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Press release:
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 7th, 2026 – If anyone is still out there, if anyone is listening, you should know that Barkbyte Interactive has revealed its upcoming narrative newsroom thriller Static Hour. Set in a small town in the 1980s, you are the lone newsroom editor working the night shift amidst a series of eerie events and must figure out what’s going on and what’s fit to broadcast.

An outbreak of violence has erupted. Families are turning on each other. People are panicking. The government has issued a lockdown and they’re sending in the troops. What’s going on? The people must know.

It’s the 1980s and your journalistic instincts are reliant upon period-appropriate analogue tech. Scroll through your rolodex, make calls on your rotary phone, listen to emergency alerts, and peruse the police scanner for any info you can find. Leave no stone unturned, even if that means rummaging through your colleagues’ desks to ensure you’re getting the full scoop. The truth is out there.

As the only news editor on duty, you alone must deduce what leads are worth dispatching field reporters to, who to call for more information, and what seems important enough to take up valuable air time. Of course, you must do your best to verify each story and make sure you’re following FCC regulations!

By deciding what information to broadcast, you alone influence how the public responds to this crisis, shaping events throughout the night. With the fate of the town on the line, it’s never been more important to ensure that your reporting is accurate. But only you can decide what the public is ready to hear. Every story you broadcast or leave unaired pushes the town closer to the truth or deeper into the static. The choice is yours alone.

“With Static Hour I wanted to create a retro psychological thriller about isolation and misinformation, where you’re given staggering responsibility and must trust yourself in determining what is accurate,” said Barkbyte Founder and creative director Claire Sarmiento.

“I loved the idea of spooky things happening in a small town just out of sight, where the horrors are driven by audio and left to your imagination. Furthermore, I was captivated by the idea that something terrible is happening, but you can’t quite grasp exactly what it is. Having to sort through junk data, red herrings, and scattered facts to decipher truth from preemptive speculation seemed like a flavor of horror that remains as relevant today as ever.”

Features:

Investigate Through Audio: Uncover a mystery almost entirely through audio sources such as calls, reports, and scanner signals.
Information Shapes Reality: What you choose to broadcast influences how the town reacts.
Tension Through Uncertainty: Evaluate conflicting and incomplete information as you decide what to disseminate to the public.
Manage the Public’s Fear and Trust: Provide accurate, verified reporting and the township will have faith in your messaging. Report alarming or uncertain information and they may panic.
Immerse Yourself in 1980s Analogue Tech: Utilize reporting tools such as CRT monitors, rolodex, rotary phones, radio scanners.
A Mystery Contained Within the Newsroom: Discover the outside world entirely through incoming reports, never stepping foot outside of the radio station.

For more information on Static Hour:
Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4910010/Static_Hour/
Official site: https://barkbyteinteractive.com/
Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/barkbyte.bsky.social
X: https://x.com/Barkbyte17
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barkbyteinteractive/
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@barkbyteinteractive?si=rCPdeOOfHfajs7dy
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/JA3r3SYtr

About Barkbyte Interactive:
Barkbyte Interactive is an independent game development studio crafting immersive, story-led experiences. Its debut game is the upcoming newsroom psychological thriller Static Hour.