Conor Marsh [Albert Birney] lives a secluded life in Baltimore in 1987, with his dog, Sandy [Dorothy]. One day, while flipping through a computer magazine, he spots an advertisement for a video game called OBEX, starring a demon named Ixaroth who devours human souls. Curious and slightly bored by the game’s simple gameplay, he buys it and starts to play, hoping for something more than a straightforward pastime. That night, the whir of his printer wakes him, and he discovers a note stating that something is inside his VHS tape collection. He searches, but the unknown figure remains elusive, hidden among familiar tapes. As he drifts back to sleep, the demon Ixaroth erupts from his television screen and abducts his dog.
The next morning brings a shocking realization: Sandy is missing. A strange Macintosh computer sits outside his home, and before long Conor is sucked into the world of OBEX itself. Inside this neon, danger-filled domain, he steps into a peculiar shop where a woman running the store provides him with supplies and guidance for the perilous journey ahead. With a mission to rescue Sandy, he forges onward, and during his trek he rescues a television head named Victor from cicada‑like figures. Victor Frank Mosley decides to accompany Conor, offering a companion’s steadiness as they navigate this dreamlike realm. The pair travel by car through the night toward the ominous Valley of Bones, where they are ambushed by two naked humans who swiftly transform into skeletons, rendering the emotional and physical stakes even higher.
Victor carries the injured Conor back to a nearby store where they receive a magical-like revival, reinforcing their resolve to press on despite the dangers. Their path leads them to Ixaroth’s castle, a looming fortress that is stubbornly locked, forcing them to hunker down and wait for an opportunity. When dawn arrives, they discover the grim truth: Victor’s skeletal remains lie nearby, having sacrificed himself to unlock the gate and give Conor a chance at entry. Gripping his sword, Conor pushes forward into the castle and finds himself stepping into a church filled with cicada‑like figures. There, he locates Sandy imprisoned inside a television set, but the moment he moves to rescue him, Sandy dies, a sorrowful and shocking turn that shakes Conor to the core.
A difficult encounter with his mother follows, as she reveals a memory book filled with moments from his past, before she vanishes from sight, leaving Conor alone in a haunting corridor of memory and loss. Ixaroth, the demon who abducted Sandy, confronts Conor at the church, and the two engage in a climactic struggle. Conor defeats Ixaroth with his sword, and in a fleeting moment of reconciliation, he believes he has saved Sandy. Yet the true twist awaits: the entire journey has been a game, a constructed reality played by Conor, which brings him back to his ordinary life with Sandy seemingly restored. The emotional arc resolves on a quiet final image as Conor and Sandy relax on a beach, the line between game and life blurred but the bond between them intact.
