The Solitaire Conspiracy

Mike Bithell has endeared himself to fans of indie games ever since he exploded onto the scene with his story-focused platformerThomas Was Alone. Since then he has continued to make narrative the central part of every game he puts out, even taking his talents to the world of movie tie-ins withJohn Wick Hex. As of late, he has been doing shorter games that are based around a single concept and theme.

Announced today,The Solitaire Conspiracyis Bithell’s latest entry in his “shorts” catalog. The indie game elevator pitch goes a bit like this: what if you were to take the game of solitaire and mix it with a cyberpunk conspiracy FMV game? Sounds neat, especially since it uses a variant of solitaire that isn’t widely known. (Also,card games are so in right now.)

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While being designed and written by Bithell,The Solitaire Conspiracyalso boasts a flashy cast and crew for such a small game. British comedian Inel Tomlinson will star in the FMV cutscenes alongside Kinda Funny Games’ Greg Miller. Jon Everist, ofBattleTechandShadowrunfame, will score the soundtrack.

Outside of my distaste for his stealth puzzle gameVolume, Mike Bithell has never truly steered me wrong. His “shorts” are always nice little escapes from the longer games on the market so definitely look forward toThe Solitaire Conspiracywhen it launches on Steam on October 6.

The ghost at the end of the hallway

Picking up the smiley face post-it off the broken mirror

John and Molly sitting on the park bench

Close up shot of Marissa Marcel starring in Ambrosio

Kukrushka sitting in a meadow

Lightkeeper pointing his firearm overlapped against the lighthouse background

Overseer looking over the balcony in opening cutscene of Funeralopolis

Edited image of Super Imposter looking through window in No I’m not a Human demo cutscene with thin man and FEMA inside the house

Looking at the ghost of Jackie inside the lighthouse