Clover Bite and developer Quarter Games are preparing to give players an early look at Don’t Pick Up, a narrative-driven psychological horror game set in an alternate version of the early 2000s. A free Steam demo is scheduled to arrive on September 24.

The premise starts in a place that feels ordinary enough: a government-certified repair shop for phones and communication devices. Players take the role of a repair associate expected to fix what comes through the door, follow the rules, and avoid asking unnecessary questions.

Of course, this is a horror game, so the devices do not stay ordinary for long.

A Repair Job With Consequences

Each customer device may contain information its owner never intended to share. As players look through phones and other electronics, they can uncover details about competing factions, government conspiracies, and the political collapse unfolding outside the shop.

The catch is that the government’s rules keep changing. New directives arrive every day, dictating which repairs are permitted, which parts can be used, and even which customers are allowed through the door. Keeping the job means staying compliant, but looking the other way may carry its own consequences.

The choices made throughout the game will shape the story and lead to multiple endings. Players will need to decide who they serve, what they report, and what they keep for themselves while the world beyond the workshop becomes increasingly unstable.

Horror Built Around Information

Rather than relying on combat, Don’t Pick Up places its tension in the act of discovery. The repair shop gives players a small, controlled space, while the phones and devices bring the outside world inside one customer at a time.

That structure gives the game room to explore paranoia, surveillance, and the danger of knowing too much. What looks like a straightforward repair assignment can become a choice between following an order and protecting someone caught in the system.

The game is being developed by Quarter Games and published by Clover Bite, the studio behind GRIME and GRIME II. Don’t Pick Up is currently listed as coming soon on Steam, with the demo offering the first chance for players to step into its uneasy dystopian world.