Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength (genre: Story Telling - Investigation)
SCORE: 7.5/10
I have to say this game is more direct, genuine than the first game but lack the crush of having the ability to handling life and death situation on your hand. Also in the first game, the ending is somewhat more impactful than this one not to say this game’s ending is not. Secondly, I understand why this game sometimes get mixed reviews even though most of them is positive, it is mostly based on preference and I guess the person who tends to read more will eventually enjoy this game more than those who referred storytelling games like heavy rains and until dawn, etc. But even that doesn’t justify why this game isn’t good in my opinion.
– Real player with 29.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Simulation Games.
Report for duty, Agent. Time to gossip our way to victory.
With season one of Orwell (or well, before we actually knew we would be getting another Orwell game) being an incredible experience, who wouldn’t want to revisit that universe again? Who wouldn’t want to be the person that spies rather than the one that gets spied on? We return with a whole new case to dig our hands into and more secrets to peek at.
Right as you start up, you will see changes that improves the immersion. Before you are even put into the system, you have to take a small survey to determine if you will be accepted. If you played the first Orwell game, this is also the time to choose whether you want to link your playthrough with it. This not only lets you skip the tutorial but whatever you did in that save carries over. If you haven’t noticed yet (like I didn’t) this canonically takes place during the events of season one. While you and well… past you will not interact, you will see those events referenced here. Once you get the survey out of the way, you will get a cutscene that does a great job in visualizing the “fake news” focus and, surprise, showing that this is voiced.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
Preface
This review is being written before the conclusion of the game in episode five. I’ve played through the first four episodes a couple times exploring different outcomes, however, as episode five is not out yet I’m not able to comment on the totallity of the story.
The Machine
Orwell has a very close Person of Interest vibe. The government of the fictitious country has obtained a Machine, or System, that surveils the populous gathering information however it does not act on the gathered information. The idea of the game is that the system, aptly named Orwell, isn’t able to decern human subtlety, sarcasim, or deciet. As such, the fictious government has outsourced the task of resolving conflicts in the data, and identifying what is relevant and what is not. You as the player take on this role as an outsider to the country, tasked with sifting through the data that Orwell gives you access to inorder to identify person(s) of interest. This is a role somewhat like Person of Interest’s Harold Finch.
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Choices Matter Games.
My playtime: 10h (based on steam, 100% achievement; 2.5x playthrough)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (17 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You is a massive information gathering system where you, an investigator, is taking a role in sorting the relevant data and fix conflicting data that the system gathered to assist a crime. The game has story branching that persists over 5 chapters.
– Real player with 10.5 hrs in game
Booth: A Dystopian Adventure
I saw this game in the recommended on YouTube and I just clicked it and after 10 seconds I felt the vibe and I said I have to buy it. There are very few people who have reviewed this game or have done videos and tutorials about it and I feel like I fell on a gem here. Great atmosphere, 2036, you’re playing as Ned Crawford a Food Inspector that works directly for the government and your task is to live in a booth and do your work, all the time. It may seem boring, but along the days you start to meet other characters, which are all very detailed and have their own personalities, I found myself having a voice for every character and it made it much more immersive. The whole setup of a Dystopian point & click game was always the thing for me, and people want to compare it to Papers Please, but for me it’s much more in depth than Papers Please, who only focuses on the task and not much on storyline. The tasks are challenging and you have to be fast and cautious sometimes. I don’t want to spoil anything, but EVERY decision you make, every Item you take and everything you do has consequences, so beware of that, that’s part of the fun. I absolutely loved this and I could easily sit and play it and not even notice the time pass. So, I don’t really like 1-10 / 1-5 ratings, all I’m going to say is, if you have 15$ and want to support great creators for a great game that will make it worth your time and money, do it…. Papi out.
– Real player with 23.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Mystery Atmospheric Games.
First off, I want to say that the fact that Booth is not getting much, much more attention is criminal. Booth has an excellent narrative, and very engaging story, interesting and functional graphics style, great music, and the setting is just so unique and cool. I really felt as if I was working the night shift (mostly) alone and doing my job 3000 feet above the ocean in a booth tethered only by cords…miles from anywhere. My occasional visitors became friends. The drama and events that occurred engrossed me completely, allowing me to feel both a sense of humanity for those I could help, along with an all-pervasive fear of Big Brother watching me the entire time. Booth is a game much in the tradition of “Papers Please” but in my firm opinion, builds upon the formula and is an even better game than its predecessor. I came into this experience not expecting much. That being said, this game moved me, engrossed me, terrified me, soothed me, and totally suspended my disbelief. It is one of if not my favorite game I have played this year and I will not soon forget my experience. It is certainly the dark horse indie game of the decade. By all means, play this game. NOW!! It deserves to be played and it needs much more recognition than it is getting. Bravo! 5/5
– Real player with 23.2 hrs in game
Zenith Frontier
Zenith Frontier is an interstellar strategy simulation game. Explore and colonise hostile exoplanets and help humanity survive the struggles of 2040 and beyond.
Zenith Frontier features several novel mechanics in the context of traditional 4X and grand strategy gameplay elements. Experience visionary strategic gameplay set in an evolving procedural galaxy populated by billions ot autonomous citizens and private companies. Build a faction with a rich background and strong identity, then oversee their interstellar efforts to advance their position within the precarious New Space Age.
New Gameplay Features:
-
A Shared Origin: Factions start in the same overpopulated, suffering home system and compete to expand outwards in the year 2040. This is made possible by the recent discovery of –REDACTED– which allows high-tech spacecraft to slip into subspace.
-
Volatile Subspace: Exploration of this newly accessible subspace is incredibly dangerous. This chaotic region is thick with dark matter and swirling dark energy fields, but the ability to travel interstellar distances in considerably shorter timeframes may be worth the risk. Known safe routes will become critical to sustaining your remote holdings, but beware - subspace is neither static or stable and these routes may change!
-
Information is Essential: Unshielded signals will be destroyed in subspace and must be carried through by comm drones. News that arrives at your capital from a distant colony will be out-of-date - the situation will have evolved and you will have to consider this when planning your response. Additionally, perhaps the illegal hijacking of another’s comm drones will glean some strategic information - and prevent it from arriving at its intended destination!
-
Special Relativity: Spacecraft travelling at incredible speeds and colonies established within deep gravity wells will experience first-hand the effects of special relativity and time dilation. Time will progress more quickly for the crew of your –REDACTED– spacecraft making a long journey at high speeds than the colony they are destined for.
-
Geospatial Resource Pricing: A supply and demand model for price determination within a dynamic economic system that includes taxes, import/export fees and transportation costs mean that resource prices will vary throughout the galaxy. Plan your economic developments accordingly - or invest in this interstellar network infrastructure to take a slice of your rival’s operations.
-
Top Level Direction: Shape your faction from the top down by issuing orders, directives, and edicts to your military staff, governors, and private sector. These are executed autonomously, which can lead to surprising outcomes. This indirect control poses interesting strategic challenges.
Traditional Gameplay Features:
-
Diplomacy and Politics
-
Research and Technology
-
Military Conflict
-
Management and Governance
Zenith Frontier’s Design Pillars:
Zenith Frontier is being designed and developed in line with these pillars.
-
Emergence - A rich, living world that generates unique emergent scenarios.
-
Strategic Depth - A semantic network of interconnect systems.
-
Gameplay Over Graphics - A high quality interactive system that priotises gameplay.
-
Self-Directed - The player is primarily working towards self-selected goals in open gameplay.
-
Top Level Decisions - The player provides direction from the top-down to autonomous agents.
Shadows Behind the Throne 2
Remember “That Which Sleeps” the kickstarter game that promised that you could play as Cthulhu and corrupt the world and a million other things, but then the dev took the money and ran and never delivered.
Implausibly Shadows is not only the game that was promised, but it delivers. The graphics are a little off and the interface is a little confusing, but goddamn is it fun to corrupt and dismantle several civilizations until eternal winter falls upon the land. There is a lot of room to grow, and here is hoping it keeps growing.
– Real player with 119.6 hrs in game
Great game. It’s a bit like Ruinarch, if you’ve ever played that, except on a strategic level. Lots of variety in the ways you can take down a kingdom. Very replayable and it’s right up my alley.
That said, it’s EXTREMELY rough. As EA as you can get while still being playable.
- Kind of a crap, poorly thought out UI. For example, saves are placed in alphabetical order instead of chronological order where your most recent one is at the top. You might have 7 autosaves, and the one you’re looking to load is save number 3, halfway down the screen and you have to look at the time to know that’s the one you want. I called my manual save aaa, so it will be at the top of the list. That’s a small thing, but there are a lot of poorly designed UI functions like that and it impacts the level of information you get from the game.
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Internet Court
I have to admit I found Internet Court really funny. It does have a lot of silly moments that make you go what but I loved it from beginning to end. You can beat this within 2 hours but it is really fun to get through. I love the acting being silly but worth it to make a good comedy. The Judge always makes me laugh at every turn. I love the silly ending that connects all 4 cases and my favourite case was the first one. I may not be a fan of the music in the game but love the credits song at the end.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Great writing, including fun dialogue when you make bad decisions (intentionally or otherwise). Clear video and audio with acting by Gamecola staff emeritus.
The judge once said, “I’m going to let you try again, but first I’m going to give you a strike!” giving me my third strike and ejecting me from the courtroom. I might have gotten carried away exploring dialogue options.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game