PROXIMATE

PROXIMATE

Released Nov 2024

Congratulations, contractor! You've been approved to trial our cutting-edge AI visor. Use it to explore the Neuras lab and recover the staff's research. Your visor is safe, reliable, and up to 99% accurate. Just don't ask why the "ketchup" in the corner makes such a horrible crunching sound.

92% positive · 1,010 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence

Where to buy

Steam $5.99
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Evaluation

PROXIMATE is a self-contained narrative adventure game developed and published by solo developer Cain Maddox. It released on November 8, 2024. The store description presents a complete, bounded experience — a single-session investigation with an explicitly timeboxed 90-minute runtime — with no mention of DLC, expansions, seasonal content, or post-launch updates of any kind. There are no DLC listings and no developer news posts indicating plans for additional content. The game appears to have launched as a finished product, and nothing in the developer's public communications suggests further content is planned.
Evidence
Game is presented as a self-contained 90-minute narrative experience with a fixed scope. No mention of DLC, updates, or ongoing content.
description · Nov 8, 2024 source content shipped
high
Short description focuses entirely on the core premise with no reference to future content or live service elements.
store metadata · Nov 8, 2024 source content shipped
medium

Media

Details

Developer
Publisher
Cain Maddox
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Unsupported
Players
Single-player

About this game

the optimist says it’s half human

the pessimist says it’s half monster

and the project manager says, “when can we ship it?”

PROXIMATE is a dread-driven narrative game where you investigate a deep sea laboratory and piece together the events that lead to the research team’s demise.

You'll be required to wear an image recognition visor that only tells you the bare minimum information you need to succeed — and sometimes less. Use text information, proximity data and audio clues to form a mental map of your surroundings and pray that your technology won't fail you when you need it most.

FEATURES

  • There is no monster.

  • Assignment timeboxed to 90 minutes. If you’re here longer than that, we might have to dock your pay.

  • Your visor says that the red stain on the wall is ketchup. It was coded by some very smart people, so you should definitely trust it.

  • Collect chat logs from the research team, but don't read into them too much. We're not paying you to figure out some kind of sinister mystery here.

  • I mean, we haven’t seen the monster. So it’s probably not there.

  • Receive helpful calls from your manager, voiced by Luke Austin, who's here to make your job easier. Probably.

  • Connect with a cast of queer characters, who we definitely cared about and will miss dearly. Oh hey, have you signed that waiver yet?

  • If you hear it, turn away.

THE STORY

After labor rights movements sweep large parts of India and Southeast Asia, companies around the world lose their supply of cheap exploitable workers. Melbourne-based tech startup Neuras decides to attempt the impossible: installing AI drives into the freshly dead to create a cheap and endless supply of workers.

After a year of disappointing results, the Neuras lab suddenly cuts all contact with their investors. You, a contractor for the country's largest investment firm, have been tasked with investigating the lab and recovering the firm's rightful IP. But it's the firm's other investment project -- the SONA visor -- that might end up being your bigger problem.

That, and the breathing you keep hearing behind the door.

Last evaluated Jun 20, 2026
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