As I’ve been inclined to share many times before, I’m absolutely a child of the 70s who spent an incredible amount of time in arcades through my pre-teen and teen years. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed in this generation has been the sheer number of arcade collections and new arcade-style titles that have managed to capture some of that essence. Whether intended or not, some arcade sensibilities really hit me with My Night Job, in terms of some of its structure, bizarre characters, and action. That said, as much as I really wanted to love it, sustained play made it clear that it doesn’t quite work as a whole.

The sad thing is, there are a number of elements that work, some of which are reminiscent of arcade games of old. In particular the likes of Choplifter, and other games where one of your objectives is to help save people, come to mind. You’re all stuck in the midst of a large and pretty labyrinthine building filled with all manner of zombies and craziness, and your goal is to survive and to get as many people out of there as possible. Given that saving civilians will award you a variety of bonuses that can be very helpful, you’re absolutely given plenty of motivation to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The problem is that despite all of the zany characters and animations, and the ridiculous assortment of weapons you’ll be able to pick up and smash, slash, and pulverize zombies with… it can all feel a bit shallow somehow. There’s just so much going on, so many people to save, and so many things like groups of zombies trying to stomp certain rooms to pieces, that it quickly feels like a futile effort. You can get a bit better at knowing what to grab, what to prioritize, and how to navigate the house, but it didn’t feel like the game was giving me opportunities to feel satisfied with incremental wins… which is a shame.

That’s part of what brings me back to the old arcade days. Aside from flashy graphics, cool sounds, and what could often be intangible qualities to the truly great games, the majority of them would build you up and make you believe that you could slowly but surely conquer them. Even with ones that were clearly not meant to be beat, they would give you satisfying and challenging bites where you could beat a level, get a break, and maybe a little animation to give you some sense of accomplishment. Here it just feels like everything has been dropped on you at once, offering you no small wins or intermediary accomplishments of note. That lack of nuance and giving me something to feel more invested in, believing that I can meaningfully measure my progress and get better, is just missing here for the most part. Unfortunately, that’s also part of what makes it tougher for me to recommend, despite it having plenty of personality.