Hope in the City Demo

Your sketches may be the only clues you have. Play as 17-year-old Hope Song in this narrative mystery set in Shenyang, China. While everyone around her cracks under exam pressure, Hope escapes into her drawings, until her parents disappear. Investigate what happened, connect the clues, and uncover the truth hidden beneath the city's calm.

You come home from school like any other day. But the house is quiet. Your parents are gone, the apartment is in shambles. No note, no warning, no answers.

Hope isn't a detective. And everyone she turns to seems intent on avoiding trouble. But with an artist's eye, she notices details others overlook, and that's what makes her dangerous to whoever's hiding the truth. Drawing is no longer an escape; it's her best chance to solve her parents' mystery.

Wherever Hope goes and whoever she speaks with, she finds elements that don't add up. Investigate each one and capture your observations as sketches in Hope's notebook. Every detail matters.

Combine Hope's sketches into insights, and keep adding new thoughts until they grow into breakthroughs. Piece by piece, sketch by sketch, watch the picture of what happened to your parents take shape, and grow darker than you ever imagined.

Shenyang isn't just a backdrop, it's a character of its own. Rendered in a bold, stylized art style with an edge, every street, storefront, and shadowed alley is begging to be explored. Wander past neon signs and quiet corners, and let the city's striking visuals pull you deeper into its secrets.

On the surface, it's just home: familiar streets, quiet neighbors, ordinary life. But beneath the quiet, something is hidden. Hope can't be sure who she can trust. And she can't afford to wait for someone to help her find the truth.

Hope in the City is made by the team behind the 2026 GDC Best in Play Winner Sky of Tides and the 2024 Peabody Award-nominated Eternal Spring.