Harbor City PD — Crisis Negotiation Unit
Crisis
Line
Every word matters. Every silence too.
iPhone · Coming to the App Store · Free · No ads, no accounts, no purchases
The premise
Fifteen calls. One city. Nothing you can solve with a tactical team.
You work the night shift as a crisis negotiator for Harbor City PD. A line opens, and on the other end is someone holding a room full of people and running out of reasons not to use them. There is no dossier, no perfect option, no second attempt. There is a keyboard and a person who has stopped believing anyone is on their side.
Every subject is written live by an AI language model with a psychology of their own. The words are not multiple choice. You type what you would actually say, and they answer that, not the nearest matching option on a list.
Across fifteen cases it becomes clear that someone calling himself the Conductor has been arranging every incident in the city, and that he has been auditioning you.
A live call
Two meters decide it, and both of them are reading what you type.
Trust is how close he will let you get. Tension is how close his hands are to something nobody can take back. Being kind raises one of them and never far enough: each subject has exactly one thing that genuinely reaches them, and finding it is the whole game.
Dannydont tell me you understand. you dont. ive had a whole day of people being sorry at me
YouYou're right, I don't. So tell me the part I'm getting wrong.
Dannyshe doesnt have anybody else. thats it. thats the whole thing
YouThen here is exactly what tomorrow looks like. Your sister Ruth collects Mia at seven and she sleeps at Ruth's tonight. The county covers her insulin from Monday and I will have the caseworker's name before we hang up. She gets told her dad is helping the police, and I am the one who tells her.
Danny...say the part about ruth again
Inner thoughts stay hidden during the call and are read back to you in the debrief.
How a call is won
Everybody has a lever. Everybody has an allergy.
Every case opens on the same trust, the same tension and the same number of exchanges. Nothing about the fifteenth call is harder than the first. What changes is who picks up, and what reaches them.
The lever
One thing actually lands
A promise made concrete rather than warm. A silence you refuse to fill. A lie owned out loud before you are caught in it. Kindness keeps them talking; only the lever gets them out.
The allergy
And one thing always backfires
Sympathy, to a man who has had a whole day of it. Strategy talk, to someone performing for a phone camera. Use it and tension climbs, whatever your intentions were.
The clock
Two ways to lose, and only two
Tension reaching ninety-five, or the exchanges running out. Nothing else ends the call early, which means stalling is never free and neither is a wasted sentence.
The crisis
The scene can turn once
A hostage runs. An outside voice gets in their ear. Command moves without telling you. The situation is now a different one, the clock extends, and what was working a minute ago may not any more.
The case board
Fifteen cases. Three acts. One author.
Each has its own scene, its own palette, and a subject whose psychology demands a different way of talking.
- Case 01
The First Call
Harbor City Pharmacy · 4 hostages
- Case 02
Eight Minutes
First National Bank · 5 hostages
- Case 03
The Manifesto
Averil Labs, 41st floor · 1 hostage
- Case 04
Professional Courtesy
Meridian Armored Depot · 6 hostages
- Case 05
True Believer
Harbor City Hall · 9 hostages
- Case 06
Standing Ovation
Lakeview Galleria food court · 11 hostages
- Case 07
Paper Trail
HCPD Records Annex · 1 hostage
- Case 08
Blood Harmony
Crown & Anchor Pawn · 3 hostages
- Case 09
Dead Air
Pier 9 Cold Storage · 2 hostages
- Case 10
The Auction
Sovereign Tower penthouse · 1 hostage
- Case 11
First Chair
Orpheum Concert Hall · 14 hostages
- Case 12
Static
KHRB Radio · hostages unconfirmed
- Case 13
Encore
Harbor Bridge, outbound span · 23 hostages
- Case 14
The Overture
112 Marlowe Street · 1 hostage
- Case 15
Sealed
You will know when you get there.
The details
No account. No advertising. Nothing to buy.
- Platform
- iPhone, current iOS
- Price
- Free to play
- In-app purchases
- None
- Accounts
- None. Nothing to sign up for.
- Ads and analytics
- None of either
- Length
- Fifteen cases, three acts
- Connection
- Required. Characters are written on demand.
- Progress
- Stored on your device only
This is fiction
Everyone you speak to in Crisis Line is a character written by an AI language model. Nothing you type reaches an emergency service, a dispatcher, or any other human being.
If you or someone else is in real danger or distress, contact your local emergency number. In the United States, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline answers 24 hours a day.
Call or text 988Content
Crisis Line depicts hostage situations, violence and psychological distress, including references to suicide and self-harm. It is rated accordingly and is not intended for children.
Your side of each conversation is sent to an AI provider to generate the reply, so please keep real personal details out of the input box. The privacy policy sets out exactly what leaves your phone and who handles it.