Turning You Into A Paranormal CCTV Investigator
I always feel sorry for security camera operators. Whenever CCTV footage appears in a crime documentary or a film, we only ever see the exciting moment when something actually happens. We don’t have to sit through weeks of footage showing an empty road or a bland corridor just to find those few crucial seconds. It’s a painstaking job that requires patience and a very keen eye.
That’s exactly what’s required when playing Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty, except instead of looking for criminals, you’re searching for strange supernatural happenings. Grab a coffee and stay awake – your shift starts now.
Spotting Supernatural Changes Is The Heart Of The Experience
Anomaly-hunting games seem to be appearing on the Xbox Store every other week. I’ve spotted them set in prisons, endless looping corridors and even creepy art galleries. If you’ve never played one before, the concept is surprisingly simple. You study a series of looping camera feeds, memorise everything you can, and then look for anything that changes. Sometimes it’s something small, like a radiator moving on a wall or an object disappearing. Other times it’s something much more dramatic, like a giant ghost suddenly blocking an exit.
In Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty, you play as a lone security operator monitoring several camera feeds across different locations. The first one shows an underground railway station, and your objective is to survive the shift from midnight until 6am by correctly identifying anomalies before they overwhelm you.
Observation And Accuracy Are Your Greatest Weapons
You begin with four camera feeds covering different parts of the station. One overlooks a corridor lined with film posters and scattered rubbish. Another watches the platform itself, complete with discarded tickets and litter. A third points down the railway tunnel, complete with some Banksy-style artwork on the wall. The final camera sits inside a train carriage, showing rows of seats, an abandoned toy and various bits of rubbish. You can spend as long as you like watching each feed, but since anomalies can appear anywhere, it’s usually best to keep cycling between them.
When you spot something unusual, you submit a report. This requires selecting both the correct camera feed and the correct anomaly category. Categories include things like Missing Object, Spooky Presence or Painting/Poster. Get both right and the anomaly is removed before it causes any problems. Get it wrong and you receive a strike. After three mistakes, your shift is over and it’s back to the beginning.
Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty starts off very slowly, with only the occasional anomaly appearing. Gradually, though, things become much busier. Some changes are incredibly subtle, while others are impossible to miss as they affect multiple screens at once. Before long, anomalies begin appearing so quickly that it becomes difficult to keep on top of everything. Warning messages pop up telling you the station is becoming overwhelmed, adding even more pressure as you desperately try to remember what belongs where.
A Slow Burn Across Multiple Haunted Locations
Beyond the underground station, you’ll also investigate locations including a hospital and a cabin. The biggest issue for me though is the pacing. The in-game clock seems to move very slowly, particularly during the quieter early hours when very little seems to happen. I wasn’t entirely sure I enjoyed the experience, but I could certainly appreciate what the game was trying to achieve. It commits fully to its concept, and it does it well.
Visually, Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty keeps things deliberately simple. It nails the grainy CCTV look perfectly, with occasional static and distortion helping sell the illusion. The locations themselves are well chosen and suit the gameplay nicely. That said, I’m going to be slightly controversial and admit that the game never really scared me. Perhaps the fixed-camera perspective removes some of the tension. The anomalies themselves, however, are imaginative, ranging from warped posters to unsettling figures lurking in the background of a tunnel.
Audio is fairly minimal, relying mostly on electronic hums, camera distortion and the stressful warning alarms. It all fits the atmosphere without ever becoming particularly memorable.
Rewards Patience More Than Fear
So, the big question – is Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty enjoyable? I certainly admired what the game sets out to do, and I think it succeeds. It’s a game built around patience, observation and staying calm under pressure. Personally, though, I found it a little too slow and not quite frightening enough.
That said, if you’re already a fan of anomaly-hunting games, Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty will probably be right up your street.
Important Links
Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty – Can You Survive The Night Shift? – https://www.thexboxhub.com/anomaly-hunter-observation-duty-can-you-survive-the-night-shift/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/anomaly-hunter-observation-duty/9PNM0R3K94JX/0010
