thus begins a multi-pronged journey across a perilous landscape to save your friend. After a small tutori…