Sorry We're Closed

Sorry We're Closed is a single-player survival horror game with multiple endings. The game is split into three phases. At the beginning of each night, the player can explore the city, speaking to other characters and choosing whether or not to help them. Each night also contains a combat stage, which requires killing demons, solving puzzles, and completing a boss fight.

While exploring the combat stage, the game is played from a third-person fixed camera perspective, switching to an immobile first-person perspective when the player aims a weapon, which include an axe, pistol, and shotgun. The player character can also utilize a Third Eye, which momentarily stuns and reveals the weak spots of enemies within a short distance, but also negates any damage not done to weak points. Hitting combos on the weak points charges up the Heartbreaker, a special weapon that is crucial to defeating bosses and can kill standard enemies in one shot. In addition to its utility in combat, using the Third Eye is also key to several puzzles.

Michelle, a young woman who works in a convenience store in London, struggles to move on after her ex-girlfriend, Leslie, broke up with her three years ago. Michelle has a nightmare of a demon who empathizes with her difficulties in love and proposes that she devote herself to them instead. Michelle awakens, only to find herself in another nightmare, chased by a bird-like demon named Dream Eater until she wakes up.

The next night, Michelle's friend Robyn notices a scar on her forehead and informs her that she has been cursed by a powerful archdemon called the Duchess; if she does not come to love them in three days' time, she will meet her end. Robyn, also a demon, shows Michelle how to open her newly acquired Third Eye, with which she can see into the past and the demon world. In an abandoned London Underground station, Michelle is able to see the last moments of a previous victim of the Duchess's, a millionaire named Jenny who ultimately transformed into a monstrous rat. Rat Jenny eats Robyn, but Michelle manages to kill her.

Sorry We're Closed is the debut title of Bournemouth-based à la mode games, a two-person indie developer composed of creative director C. Bedford and technical director Tom Bedford. The game began development in November 2020 as a side-project during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the developers beginning to work on Sorry We're Closed full-time in late 2022. An announcement trailer for the game was published on 20 October 2023.Sorry We're Closed was exhibited at PAX East in March 2024, with a demo for the game released during Steam Next Fest in June 2024. The game was released on the previously announced release date of 14 November 2024.

According to review aggregator Metacritic, Sorry We're Closed received "generally favorable" reviews. The game was named as one of the best of 2024 by Eurogamer. Sorry We're Closed received praise for its narrative, characters and exploration mechanics, although some critics expressed criticism at the game's combat.

The game won the award for "Debut Game" at the Indie Game Awards 2025 after the title was stripped away from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 over the use of generative AI, and was nominated for "Black Voices in Gaming". It was given an Honorable Mention for "Excellence in Narrative" at the 2026 Independent Games Festival Awards.