The Exit 8 developer expresses surprising opinion on copycat games 

Kotake Create, the developer of The Exit 8, recently addressed the “copycat” games that have been popping up since the anomaly-spotting game was released in November. Taking to X (formally Twitter) on December 22, the developer stated that he is fine with games mimicking the indie hit, as long as they don’t use exactly the same setting and gameplay system. He also proposed that “Exit 8-like” could be used as a name for the new video game genre and revealed one of the inspirations behind the indie hit. 

The Exit 8 is a short walking simulator game where you are trapped in a seemingly endless loop of subway station corridors. The goal is to escape via exit 8. In order to find the elusive exit, the player must look out for anomalies in their surroundings- if you can’t find any anomalies, it is safe to proceed. If you notice an anomaly. then you must turn back. With its realistic setting that is similar to actual Japanese station passageways, the game provides a creepy and unsettling liminal space experience.  

The Exit 8 has become an indie hit, selling 30,000 copies within a day of its release. On Steam, it has a Very Positive rating at the time of writing, with reviewers praising the simple concept and atmospheric setting. The Exit 8 has also been popular with Youtubers and Streamers, with the game’s sole NPC gaining a bizzare fan following. 

The game’s popularity has spawned a number of copycat games with similar gameplay mechanics and liminal space settings. Station 5 is also set in a subway station but involves spotting anomalies on a train. Another upcoming game, Escalator, will have you finding anomalies while riding an escalator in a subway station. Both these games explore the same concept of escaping from an enclosed liminal space by noticing differences in your surroundings.  

It often happens that popular new concepts spawn similar games that change the setting or rules of the original- for example, the release of Vampire Survivors led to a slew of copycat games, and the popularity of Suika Game on the Nintendo Switch prompted the creation of many free-to-play duplicate versions.  

After being asked what he thinks about new games that are similar to The Exit 8, Kotake Create revealed that he is absolutely fine with these games being made as long as they don’t copy The Exit 8 exactly. Not only that, but in a separate post on X, he also shared links to Station 5 and Escalator, saying that he was looking forward to Station 5’s release day. The indie Japanese developer also mentioned that he was inspired by the anomaly spotting system in I’m on Observation Duty. 

I’m on Observation Duty is a series of puzzle horror games created by indie developer Notovia, which involve finding anomalies in security camera footage. In an example of tweaking an existing style of gameplay, it seems Kotake Create was inspired by the anomaly reporting system from these games and rearranged it into a system where you spot anomalies from a first-person perspective as you proceed down The Exit 8’s creepy passages. 

The Exit 8 is available on PC (Steam). Kotake Create is currently developing a new game called STRANGE SHADOW, an adventure game where you must run and hide from giant creatures in an post-apocalyptic city setting. 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-12-23 11:06 JST)