"You are the Smiles family's guardian angel: watch over them, and protect them from any evil." ― Description of Night Watch
Night Watch is the newest game created by The Smiles Family and one of the most popular myth games on the platform. It uses a similar style to the game, "Observation Duty", and was released in late 2023. The game appears to be a prequel to the previous Smiles Family games, yet constructs the opportunity for an apparent "revival" through the introduction of a more powerful villain.
Overview[]
"Night Watch" features the original Smiles Family with RobertSmiles, the father, and his three children, ClairJSmiles, SethSmiIes, and MatthewJSmiles, living back at "The Smiles Household" of Hallam Island. Due to their recent loss of family members, a dog named, "Boxie", is made a member of the family. Unfortunately, Boxie ended up becoming possessed by evil lurking at the Hallam Island. To save the family from evil, their guardian angel watches them through the night. After three nights, the demon that possessed the dog is defeated. The guardian angel turns out to be TheGorilla, and Jerry tells him that he will return once the old man will die, and an even greater evil will be released that is wiser than even TheGorilla. This interaction happens before the events of Returning to Reality, so now TheGorilla is dead after sacrificing himself to protect the family from DIAM0NDEYES. Therefore, whatever evil Jerry wanted to unleash will happen.
There are impressive progression mechanics involved with the role of "guardian angel". Within the beginning of the game, a pixelated top-down style will be used for the lobby along with multiple setting choices such as a character design. Past this, the player can move on to an "Observation Duty" inspired area where the majority of gameplay takes place. It takes place at night in the "Smiles Family Household", with the main goal of the player being to detect abnormalities, and get rid of them to save the family. A tutorial about fixing vandalism done to furniture is provided with the game, as well as how to use the flashlight to scare Boxie. Three levels exist, each with a break of Boxie singing a familiar tune. Beyond the achievement that is the "Ending" badge, there are many other badges involving interacting with the Boxie's present throughout Night Watch. Some are from dealing with special versions of Boxie, which two others are from finding hidden Boxies.
Walkthrough[]
Once the player spawns in, they will be shown a character customization screen, which allows the player to change the color of the players hair, skin tone, eyes and clothing. After designing their avatar, the player is able to inspect various objects around the pixelated version of the "Smiles Family" home. Besides interacting with others, the player should head towards a large stone hallway with a black hole at the end. Walking through this will lead the player to the actual game. There is nothing else to do within the lobby with the exception of a hidden Boxie that can be found for the "Secret Boxie" badge. To find this, the player should search around the living room in the lower half of the house. On the left wall should be potted plant sitting next to some ripped wallpaper. The wall next to this is a fake wall, and it will connect to a secret hallway with Boxie eventually sitting at the end of it[1].
The actual game begins with a screen of information which the player should read, and then a screen where the player can choose between the regular game or a mode for people with short attention spans. From here, a short cutscene will play introducing the family dog "Boxie", and how he was possessed by an evil entity. It then introduces the plot of the game, which is that the player is meant to protect "The Smiles Family" from evil while they are asleep. From here the game begins.
The player can switch between nine different rooms, with the mouse functioning as a flash light. During the nights, the player is meant to look through these rooms, trying to eliminate abnormalities. This comes in the form of Boxie appearing across the house, Jerry the Demon, and vandalization to furniture. If the player fails to do this, the player will be met with a jumpscare and will be sent to a title screen. There is also a "feeding Boxie" mechanic, where the player needs to fill a bowl of dog food, or else the player will lose. If the player reaches the end of the first night, a cutscene of Boxie singing a song will play. After this cutscene, "Level 2" will begin. This level is slightly harder, because if the player incorrectly points out an object, more out of the ordinary objects will appear. Completing this level will cause another cutscene to play, but this one will be more unsettling, with Boxie singing another song. The final level will be the hardest, with the strange objects appearing more frequently. If the player finishes this one, a final cutscene will play.
This final cutscene will show Jerry the Demon in darkness, speaking to an unknown figure. He will say this:
"You thought we'd let you get away?
You are more ignorant than I thought.
He will awake soon.
Once he awakes, there will be a new bringer of death and evil.
He is far more wiser and more powerful than you will ever be, old man.
Far more wiser and stronger than Diamond Eyes herself.
Now go back to sleep. We don't want you interfering with anything."
After this, the cutscene will transition to day time, with Jerry the Demon standing in the room of Seth and MatthewJSmiles. He will say this:
"Get up."
"The Smiles family currently have a guest over.
"You have gotten in the way of our plans for too long."
"You'll die one day, old man. And when you do, I will come back to finish what I started."
The camera will then transition, showing that Jerry the Demon was communicating with TheGorilla.
"I'm going to come back for the kids."
The game will then fade to black, and end. However, across the levels are hidden Boxies that can be collected to obtain the "Professional Boxie Finder" badge. Looking around the house with the flashlight will easily reveal the small Boxies hidden around furniture, therefore exact locations aren't required.
History[]
The first teaser of "Night Watch" appeared on June 5th, 2023, when "The Smiles Family" Twitter account posted a short video of Seth and Matthew's rooms in the darkness[2]. Later on the 21st of the same month, four images from the game were uploaded to "The Smiles Family" Twitter account[3]. Sometime later on the 12th of July, the "Night Watch" game was created. Despite this the game was not released until the 14th of July, when The Smiles Family Twitter account posted a link to the game, calling it "the first phase of The Smiles Family revival"[4].
After the release of the game, the game would immediately become incredibly popular within the "Smiles Family" community, and the greater myth community, with several notable users, such as Stalzie and Mrflimflam playing the game and making videos on it. Others inexperienced with the myth community took an interest in the game as well. After this, the game would get updated a few times, with it being updated for the last time on the 14th of January, 2024. None of these updates were that notable from what is known, but the game overall set up the possibility of a continuation to the "Smiles Family" storyline.
Theories[]
- More games will come from "The Smiles Family" along with an overall continuation of group with the mention of a new evil entity haunting the family.
- After defending the family for all three nights, Jerry the Demon starts speaking to the player, who is revealed to be TheGorilla. He claims that although TheGorilla was able to stop their advances, he will one day be gone. Once he is gone, he will return and with him a force "far more wiser and more powerful than you will ever be". This indicates that Jerry will bring about a new evil now that TheGorilla has died, as seen in Returning to Reality.
- This is not referring to DIAM0NDEYES because Jerry also states that this force is "Far more wiser and stronger than Diamond Eyes herself."
- There is yet to be any known confirmation that more content will come pertaining to Jerry the Demon and what is referred to as "Him".
- After defending the family for all three nights, Jerry the Demon starts speaking to the player, who is revealed to be TheGorilla. He claims that although TheGorilla was able to stop their advances, he will one day be gone. Once he is gone, he will return and with him a force "far more wiser and more powerful than you will ever be". This indicates that Jerry will bring about a new evil now that TheGorilla has died, as seen in Returning to Reality.
Trivia[]
- The dog character that is used throughout the entirety of "Night Watch", Boxie, is actually the real-life dog of SethSmiIes.
- "Night Watch" is heavily-inspired by the aforementioned short horror game, "Observation Duty".
- If the player selects the "Yes" option for the short attention span accommodations, there will be "Subway Surfers" gameplay playing at the bottom of the screen during the introductory cutscene to "Night Watch".
- Jerry the Demon is from another Roblox game called Submarine Simulator which is basically a fnaf fan game, this could imply that Jerry's involvement in both games could connect them together.
- Coincidentally, Jerry has an official UGC item that was made in collaboration with The Smiles Family
Gallery[]
References[]
Stalzie's YouTube Investigation: "Night Watch is the most scariest game ever!"
Flamingo's YouTube Investigation: "The Roblox SMILES FAMILY is back..."
Further Reading[]
The Smiles Family