eHUB City: Blackout puts you in the shoes of three protagonists, each facing an emergency with a widespread power outage. Fortunately, your home — or your neighbors’ — is an eHUB: a smart, self-sufficient building that doubles as an energy hub for neighbors during a crisis.
Track your power usage while cooking, heating your home, or charging your devices. But beware — the eHUB’s resources are limited, and your neighbors want their fair share. Or will you deny them?
Make impactful choices, manage limited resources, and navigate interpersonal dilemmas. Your actions affect not only your personal goals, but your relationships, health, and the well-being of those around you. Will you make it through the blackout — and who will you become along the way?
Three protagonists. Three Blackouts. Countless Stories.
Step into the lives of three unique characters, each facing a different crisis and a different need. Only one thing reoccurs: the blackout.
Level 1: Jan – The Desperate Entrepreneur
You’ve got one last chance to save your company: three focused days to craft the perfect presentation. But then, a blizzard hits, cutting the power and nearly draining your eHUB’s resources. Now, you must decide — help your neighbors, or prioritize your future?
Level 2: Ella – The Headstrong Eight-Year-Old
You just got home from school. There’s no power. No internet. No dad. And for some reason, the neighboring eHUB isn’t providing electricity. With the fridge slowly warming, your homework waiting, and crises piling up, can you prove that you're more than "just a kid"?
Level 3: Angela – The Hacker/Cybersecurity Analyst
The grid fails for no apparent reason. Seconds before the blackout, your eHUB lights flicker briefly. Coincidence — or something bigger? You'll need to investigate. If only your wife, Kathrin, weren't so determined to tie you up in her own problems.
Game Features
Choice-Rich, Realistic Narratives:
Shape your own story by making decisions through interactive environments and deep conversations. Every choice matters — for your well-being and others’.
Smart Home Simulation:
Control your actions and your living space. Monitor power, food, water, and temperature. Just like in real life, your environment affects your well-being. The same goes for your neighbors when it comes to sharing power or using too much.
Meaningful Social Interactions:
Interact with your loved ones, talk face-to-face with neighbors or message them through a local device-to-device network. Just don’t expect instant delivery or replies.
Personal Goals vs. External Requirements:
Time is scarce. Power is limited. Can you meet your character’s unique needs, or will the crisis overwhelm you?
Explorative Gameplay:
Some interactions are practical, others deeply emotional. What will your social, personal, and resource scores reveal about your choices in the end?
Non-Linear Replays:
Different paths, outcomes, and interactions await. Your choices lead the way!
100% free and publicly funded.
eHUB cities – Blackout is developed by Andarion Games on behalf of emergenCITY, an interdisciplinary research center supported by TU Darmstadt, the University of Kassel, and Philipps University of Marburg, and funded by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art. The scientific management and conceptual development are provided by emergenCITY. Annemarie Mattmann is responsible for text and story development, while Lea Holaus is responsible for design and branding. The game is 100% freely accessible, free of charge, and comes without advertising, paywalls, or microtransactions. Learn how emergenCITY is working on the digital resilience of cities – so that people remain connected, safe, and able to act even in an emergency.
