Orwell

[Defiant]

Anyone take a look at this game?

Pretty much, you're "Big Brother". In a fictional country, you serve as an independent, objective analyst trying to find out about individual(s) (just one in the demo). You collect information on them through websites, news reports, social media and instant messaging (and maybe more? One option, "Insider", was never available) and use it to build up their profile (their contacts, activities, views, etc). You also decide what information to pass on - some information may be false, and sometimes two pieces of information may conflict with each other and you get to choose which one to pass on.

The demo, which is the first episode, is about ~45 minutes long. There are five episodes all together that are supposed to be released weekly, so maybe a 4-5 hour game.

[Scoop20906]

Really liked the demo even though things are spoon fed to you. I wonder in later episodes how much freedom you have to search for info. Also I worry the game will feel too short for the price.

I do love how the game automatically categorizes information for you. Pretty nifty.


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[Citizen]

Great concept, but I felt my self just plowing through links looking for the highlighted blue stuff to move over. If the regular game is that spoonfed then they'll be virtually zero freedom to do anything other than look for blue highlighted text and move it from the right side of the screen to the left. Raking leaves would probably be more interesting. Guess we'll see what the reviews say from people who make the purchase.

[Defiant]

Great concept, but I felt my self just plowing through links looking for the highlighted blue stuff to move over. If the regular game is that spoonfed then they'll be virtually zero freedom to do anything other than look for blue highlighted text and move it from the right side of the screen to the left. Raking leaves would probably be more interesting. Guess we'll see what the reviews say from people who make the purchase.

Wouldn't that be fitting? As would your name, Citizen citizen.

But seriously, if you're just looking scanning for blue highlighted text to add, you're missing the point. But yes, it is presumably going to be a fairly easy game.

[raydude]

Tried the demo last night. It would be interesting to see where the game takes the concept of Big Brother. I could already see that, based on the conflicting choices, you could either portray the suspect neutrally or cast the shadow of suspicion on her. Presumably as more episodes are released one would be faced with moral dilemmas as more conflicting data blurbs are released.

I wonder if the mentor/guide will also become darker; perhaps hinting that the government doesn't really care whether she's truly guilty as long as they have a scapegoat to blame.

Finally, looking at an Orwell announcement trailer from back in August it almost looks as if you could take an active role in generating fake evidence. There's a point in the trailer where you post a text message saying "I could tell you what I do but then I'd have to make you 'disappear'." Then it appears that the text goes into someone's online profile. Assuming you're not trying to incriminate yourself this could be a hint that the game will allow you to modify or insert evidence to implicate someone. Perhaps even insert evidence to turn the tables on your mentor?

[Rumpy]

I do love how the game automatically categorizes information for you. Pretty nifty.

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sure , but does it categorize double-think?

[Scoop20906]

First episode is out. Did anyone try it out? More difficult than the demo?


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[Defiant]

The Demo was Episode 1. But Episode 2 unlocked, and I played it.

Fist off, Sykes will generally assume the worst about any piece of data chunk you get. Give him a piece that is clearly a joke, but is also relevant in revealing a piece of important information? He'll assume the joke is true and comment as if it is. He will get annoyed if you give him irrelevant data, though. Which was why I started to give him irrelevant data.

Also, at some point, towards the climax of the episode, the information you give (or don't give) and the choices you made when given two conflicting pieces of information in both the first and the second episode start having a definite impact. That said, while for some pieces of information and conflicting pieces of information have some clues to point you to choosing whether to reveal it or which piece of information is correct, other times it seems like there are no clues and you just have to make a choice.

I think the game continues regardless of the impact on the climax, though.

Spoilers for episode 2:

Spoiler:

Sykes carries out an interview with a suspect at the climax of Episode 2. He uses the information you've passed on to him as part of that interview, which also determines the success or failure of the interview. Mine failed, and another bombing happened (I'm *assuming* things could have gone better and I could have stopped it)

As a couple of examples of choices I made that were apparently wrong:
1. The suspect had a pair of conflicting information on her social media. Early on, it was clear that she was close friends with someone. Later on in the timeline, when it was clear she was having a bad day, her friend expressed concern, and the suspect bit her head off. I assumed that it was just temporary, and figured they were still friends. Apparently, they were not.

2. You find out that two different people gave suggestions of a location to protest. The first, someone you've been gathering a lot of information on, and who's been fairly involved,chose a government building. Someone else who you barely have any information on chose a mall. You have to choose where they went. There were no other direct clues, although there were plenty of signs that they their anger was directed at the government. But my choice was incorrect.

[Citizen]

Are all of the data chunks still highlighted blue or can I bring any sentence over for uploading?

[Defiant]

Are all of the data chunks still highlighted blue or can I bring any sentence over for uploading?

Still blue (or yellow)

Also, it opens things up so you can add data on several different people.

[Lordnine]

Finished the game tonight. I loved it. Very compelling from start to finish.

[Smoove_B]

Thanks to the most recent Humble Monthly Bundle, I managed to pick this up - hadn't heard of it before and somehow totally missed it when it was first released. I spent a few hours with it last night and finished the first two days. Really, quite enjoyable, though I can understand why people might not like it. But between reading all the bits and spying on the conversations, I was sucked in. I'm actually pretty curious now to see how it all unfolds. Not a game I'd normally play, but so far it definitely feels like a worthwhile bonus from my bundle - which is always nice.

[Lordnine]

But between reading all the bits and spying on the conversations, I was sucked in. I'm actually pretty curious now to see how it all unfolds. N

I played through myself once and watched it played a second time and was surprised how much is different based on your choices. Kind of funny that a small game like this has more meaningful branches than most TellTales games.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, it's a fairly interesting game. I see there was a recent email update, inviting me to log back in. I wonder if they've changed anything?

[Smoove_B]

Just finished it this evening and it didn't end how I expected. After looking around to see the possibilities, it was rather surprising to read the variables. I guess this is more like an interactive novel or sorts than a game, though there are definitely story choices that are important (or at least lead to different things). I thought it was an interesting story regardless -the subject matter and how it was presented really worked for me. Definitely a thumbs up and not a very long game to finish at all.

[Lordnine]

The first episode of Orwell Season 2 is out now. I just finished it tonight and seems as good or a little better than the original. It feels like they give you more room to make mistakes which could be interesting over the course of the full season. The game also picked up my save file from the first game and the events appear to run concurrently with the first game, so your previous game choices will actually show up in the news paper articles. I thought that was a pretty cool touch.

[Lordnine]

If you were interested in Orwell but never quite pulled the trigger, you can get it free on the Humble store for the next 30 hours or so. Highly recommended.

[Max Peck]

It is currently free on Steam.

[LordMortis]

Thanks for the heads up.... Now to find time...