Timekeeper Podcast: There is no save point....
THE TIMEKEEPER is a 4-episode horror/thriller podcast that follows 17-yr-old Charlie and his friends Gama and Zoe as they’re pulled into a life or death version of the video game “13 Keys”. When Charlie’s FunLand co-worker dies under mysterious circumstances after losing the game, Charlie discovers it was part of a tech company’s research program led by a man named Jacob Fairchild. The program ended years ago when Fairchild burned the facility down with himself and all the participants inside, but the game has resurfaced, and it seems like no one who plays it survives. To win, Charlie will have to uncover the truth of what happened at the facility and beat the game and its omnipresent force, The Timekeeper.
When the setting of story is in a small town, what are the chances there will be an abandoned (or is it?) mental asylum? The real estate in these areas must be ripe for these massive venues of instant horror.
For the aptly named small town of Shady Pines, it absolutely has an abandoned mental asylum complete with legendary ghost stories and a questionable history. Part of that history involves a project linked to a game that can and will kill you. That connection of game and spooky mental asylum does not deter a group of friends determined to hack their way into solving a mystery that has been leaving a trail of dead bodies.
Tick Tock.
These words are etched into a wooden door that catch Charlie’s eye (played by Judah Lewis) when he finds at his next shift that the workplace has gone up in flames. And that his co-worker has gone missing leaving behind a mysterious laptop with a game still in play. Soon he finds out that the words “tick tock” is an ominous message left behind by those who disappeared after playing an online game.
Once the game begins, so does the ticking. Only the player that begins the game can progress. Anyone else that attempts to move the keys will be find the game has frozen in the place. The game becomes a digital shackle locking the player into levels of psychological games. Each level tests the mind but the longer you play, the more you strain to stay awake, the harder it is for the mind to stay focused. The teenagers then have an advantage for they can maneuver through a few nights of no sleep or decent food.
Charlie is a typical jaded sort of teen character who' has just been coasting along doing the bare minimum in life. He’s trapped in a small town with very little options to leave. Not much happens. So when a mysterious fire knocks out someone he knows, he doesn’t hesitate. It’s jarring enough of a disturbance to shake Charlie to forgo any self-preservation or safety away to play the game. He takes the barest of hesitation to log into the evil game.
THE TIMEKEEPER is a blend of READY, PLAYER ONE mixed with a healthy foundation of JUMANJI riddled with the horror of THE RING.
Very similiar to JUMANJI, once a player enters the game, there is no way out. The player must defeat the game before the ticking stops or else death awaits beyond the door. A scoreboard shows that Charlie is not the only one playing the game, many lives are on the line. When the player dies, it’s ready for the next player to connect and join them all in death. Passing on a cursed object? Has a ring of familiarity to it. Just like in JUMANJI and READY, PLAYER ONE, game win can be acheived with the support and loyalty of close friends. It’s a bonus that the female friend, Zoe (played by Chandler KInney) has high level hacking abilities.
The game itself within the podcast is not explained in exact detail but the overall atmosphere makes it clear that it is definitely very dark and spooky. It’s a mult-level tiered puzzle game with clock ticking incessantly in the background. It’s very similar to the games where players are searching for clues in the dark even as the monster hides in the shadows. The kind of games that do not hold shelf space on the personal game tower but nervously watching twitch videos gives a good idea of what kind of game this is. Adding the very realistic possibility of death to these kind of games is enough to light a match and burn the machine.
Luckily for listeners, the three main characters of the podcast, Charlie, Zoe (played by Chandler Kinney) and Gama (played by Arjun Athalye) do not choose to burn the machine and forge ahead. The power of their friendships keeps them awake and the fear at bay as Charlie navigates through the levels. With each progression of the levels, the true story of the supposedly abandoned mental asylum begins to alight. This game is connected to a very long and tragic history. Still, the kids trek on buoyed by youthful optimism and sheer willpower. That is the power of these YA stories. The characters will shoulder the weight of strength and courage when reality has sapped it all away.
The story have enough eeriness and thrilling factors to make you jump but not enough to elicit nightmares. There are the elements of a YA story with a possible love triangle, absolutely no parent supervision and a limitless gas card. There is a storm so expect cell service to be choppy. Despite that, following the unraveling of the mystery with each episode was absolutely entertaining. A bit of warning: listening while cross-stitching may cause the needle to jump. An additional warning, the sound of ticking clocks may make your heart skip a beat
Seriously, if you saw a game like this would you play it?
Tick. Tock.
THE CAST:
Audio Interview with Matthew Brown and Kaelyn Moore
It was special treat to get to interview the creative minds behind the TIME KEEPER podcast. The podcast was my first exposure to a product from HEARTS START POUNDING and I’m a newly minted fan. Enjoy the audio interview where we discuss some behind the scenes info on the game and the curious connection to a legendary sitcom of four elderly women.
Trailer:
Check out the podcast at: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/timekeeper
