Double Switch

Overview

Double Switch is a full motion video adventure game developed by Digital Pictures and published by Sega for the Sega CD in 1993. It was later published by Digital Pictures themselves in 1995 for the Sega Saturn and Windows computers.

The spiritual successor to the 1992 game Night Trap, Double Switch puts players in remote control of the security system of the Edward Arms apartment complex (which has a heavy Ancient Egyptian theme). Using video surveillance and a variety of inexplicable traps, players must protect the tenants from criminals while trying to free Eddie (a young hacker who built the security system, played by actor Corey Haim) from the basement.

The game was later ported to mobile devices (running either iOS or Android) by Flash Film Works in 2016. An enhanced version of the game, titled Double Switch: 25th Anniversary Edition, was developed and digitally published by Screaming Villains for the PlayStation 4 and PC on December 11, 2018, with a later Nintendo Switch release on October 5, 2019. It features an enhanced user interface that shows live feeds from all seven rooms at once. This version also received a limited retail release by Limited Run.

Gameplay

The gameplay is basically the same as in Night Trap, only this time it has evolved, so players don't need to endlessly switch rooms just to see if something is happening. Instead, on the left side of the screen players have a heads up display that shows a map of the house with all the rooms laid out. When someone breaks into a room, an alarm goes off, and the room on the HUD starts flashing. When a person enters a room, an icon appears. A green icon is a tenant, a yellow one is for unknowns, and red icons are bad guys.

There are two traps in every room, each with a spring. Choose which trap to set off, tighten the spring, and once the person is in the range of the trap, there will be a sound indicating that he or she is in place. Spring the trap and watch the bad guy go away. Players have to be careful not to trap any of the tenants though.

Players will also need to find a code to get Eddie out of the basement. The code appears in different power boxes around the house, so pay attention when someone opens one up. Also, be extra careful that someone doesn't get their hands on the power box in the basement. If the power goes out, everyone is cut off, and it's game over.