Talk to Strangers is a sales simulator game that won’t exactly have you face your fears, but will have you step into the shoes of the marred profession of door-to-door sales. Announced quietly on the back of an update for one of the developer’s other games, Talk to Strangers releases early next year.
Rather than pit spaceships against rival gunners, salvagers, and space hazards like in their past title, Talk to Strangers embraces the boots on the ground idea we’ve circled back to over the years, putting players back into the kinds of roles we typically use gaming to escape from. Described as an “everyday survival” game, it’s less about surviving against hordes of zombies or 98 other players, and instead about surviving the mundane task of being a door-to-door salesman.
Despite the bright hand-drawn aesthetics, Talk to Strangers takes a more ominous turn as you read through what equates to the game’s current description. There’s a reason we haven’t touched on the products you’ll be attempting to thrust into unsuspecting buyer’s hands, and it’s because the game page specifically tells us to “not worry about it.” Your only task is to sell them.
You’ll knock on the doors of residents surrounding the Roadside Motel you’re staying at and use other bought items to steer customers toward buying your own products. The conversations and sales tactics you employ all take time off the clock, so you’ll have to find the best way to balance working hours and money earned, to budget your motel costs and manage any cash left over to pick up much-needed items used to manage the “Anger” and “Depression” that stem from the job.
Announced on the back of an update to the turn-based indie title NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics, developer Post Mortem Pixels directed any leftover players to its own publisher page for news of the new game.
Talk to Strangers releases February 2019 on PC through Steam.