Spoilers for The Closing Shift below.
The Closing Shift by Chilla’s Art has gotten very popular since its release for its chilling portrayal of a stalking case. This has led many fans to craft theories around it, and the most notable one puts forward the possibility that the unnamed protagonist actually had two stalkers.
Though Chilla’s Art has yet to confirm or deny this, players can look into the game’s dialogue lines as well as the character models to see whether the theory holds water. The indie horror game’s stylized graphics and the quick passage of time make it difficult to distinguish between the two supposed stalkers, but there are clear signs that point toward the theory being true.
The Murderous Stalker
The stalker that most players will already know is the one who surprises the horror protagonist as she’s closing up on December 17 — the fifth and final night in the game. His character model is tall, and he has wide eyes. The first time the protagonist comes across him is at the very beginning of the game, when she hands the lost phone to the stranger near her apartment complex.
The next time she sees him is on December 5, the fourth night in the game. He sabotages the player’s car, forcing her to take the bus. On the way to work, the protagonist notices an unfamiliar man looking at her strangely. When, in reality, he’s looking at the stalker, who was behind her during the entire bus ride. On the same day, this stalker enters the coffee shop and simply watches the protagonist while she’s serving a customer at the drive-thru. He doesn’t order anything and leaves after a while.
The Other Stalker in The Closing Shift
However, these aren’t the only stalking incidents that occur during The Closing Shift. On the first night, the power cuts off as the protagonist is closing up, and as she goes to the back to switch on the breaker, she finds spilled cartons of milk on the floor. This is the doing of the other stalker — the man who lives in the closed-off section of the coffee shop. He has a different character model from the more violent stalker — shorter, with smaller eyes and a hoodie over his head.
This man has a distinctly different way of stalking the protagonist. He’s the one who keeps taking photos of her from outside the coffee shop. Plus, when he goes inside to order on November 15, the second night, he asks for a drink with plenty of milk, meaning he was likely the person stealing milk from the shop’s storeroom during the first night. After he finishes his drink, he even leaves a photograph of the main character of the horror game on the table. This further solidifies that he’s the man living in the coffee shop as when the player finds the makeshift bed, there are empty cartons of milk and photographs of the protagonist there.
All that said, the biggest piece of evidence that points to there being two stalkers can be found in some of the NPCs’ miscellaneous dialogue. On November 27, the third night, the protagonist serves a group of female students who then take a seat by the window to talk. During their conversation, they mention two different individuals that they came across on their way to the coffee shop — both of whom made them uncomfortable. The first was a “creepy-looking” guy on the bus, and the second was a “dangerous person” who was loitering outside the coffee shop.
Another potential piece of evidence involves the two notes, which appear to have two different writing styles. The one the protagonist finds in the drive-thru seems to exude more admiration, compared to the one in her mail slot, which sounds more possessive. Given all these points, it appears that the theory of there being two stalkers is true. Considering the final stretch of events, it’s possible that the more violent stalker killed the other one, perhaps so he could have the protagonist to himself. Overall, the theory makes this already scary game even more terrifying.
The Closing Shift is available now on PC.