Based on establishment dates of the Doctor Murder website (est. 2012, noted as running up to/until 2016).

Hot Burners uses a quote from an alleged customer from 2015; would assume to use a somewhat older quote to establish one's business as reputable (regardless of review being legitimate/real or otherwise).

Passports Are Us uses an image of the current Latvian passport, which the design for was established on or around Jan. 28, 2015; the game therefore has to take place after this date.

Considering the risk that comes with hosting Red Room streams, as well as the surrounding hype, it is unlikely that the streams are a common occurrence.

The reason I assume it is late 2017 is because of the existence and references made in Welcome to the Game 2.

These two take place within close vicinity; Victim from WR calls Amalea to tell her they were burned / that Adam knows of their snooping into The Prey; It's not unfair to assume, given Adam's demeanor and general history across the games, risks would want to be taken care of as soon as possible to preserve his business.

Many sites that were present in the first game are either redone entirely or have become dead links. A bit of a stretch because expertise is varied, but it would take a while to do that while maintaining consistent clientele.

The player can find Clint's resident dossier on the lobby computer. He's 29, lives in 803, and is described as a "Very quiet individual, sticks to himself, pays rent on time. No issues." Not really relevant, but this would mean Clint was born between 1988 and 1989. He was a 90s kid, and that's so cute to me.

Computer states that the date is June 14th on the starting night, and report dates are formated as 06/xx.

Social media posts are dated with 2020 (e.g., Jeniffer Connally, aka BloodAngel123). And yes, her name is spelled like that in the game.

Confirmed by environmental details, such as a newspaper(?) clipping within Ronald's apartment. I don't own this title in the series, but have been watching a close friend play it and we both noticed this.

Clint contacts the player and says he has had run-ins with Adam in the past (re: WTTG 2). For him to phrase it this way shows a decent time has passed between the games, as not only is that just how US Americans tend to phrase it, but he's also telling this to a stranger (albeit, he owes The Shade a favor, and thus it's equally likely Shade told him to give Ronald any information he had to keep his employee alive)

THIS WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE FULL RELEASE

The game isn't out fully, but details from the demo suggest that this takes place after Dead Signal considering Ronald is the "task master" for the new player character, Simon, who has abandoned their 9-5 job and career to pursue "The Game"... whatever that shall come to mean.

The Bomb Maker's manifesto includes an image that is dated May 21, 2025. Assuming the image is "real" within the universe, the game would need to take place on or after this date.

Many forum posts on the site "Crystal Guild" are dated in 2023; these posts range from January to September. If the forum was recently locked (as insinuated by the timer and splash text), this would imply the game at least takes place on or after September 5th, 2023.

The year 2023 can also be deduced by a Black Hat Post submission. The requester states that he needs a feasible identity to assume and is 27 years old. The DOB (date of birth) for the new identity is December 19, 1996.

Likewise, a later entry contains several credit cards with their expiration dates. Generally, credit cards expire 2 to 5 years from their expiration date, depending on the vendor. Given most cards listed expire between 2025 and 2029 (with one exception), this makes me lean a little more toward 2023 being the year the game takes place.