June 7, 1997 | Welcome, valued employee, to System 6D, a joint initiative between publisher CRITICAL REFLEX and developer Moving Pieces. As one of our newest Quality Assurance engineers, you have been selected to participate in Pipes.exe, a cooperative horror experience revealed at today's PC Gaming Show. In this corporate venture to advance market-leading collaborative capabilities, employees will investigate software bugs that may or may not be demons, repair unstable systems together while coordinating (or panicking) over voice chat, and attempt to survive escalating environmental threats inside an immersive, '90s-inspired digital workspace. Welcome to the team!
User Guide: About Pipes.exe
At System 6D, innovation comes first. All new employees are assigned to our most cutting-edge project, Pipes.exe, a testing ground for our revolutionary new Geometry Operating System (or gOS). By injecting your consciousness right into the gOS, we can achieve dangerously advanced technological heights. Using our proprietary hand-and-pull locomotion system, you can climb through pipes and mazes while searching for system faults within the gOS. But please remain alert: certain “bugs” may exhibit hostile behavior, disrupt the system around you, or pursue employees directly through the simulation.
Pipes.exe supports solo contributors or online co-op for up to four employees simultaneously, with a fully integrated VOIP communication system that evaluates workplace professionalism in real time. Excessive panic, shouting, or unprofessional language may affect your employment, so System 6D encourages all employees to remain calm, cooperative, and alive whenever possible.
After all, when you die in gOS, you die in real life!
Key Features
- Work solo or with friends in a surreal procedural jungle gym inspired by nostalgic '90s screensavers
- Climb anything, including each other, with physics-driven traversal
- Dodge continually escalating environmental dangers, enemies, and systems
- Watch your language, as profanity will deduct points from your daily performance review
- Adapt to dynamic missions as you retrieve artifacts to return to the recycling bin
- Earn points to unlock items and cosmetics
- Read emails
Playtest Onboarding
Employees can demonstrate their acrobatic aptitude right now in Pipes.exe’s debut Steam playtest, which features six QA missions for up to four team members to tackle together. Cooperate with your friends/colleagues, traverse pipe networks to collect artifacts for the recycling bin, navigate mazes, unlock your way forward (and upward) with keys, and scale challenging vertical towers, all while avoiding bugs and environmental threats. As you complete objectives, you can purchase items to help you in your work, earn cosmetics to dress for success, and check your email inbox, because of course you can.
For more information, please connect with CRITICAL REFLEX at www.criticalreflex.com, and follow along on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for the latest news and updates.
About Moving Pieces
Founded in 2019, Moving Pieces is an indie studio in Brooklyn, NY, with a tiny office and an enormous skillset. We build approachable games with hidden depth and a quirky sense of humor. For more, visit https://www.movingpieces.io
About CRITICAL REFLEX
CRITICAL REFLEX is an indie game publisher obsessed with genre-blending, rule-breaking, brain-melting games. We help devs polish the weird, sharpen the wild, and launch their projects loud. Known for titles like Buckshot Roulette, Lunacid, Mouthwashing and No, I'm not a Human, we champion the unforgettable experiences. Genre is a prison and we ate the warden.
About CR Channel
CR Channel is the CRITICAL REFLEX publishing label focusing exclusively on indie horror. Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/FrzN8srBfy
Article by: Susan N.
