Night Shift: 1999 is a new retro-inspired visual novel set for release on Steam. A new demo has just been released by developer Winter Schloss Studios, which has described the game as a “1-bit vampire visual novel”. In Night Shift: 1999, players’ll balance work, vampirism, and socialising as they explore Kings Cross, Sydney, during the last year of the millennium.
Players take control of Isra Bayassee, a centuries-old vampire, as she struggles to reintegrate into society. As a player-driven narrative tale, choices will shape the story’s outcomes. With five routes and eleven different endings, each playthrough will grant new rewards.
“Night Shift: 1999 first came to me in 2019, after I’d moved from Zurich to Sydney to begin my fine art degree, and I was introduced to a world completely different from my own.” Shared solo developer Georgina de Manning. “But it wasn’t until I received funding from Screen Australia’s Emerging Gamemakers Fund in 2024 that I thought I could turn it into a visual novel that people could enjoy. The past year of my life has been an incredible journey into the world of game-making.”
“In a lot of ways, my game is autobiographical,” she continues. “I used the photographs and videos I took during my first three years in the country as references for my artwork and as the audio in my game. I used the idea of migrating through time (as a vampire) as a metaphor for migrating across the world, and having shown Night Shift: 1999 to players, I got to see just how many people identified with that story too – whether they experienced it by moving cities, states, or countries as I have.”
Key features:
Five characters of various origins to get acquainted with
Multiple endings per character
Stylised 1-bit pixel art
Build your own community, supernatural or not
One secret route
In-game collectables
