A Kickstarter for the unsettling co-op horror survival game The Store is Closed has launched. The idea of being lost in an IKEA, or a similar industrial furniture store of massive proportions, is certainly nightmarish. Unsurprisingly, someone's decided to take this nightmare and turn it into a horror video game, mixing in horrible monsters dressed like store employees and co-op, too. That game is The Store is Closed and it needs some help to keep development moving forward.The idea starts with a collaborative writing project named the SCP Foundation. The SCP Foundation combines thousands of stories, documents, and more to create a supernatural shared universe. One such story is titled SCP-3008, which refers to an ex-IKEA building that teleports visitors to an alternate world where the building is endless and full of monsters. It was this story, SCP-3008, that inspired developer Zippy to create The Store is Closed.Players will find the premise of The Store is Closed very simple. The player is stuck in an infinite IKEA-like furniture store and must survive against its mutant staff. Players can explore the store with their friends or alone, using the furniture to craft weapons and fortifications. They'll need those defenses to fend off mutant employees, "Biters" in the kids department, mannequins, TV Golems, and the terrifying and mysterious floor managers.
As for how interested horror game fans can support The Store is Closed's development, the horror game's Kickstarter is now live and accepting pledges. A pledge of £17, around $20, will provide the pledged a game key on PC or console when it tentatively launches in 2024. Upping the pledge to £21, around $24, will also deliver a key for The Store is Closed's multiplayer closed alpha. The Steam closed alpha keys will be sent out once the Kickstarter ends on November 4.
The Kickstarter campaign for The Store is Closed has already passed its initial goal, which was either very humble or intentionally set low so it would easily be reached. The goal was $11,377 and the project has already pulled in $21,677, with 441 backers supporting the project. Future stretch goals include more weapons, furniture for crafting, Manager bosses, and secret endgame bosses.
The Store is Closed isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, by any means. A four-player co-op horror survival game with crafting and base building is a relatively common concept these days. But The Store is Closed's IKEA-like setting and its strange enemies are a new kind of creative nightmare that should get any horror game fan's heart beating.
The Store is Closed is releases June 2024 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
