7 Nights with Vroombi, a new shortform horror game, has launched on Steam. The game combines the unsettling atmosphere of a haunted house with the unique challenge of controlling a robot vacuum cleaner. Players are tasked with ingesting a specific amount of dust each night while contending with supernatural occurrences and the peculiarities of their robotic existence.
The premise involves the player controlling a robot vacuum cleaner within a large, shadowy house. Eerie phenomena include furniture that moves on its own, unexplained moaning sounds, and dust particles arranged in peculiar patterns. Adding to the unsettling ambiance are notes and doodles left by a child named Lily, offering cryptic messages that range from gameplay tips to ominous warnings, such as "You can't leave, can you, Mr Vroombi?"
The game's design juxtaposes the player's vulnerability as a small, defenseless machine with the inherent limitations and nature of a robot vacuum. While the environment is designed to be frightening, the player's character, Vroombi, is presented as an inanimate object incapable of fear, capable only of processing its environment through the lens of its mechanical functions and material composition. This perspective introduces a layer of dark humor, framing the player's experience as one of potential irritation rather than outright terror.