I stumbled across ORDER 13 (affiliate link) via Zach Bussey’s weekly newsletter. I highly recommend this newsletter for streamers to stay up-to-date on streaming related news and to obtain free keys!

After falling in love with Dollmare, there was no chance I’d pass up the opportunity to play this another warehouse simulation horror game. And it has a cat? Heck yeah!

Overall, ORDER 13 is short without much guidance on what you’re supposed to be doing. I mean, there are clear instructions on how to assemble a package and deliver it. But otherwise there’s no tutorial or hand holding. There’s also 0 voice acting so you have no clues per your character, who is a nameless and faceless warehouse employee.

You simply wake up, take orders, find an item, and ship it.

The horror elements settle in pretty immediately. You’re in a dark and messy warehouse, which is a glaring OSHA scare on its own, and the spooky bad guys only take a day to show themselves. The ambience makes you unsettled as you wander aimlessly trying to find an item.

The developers divided the the horror elements into two categories:

• Jump scares: repeatable and sometimes new if you discover a new area.
• Being stalked: monsters roam the warehouse and will chase you.

I will say the horror elements are pretty mediocre for a horror game. I hate the chase scenes, but hiding and escaping was easy enough. The jump scares had a handful of good ones but otherwise it was “wow loud noise” for no reason. I wish the game had more unsettling environments, which were few and far between. The random corpses and body parts weren’t scary nor unsettling, but definitely added to the atmosphere.

There is no story. It’s you and your cat. There are no notes, clues, or hints as to why you’re doing what you’re doing or how to escape. I stumbled on the bright door with an exit sign. It took me 2 hours later to determine “hey maybe I can get out” before I finally found the code and escaped.

ORDER 13 did become dull about midway through. The gameplay is repetitive and with the monster chases I lost interest quickly. The only thing keeping me going was the cat. While I received the game for free, I would recommend others wait until a sale to purchase. It’s fun for 2 hours of gameplay but not much more at the price point of $8.99.

I’m hopeful the developers add more in future patches, including a chill mode and challenge mode. The game has potential!