Cold Calling

Cold Calling is a narrative game set in November 1962, weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis. As the new White House switchboard operator, you route high-stakes diplomatic calls between the United States and the Soviet Union, trying to keep negotiations from going sour. Your choices affect the story’s outcome.

Run the switchboard

You manage a chaotic, tactile switchboard, connecting loose wires to route calls and handling waves of incoming calls under time pressure. Physics-based wires create paths for calls, while more than two dozen gadgets can help you manage the board. Combining devices can produce powerful synergies; the gadgets include a pirate cannon, a UFO and a slice of cheese. The calls feature humorous exchanges between characters.

The game also offers a no-penalty option for players who want to focus on the story rather than time-pressure challenges. Its waves have some similarities to tower defense, but require more active interaction.

Time Phone and mysteries

The story features dozens of caricatured real-life historical figures. You use secret government technology called the Time Phone to contact voices from the past and future in an attempt to steer history away from disaster.

You also follow a masked stranger through point-and-click segments and investigate a conspiracy. Each of your favorite characters has a side story to unlock, and you choose whose conversation to listen in on. Your decisions lead to one of eight endings. The story uses political satire, alternate history and absurdist humor.