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Top 20 Video Games About Watching for Anomalies

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Ignacio Weil

Gaming - May 13th 2025, 00:00 GMT+2

Midnight Monitor Anomaly Watch — 20. Midnight Monitor: Anomaly Watch (2023)

This one leans hard into the "haunted night shift" aesthetic, but with a modern UI and just enough tension to keep your coffee cup trembling. Midnight Monitor casts you as an overnight analyst scanning multiple camera feeds for reality hiccups. Flickering lights? Suspicious furniture rearrangement? A shadowy figure just vibing in the hallway? You better report it before the system thinks *you’re* the anomaly. What sets this game apart is its almost meditative pace – until it’s absolutely not. Don’t let the silence lull you into comfort; this game plays fair, but it doesn’t play nice. | © Viexi Games

19. Platform 8 (2024)

Platform 8 takes the familiar setting of a mundane train ride and twists it just enough to keep your eyes peeled and your nerves tight. It’s not horror, exactly, but it definitely makes you feel like you missed a memo about reality. Your job is simple: monitor the train car for anomalies. Easy, right? Not when the definition of “anomaly” includes impossible geometry, unsettling faces, and laws of physics politely taking the day off. The game rewards patience and perception, punishing players who zone out or dare to blink. It's a stylish, minimalist slow burn with a spooky soul and a sharp eye for detail. | © KOTAKE CREATE

Cropped the republia times — 18. The Republia Times (2012)

Before you scoff at the low-res graphics and browser-game origins, hear this: *The Republia Times* is a masterclass in subtle tension and moral ambiguity. You're not spotting supernatural intruders or scanning cargo – you’re editing the front page of a state-run newspaper. But make no mistake, the anomalies are ideological. Every headline, every quote, is a choice between loyalty and subversion. You’re balancing the regime’s demands with the growing unrest of your readership... and maybe your own conscience. It’s short, sharp, and surprisingly effective at getting under your skin. | © Lucas Pope

17. Contraband Police (2023)

Set in a fictional Eastern Bloc country, *Contraband Police* lets you live your border patrol dreams – if your dreams include rifling through suspicious trunks and interrogating shady drivers. It’s part simulator, part detective game, with a good helping of “wait, was that stamp forged?” action. You’ll be scanning documents, inspecting vehicles, and spotting inconsistencies like a hawk in uniform. While it has serious undertones, the game isn’t afraid to lean into some absurdity either, especially when the smugglers get creative. It’s anomaly-spotting in its most bureaucratic (and oddly satisfying) form. | © Crazy Rocks

Five Nights at Freddys — 16. Five Nights at Freddy’s Games (2014)

Love them or fear them (or both), the *Five Nights at Freddy’s* series is practically the poster child for camera-based paranoia. You’re stuck in one room, flipping through security cams, praying the creepy animatronics stay exactly where you last saw them. Spoiler: they won’t. While the core gameplay loop remains fairly simple – spot movement, conserve power, survive the night – the sheer tension and lore behind each entry make this series an enduring favorite. It’s anomaly-spotting turned into a jump-scare factory, and it somehow never gets old. Or less stressful. Or quiet. | © Scott Cawthon / Steel Wool Studios

Field Hospital Dr Taylors Story — 15. Field Hospital: Dr. Taylor's Story (2020)

In *Field Hospital*, you’re not scanning security feeds or peeking at haunted hallways – you're diagnosing patients in a wartime medical tent, which is somehow even more stressful. With limited time, scarce information, and heavy moral implications, every diagnosis feels like a gamble with lives (and politics). You're not just watching for anomalies in charts – you’re untangling lies, half-truths, and wartime propaganda. The game dares to ask, “What if *Papers, Please* had a stethoscope and a clipboard full of ethical landmines?” Bonus points for its clean presentation and emotional depth. | © Gard Interactive

14. Not Tonight (2018)

Brexit, bureaucracy, and bouncer work collide in *Not Tonight*, a darkly comedic dystopian management sim where you’re judging more than just IDs. You play a doorman deciding who gets into clubs – and who gets reported to the authorities. The anomalies you spot aren't ghosts or glitchy chairs, but forged documents, suspicious behavior, and maybe a touch of rebellion. It’s a weirdly addictive loop of paperwork and nightlife with a solid dose of political satire. Think: if Orwell worked the velvet rope. It’s clever, bleak, and surprisingly fun in a "please don't deport me" kind of way. | © PanicBarn

Cropped No Umbrellas Allowed — 13. No Umbrellas Allowed (2020)

This little gem drops you into the secondhand shop of your dreams – or possibly nightmares. In *No Umbrellas Allowed*, you play a memory-wiped amnesiac pricing weird, possibly cursed objects for resale. But there's a twist: some items are banned, anomalous, or hold troubling histories that the regime doesn’t like. You’ll need to examine, research, and price accordingly while managing the suspiciously smiling customers. It’s anomaly-spotting dressed up as retail management, and it’s somehow both cozy and unsettling. Who knew capitalist dystopia could be so quirky? | © Hoochoo Game Studios

12. Death and Taxes (2020)

Congratulations! You’re the Grim Reaper now, and your job involves paperwork. In *Death and Taxes*, you're literally deciding who lives and dies by reviewing case files at your tidy little death desk. But here’s the twist: anomalies creep in through subtle narrative shifts, contradictory details, and moral conundrums. Should you follow your boss's rules or play god your own way? The game balances humor, existential dread, and workplace monotony with style. It's like The Office meets purgatory – with a lot more ink and a lot less coffee. | © Placeholder Gameworks

11. Not For Broadcast (2022)

Lights, camera, censorship! *Not For Broadcast* turns you into a broadcast technician during a political crisis, and it’s your job to decide what the public sees. But anomalies aren’t just typos on the teleprompter – they're political slip-ups, subversive segments, and maybe the occasional cultic broadcast hijack. As you juggle camera angles, censor swear words, and make split-second editorial decisions, the game delivers satire, suspense, and surprising emotional gut-punches. It’s surveillance-as-performance, and you're both the editor and the audience. Smile for the camera – unless you're being watched. | © NotGames

Im on Observation Duty — 10. I’m on Observation Duty Games (2018)

The *I’m on Observation Duty* series is like a game of spot-the-difference, but if the wrong answer costs you your life... and maybe your sanity. You sit in a dark room, flipping through surveillance camera feeds in mundane settings – until the settings aren’t so mundane anymore. That chair just moved. Was that painting always smiling? And why is there a man doing yoga in the shower with no face? Every entry brings new maps and new mechanics, but the goal remains the same: identify anomalies before they overwhelm reality. You’ll second-guess every shadow and develop a deep fear of slightly rotated furniture. It’s the ultimate test of observation – and sleep deprivation. | © Notovia

The Cabin Factory — 9. Cabin Factory (2024)

*Cabin Factory* answers the question nobody asked: what if you had to inspect cabins coming down a conveyor belt for signs of dimensional corruption? Welcome to the weirdest quality assurance job in gaming. With a minimalist, brutalist aesthetic and looping ambient sounds that burrow into your skull, this game transforms tedium into terror. Each cabin that rolls by might be perfectly normal… or subtly, horrifyingly wrong. The lighting might shift. A window may vanish. One might be on fire – but, you know, politely. It's not jump-scare horror; it's slow, creeping dread with a clipboard. And somehow, it's both absurd and brilliant. | © International Cat Studios

8. Beholder (2016)

In *Beholder*, you’re not spotting ghosts – you’re spying on your neighbors for a totalitarian regime. You play a black-coated landlord in a dystopian society, where your job is to install hidden cameras, search apartments, and report “suspicious” behavior to the state. But that’s just the start. Will you stay loyal to the government, or secretly help those you’re meant to oppress? The game gives you the tools to be a perfect bureaucratic monster – or a covert rebel. Every decision you make has consequences, sometimes immediately, sometimes days later. And yes, anomalies exist here too… in the form of humanity slipping through the cracks. | © Warm Lamp Games

7. The Exit 8 (2023)

*The Exit 8* is the world’s longest, most anxiety-inducing subway hallway. You walk… and walk… and walk… until you spot something that isn’t quite right. If you miss it? Loop again. This minimalist gem weaponizes repetition in the best way. You’ll start to question everything: the posters on the wall, the color of the tiles, that man standing too still. Wait, was he always smiling like that? The beauty of this game lies in its subtlety – there are no loud scares, just the creeping suspicion that the world is fraying around you. It’s a quiet, thoughtful, uncanny experience that teaches you to trust your instincts – or else. | © KOTAKE CREATE

Thats not my Neighbor — 6. That’s Not My Neighbor (2024)

*That’s Not My Neighbor* turns the simple act of opening a door into an existential crisis. You're a doorman in a mid-century apartment building with one mission: don't let the doppelgängers in. Easy? Not even close. These impostors are good – too good – and it's up to you to catch the little slip-ups: a mismatched birthdate, an eerie grin, an ID with just one thing off. It’s pixel art perfection wrapped in creeping dread, with just enough levity to keep you smiling while you sweat. The charm of the aesthetic only makes the tension worse, like watching a Saturday morning cartoon where the stakes are your soul. | © Nacho Sama

5. Mind Scanners (2021)

In *Mind Scanners*, you’re a government-sanctioned psychiatrist with access to high-tech therapy devices and a moral compass that may or may not be malfunctioning. Set in a retro-futuristic dystopia, your job is to diagnose and "correct" individuals with behaviors deemed anomalous by The Structure. But here’s the catch: the anomalies are people – real, weird, beautiful people – and fixing them might mean breaking them. You’ll juggle paperwork, dialogue choices, and increasingly unsettling ethical questions, all while trying not to question your own sanity. It's the perfect cocktail of bureaucracy and sci-fi unease, served cold with a pixel-art garnish. | © The Outer Zone

4. Hypnospace Outlaw (2019)

Imagine surfing the internet in 1999... except it’s a parallel universe, and you’re the digital sheriff of dreams. *Hypnospace Outlaw* drops you into a neon-drenched cyberspace full of amateur web pages, virtual drama, and low-res conspiracy theories. Your job? Patrol user-made content for violations and anomalies – copyright infringement, cyberbullying, and some genuinely bizarre crimes against HTML. It’s both a hilarious nostalgia trip and a shockingly poignant critique of internet culture. Every page is packed with secrets, and every violation report is a rabbit hole you’ll happily fall into. The early internet never looked this strange – or this alive. | © Tendershoot

No Im not a Human — 3. No, I’m Not a Human (Demo) (2024)

*No, I’m Not a Human* is still just a demo, but wow, it already delivers some serious uncanny vibes. You play as a humanoid processing clerk in a surreal office, where visitors come in for evaluation – and some of them aren’t quite... right. Spotting anomalies here means digging into behavior, expressions, documents, and sometimes your own growing paranoia. Is that a real person, or something pretending a little too hard? With slick black-and-white visuals, a grainy CRT aesthetic, and skin-crawling audio design, this game makes every ID check feel like a test of your humanity too. It's short, eerie, and oozing with potential. | © Dark Science

Cropped Papers please — 2. Papers, Please (2013)

This one’s the granddaddy of bureaucratic dread. In *Papers, Please*, you’re a border agent in the fictional country of Arstotzka, and your job is to inspect documents. Sounds dull? Not even close. You’ll be checking for discrepancies, spotting forged seals, uncovering conspiracies – and deciding whether to follow orders or your conscience. The anomalies here are in the details: a misspelled name, a wrong gender, a sob story that might be real... or a trap. It’s equal parts puzzle game and moral simulator, where every stamp you make echoes with consequence. Glory to Arstotzka, and glory to great game design. | © Lucas Pope

1. Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

No game on this list makes anomaly-spotting feel quite as poetic – or as brain-bending – as *Return of the Obra Dinn*. You board a ghost ship filled with corpses and frozen moments in time, armed only with a magical pocket watch and your powers of deduction. Your goal? Figure out how each crew member died, and who they really were. Sounds simple. It isn’t. The anomalies aren’t jump scares or visual glitches – they’re buried in accents, uniforms, spatial clues, and whispered final words. This is a detective game that doesn’t hold your hand; it hands you a mystery and says, “Good luck, nerd.” And somehow, it’s perfect. | © Lucas Pope

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From eerie surveillance footage to routine security checks gone wrong, games about monitoring for anomalies offer a unique blend of tension, curiosity, and mental challenge. These titles span genres—from psychological thrillers and sci-fi mysteries to procedural simulations—united by one core mechanic: spotting what doesn’t belong. Whether you're tasked with maintaining order, uncovering secrets, or enforcing the rules, anomaly-spotting games reward sharp observation and critical thinking. In this list, we explore 20 of the best video games where your main job is to detect the unusual, the hidden, or the downright suspicious.

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From eerie surveillance footage to routine security checks gone wrong, games about monitoring for anomalies offer a unique blend of tension, curiosity, and mental challenge. These titles span genres—from psychological thrillers and sci-fi mysteries to procedural simulations—united by one core mechanic: spotting what doesn’t belong. Whether you're tasked with maintaining order, uncovering secrets, or enforcing the rules, anomaly-spotting games reward sharp observation and critical thinking. In this list, we explore 20 of the best video games where your main job is to detect the unusual, the hidden, or the downright suspicious.