Orwell (PC) Indie One Shot
Developed By : Osmotic Studios Published By : Surprise Attack
Released : Oct 27, 2016 Catgeory : Indie, Interactive Narrative
Orwell
I will be completely truthful right from the get go. This game was absolutely me judging a book by it's cover. I was flipping through the Steam store, ended up on the page for this game, and the name plus a few screenshots mixed with a short description...I knew I'd love it.
Orwell places you behind a brand new surveillance system that's been installed within "The Nation". It's goal : to utilize datachunks of the city's inhabitants to keep the rest of the citizens safe. The Nation has been struck by a bombing with no immediate idea of who could be responsible. The government decide to let Orwell out on it's reigns to try and catch the fiends behind the horrible terrorist attack.
This is where you come in. You are the newest recruit investigator that is manning this new system. Your job is to sift through countless data on a number of targets and discover who is responsible for the bombing before more can occur. To track them down, you'll need to make use of the aforementioned datachunks.
Datachunks are the keys to finding your potential leads throughout the investigation. The game starts you off with one potential suspect after a little bit of digging through some newspaper headlines (aka your tutorial). From here, you'll watch over the suspect's phone call's, texts, IM chats, and any other sort of communication they may have had. This will open up windows to more suspects : is someone really just this person's friend, or is there something...darker.
The shot above will be the majority of your view for the entirety of your playing of Orwell. On the left side, you'll find any information related to the current person you are profiling. On the right, is where all the action occurrs. As you can see, there is a small bit of text outlined in blue, this is what your datachunks will look like, and they'll either be in blue or yellow.
The blue chunks are more definitive statements : things that are said by or about someone that can be taken and uploaded into the server to further develop your criminal's profile. Other chunks will be in yellow, and this is where you'll need to do a little bit of actual investigating yourself, but I'll explain that more in a bit.
Behind the profile on the left side is your web. This is all the connections you've established in your investigation, and the way it works is basically this. You'll start with the one suspect, digging into their life, developing sub-profiles based on any relationships they have. Friends, lovers, family, anyone and everyone that can be connected to Suspect Zero. If you find enough evidence on one of these branching connections, said branch will become a target, and data can be collected on this person as well. A person can not have data collected on them themselves unless they've been made a target, so you have to find enough corroborating evidence in order to do so. (I sincerely hope that makes sense...I tried to break it down in my head to explain it but I swear that when you're playing the game yourself it's the eassiest thing).
The Orwell system operates in three areas : Reading, Listening, and Inside. Reading focuses on straight up documents and web pages. News headlines, dating profiles, personal blogs. Through these, you can generally uncover email addresses, phone numbers, online usernames, all of which leads into Listening. Here, you'll get access to said emails, phone calls, and chats. The Inside section is where you can potentially gain access directly to someone's computer or phone (you'll need a specific code from the device in question in order to get inside it).
At this point, it seems like Orwell is just a simple point-and-click guided narrative. For the most part it is, but not entirely. For one, not every single blue datachunk is important. You're told this from the beginning, and that you'll need to use a bit of discretion when uploading these to the servers. Orwell doesn't care if the person likes romantic candle lit dinners, unless that information could lead towards a connection to the bomb.
Also, there's the yellow datachunks I mentioned before. These chunks are conflicting statements, and it's up to you to decide which one is the truth. So for instance, one of these chunks could say that Person A made the plan to set the bomb, while another chunk will be from Person A saying Person B set the bomb. You'll need to dig on your own a bit into every bit of data you have on both people, and upload the yellow chunk you think will be right. One you upload one, the other goes away.
Now, I use the terms "right" and "wrong" very loosely, and just as a point of reference in the review. Because when it comes down to it, Orwell plays out depending on your choices and actions. Characters can live or die, as well as be blamed for the attack, and it's all up to you. Which to me, is this game's greatest asset. There's no winning, no losing. Play how you want, make your own decisions and see what happens around you.
Overall, I was more than pleased with Orwell. I love the style of story-telling, and how involved it keeps the player. This is far from feeling like an on-the-rails experience. You'll be extremely active every step of the way. And the open-endedness is just beautiful. Ironic too, because you're playing as a man utilizing this massive surveillance system that, in essence, robs everyone of their privacy and control. Yet, here you are with complete control over the game, while your character grabs ahold of that control from every single person they click on.
Rating : 10/10
Price : $9.99 / $14.98
There are two points of reference for a price in relation to this game. It's told episodically, over five episodes in the first season, which is priced at the $9.99. However, there was a follow-up Season Two released, called Ignorance is Strength. The bundle price for both seasons together is $14.98 (essentially buying one season and getting the next half-off).
Oh and speaking of Season Two, I'll be reviewing that next. I. Can't. Wait.
