Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

jorjor wel

When my only real complaint is why isn't there more, that's not really a problem. The fact the writing and score make a text-based story compelling and chilling enough to keep me glued to my seat shows how well written this game is.

Kinda dull. Zero need to actually think about your choices, you just scroll around all available documents to click all highlighted keywords. If you see a contradiction, you pick something just to get extra-context later to see you've made a mistake, but cannot rewrite a dossier. But in the end of the day, nobody cares, so why should you...

**SPOILERS!**

I give the game 3/5 stars. Highly enjoyable and entertaining but I can't give it 5/5 because BRUH, how did I manage to get all the terrorists BUT ALSO *MYSELF* arrested????! LMAO. You have no choice but to investigate everybody or the story doesn't progress!! (so it doesn't feel like you really have "choices"), but the one time you ARE presented with a choice, which is to either to keep using the government spyware to investigate the suspected terrorists or investigate your own boss (Catherine DelaCroix, who runs the spyware) because you think the government might actually be behind the attacks, you get arrested and the game ends. So everybody I was spying on still got arrested, but then I also got arrested???

i enjoyed this. the closest thing to lurking into someones phone / computer. topics on ethics. if u like 1984 the novel youll like this

Quite an interesting and enjoyable game but would it have killed them to hire some voice actors? Would definitely have made it more immersive and less tedious watching the call transcripts run on the screen.

Great game, cool way to explore the modern implications of a "big-brother" type government.

Honestly love this game and it's sequel. Something about the layout of everything tickles my brain, and I think this game would resonate with anyone who enjoys using critical thinking and research skills. It's not overly complicated or hard. Overall, a nice relaxing but intriguing game that is worth giving a shot.

This is a fun and interesting game of an investigator looking into phones, pictures, contacts, computers, etc,etc. You are following a group called Thought who is anti-security measures but doesn't even know the scale it really exists on. You, the investigator, are collecting information on the members of this group that would link them to bombings. But not is all as it really seems. The mechanics of this game are interesting as you collect data chunks. The story is thrilling and I def recommend it to anyone who likes choices matter games.

A good game, the premise is very interesting and the mystery has enough depth to it.
My only gripe with it (and this contains slight spoilers to the game mechanics) is that you sometimes get stuck, having chosen to withhold a bunch of information. You would like for the story to continue, yet you need to provide more information to the system. You then do it semi-randomly until something sticks, undermining what you chose to withhold. I get how this would be hard to change without, and it might be a skill issue on my part, but it was the only thing I did not like as much.
Overall great game.

Acting as a sort of Big Brother VN version of Deathtrap Dungeon, you are the "villain" behind the screen of a dystopian (?) surveillance project. I add a question mark beside the "dystopian" descriptor, because in a fairly surprising subversion of expectations, the group of people you are watching are every bit as awful, shallow, annoying, and at least in a couple of cases, actually dangerous and crazy as to justify using such a program.

In any other hands, this game would have the government you're working for be up to unspeakable acts beyond justification and the collection of rabble rousing, blue haired agitators you're investigating would be perfect, selfless angels, with maybe a few thin personal flaws to give them the pretense of being attractively tragic and interesting. In this game, however, they are every bit as annoying, shallow, self important and deluded as the ones that currently exist IRL, complete with being pilled out on a pantry's worth of anti-depressants and rife with anger management issues and savior complexes.

I was actually quite shocked at this development, considering the "modern audiences" presentation that this game and its sequel give off; the character portraits you can choose from in both are allergic to White people and the art style throughout is comprised of hideous, polygonal corpo-art. But if you are interested in busting leftoids, who are rarely represented accurately in this medium, or indeed at all, give this game and its sequel a go. The "mysteries" aren't terribly interesting, as they mostly revolve around made up political disputes between blandly named stand in's, but there is some catharsis to be had in sending loud mouthed, Hot Topic "punk rock" brainlets (not to mention the group's couple of older academics and lawyers of dubious ancestry who act as organizer and funder) a candy-gram from a SWAT team.

pretty fun but i think it's unrealistic how many straight people are here

To safe guard the public from terrorism, the government installs cameras and surveils the public through a secret Orwellian network. Enraged by the erasure of public privacy, a small group of misfits decide to save the day... by performing acts of terrorism, murdering innocents with bombs. Quite the vicious cycle. As the network's operator, you pick and choose what to put into the database, thereby choosing who gets punished throughout the tale. If you like narrative tales and playing God, this is a game to play.

Honestly, this is a very much worth it experience. Your actions have consequences, and often even if you think you made the same choices as in your previous play-through, then think again, you haven't. Sometimes even a single datachunk can change how characters react to you, or what happens to them. I love it!

and god is the dramatic irony so tasty, especially as it starts to dwindle slowly away...

Interesting concept - great characters and fun gameplay. It's a short game but the price is reflective of this so not a huge issue.

The game it self conceptually is pretty intriguing and interesting, but unfortunately it is let down by the millennial core conversation and socials postings of the characters you investigate at the beginning. Although it is accurate, listening to Ms Watergate and her associates is enough cringe to make a grown man want to blow his head smooth off. I haven't completed the game yet and maybe another day I will

A great game! I just finished my first playthrough and really enjoyed it! I love the gameplay and especially the story! The music is also really good, I really like how it gets more "intense" when you find something important. I also love the moral choices you have to make throughout the game, especially at the end.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves games with a good story.

Such a good game; a bit short : but for its price, content and mind changing lore defenitely worth playing.

Great story. Didn't see that plot twist coming. Great game overall.

It has some good ideas, but there's a lot that makes it really confusing. Some of the conflicts make no sense, it's unclear which details in the texts are relevant to the cases, the UI can be annoying and cluttered, and the game only takes notes about characters rather than events or timelines. I don't know if I'm just bad at the game, or if the game is just bad at explaining how to play it properly, but it wasn't enjoyable either way. No Case Should Remain Unsolved does pretty much everything better.

I think I liked it. What makes the game good is how much you can interact with everything.

Moral of the story: update your Facebook privacy settings.

Bought it cause I'm into Orwell and dystopian stories and such. Was very disappointed. You click on a page and either look for the clickable blue text or waste your time and read it and get immersed like I did. To put it simply, boring. But I stuck with it and gave it a shot. What really grinds my gears is the yellow text. It is supposed to be "contradictory" statements, but is anything but.

For example, the first woman you investigate has two posts that "contradict" each other where in one post she calls another woman her best friend and in the other she gets mad at said woman. THAT. IS. NOT. CONTRADICTORY. IF ANYTHING, getting frustrated and having strained relationships with friends is extremely common. But you can only pick one making the story that she either "hates the woman" or "is her best friend" instead of the simple truth that she is her best friend AND they get into fights as can be explained later by the woman being off of her meds.

If you're someone who doesn't like this type of game, you won't enjoy it so don't buy it. If you do enjoy this type of game, you'll likely be disappointed like I was and won't enjoy it, so don't buy it. Not worth even at a sale.

Great game, with HUGE replayability. Highly recommend, the game play is smooth, interactive and the story is very engaging.

Really cool and chill. If your job involves a lot of social media, or reading text, I understand why you wouldn't wanna play this. Otherwise, cool experience. I'll probably get the DLCs too.

Awesome Concept, Fantastic Storyline and the mechanics are fantastic. But it has a tremendous letdown,

It is far too linear, with you constantly having your hand held by an adviser the entire game. This takes away any real thought or deliberation on who to target and in sorting out contradicting evidence. Because the game basically makes it idiot proof and forces you along at pace rather than giving you a challenge it can be finished in only a few hours. Its such a shame, the game is a brilliant concept with a great UI and story, but by making it so assisted and unchallenging the experience is ruined.

I would love to see an investigation style game like this, but for a more mature audience and truly challenging

Amazing storytelling. This game is enjoyable intriguing and thought-provoking. Definitely a story worth being part of.

i went in unsure how i would like this game if i had to play as an agent, and i binged it so hard lol. fascinating story set up with really interesting mechanics. i loved how all the elements worked together and how there were multiple possible story-lines. can't recommend enough (except to say the second one is even better, but don't skip this one either)

Painfully linear story telling. The choices in the game aren't really morale dilemmas on your part, it's a matter of trying to guess if the vague phrasing is intentionally loaded with meaning or just bad writing. There is almost zero re-play value and while it is 'pretty' it's very limited. The interface, while accurate, really does remind you of your work computer.

Some of the interesting questions this game briefly poses never get answered - including fleshing out details of certain characters you have information for but don't get to explore. In reality, you're not engaging with 90% of the text it tries to force-feed you, you're just searching for highlighted blurbs to obediently click and pass to the next marker. It's disappointing because it could have been so much more.

hits the little dystopian niche part of my brain just right. This feels like something taken right out of mirrors edge and I love it.

love it

I love this game but if you don't like reading then maybe it is not for you. It is really fun the story is engaging and the choices really made me think.

Great game

Well what a trippy game and I'm not usually stumped with some of the more cerebral games but this one really had me. It seems so simple yet is incredibly complex. Take your time with this game and don't rush it and you might find yourself tripped out as much of the scary nature of the core of social/political discord being examined here.

95% of the games I buy are for language learning, and this one was basically a throwaway, as it doesn't have any voiced dialogue. However, after finishing the game in French (reading almost everything I could), I can say it was well worth it. Reading the phone conversations and text messages were especially helpful (tt c vrai). Big thanks to the devs and the 1 person French localization team, LS. Based on a lot of the French reviews, there was only 1 mention of "quelques coquilles dans la traduction," so I feel pretty good about what I had read.

Fun game, wish it was longer

F U BIG BRO

Written-by Mr. Kim Dotcom, circa August 18, 2024:

"This may be the most important post you’ll ever read because it provides a simple explanation about why our world is being destroyed, by design.

I’m not antisem itic nor a N azi. I’m simply a former hacker with great analytical skills who understands what’s happening in the world.

At the end of this post I will quote from a world domination plan. You will recognize the truth immediately because that’s what’s currently happening in the world. Today’s reality suggests that this plan is real.

When you do your own research you will learn that the origin of this plan was discredited and that the alleged creators have nothing to do with it. But who was the person providing the key evidence?

It was allen dulles. The man who raised money from US industrialists to fund Ad olf Hi tler, his Na zi party and his war. The man who later became the director of the CIA during Kennedy and the head of The Warren Commission that investigated the Kennedy Incident. Why would anybody believe a man with such a questionable character?

The protocols of the elders of zion have unquestionably borrowed ideas from several authors but you can say that about most important writings throughout history. It was called a fabrication and is one of the first uses of the term ‘conspiracy theory’.

Why do zionists have a massive over-representation in the media, politics, banking, and world-affairs? How did such a small community get to dominate all the centers of power and information?

Why can isreal ignore UN resolutions, international-law, and commit a genocide in Ga za, to standing ovations in the US Congress? Why is isreal acting like it is above the law seemingly without any fear of consequences.
Read some of the alleged zi onist world domination plan below and compare it with reality. Is all of this just a coincidence?

“Our power will be more invincible than any other, because it will remain invisible until the moment when it has gained such strength that no cunning can any longer undermine it.”

“We shall absolutely control the media, so that not a single announcement will ever reach the public without our control. In this way we shall have a sure triumph over our opponents, for without the media, they are helpless.”

“We will distract the brainless heads with vain conceptions, fantastic theories, rotten amusement, games, and filthy passions, so that they will be unable to use what intellect they have. They will never suspect that they have been stage managed by us.”

“We shall establish huge monopolies, so that all will go to ruin when the political smash-up comes. We must, at all cost, deprive them of their lands, we must lower wages, and raise the prices of all necessities of life.”

“We shall create an economic crisis, which will stop dealings in all exchanges and bring industry to a standstill. We shall throw onto the streets whole mobs of workers, simultaneously, all over the world, who will rush to loot property and delight to shed blood.”

“In our government, besides ourselves, there must only be the mass of enslaved people, a few billionaires devoted entirely to us, police, and soldiers. To do this we must create chaos and hostilities, and we must use all deceit, treachery and falseness, possible. Our greatest weapon is the media.”

“We shall establish one king over all of earth who will annihilate all causes of discord, such as borders, nationalities, religion, state debts, etc., and get peace and quiet which cannot be secured in any other way. To attain our ends we must foment trouble in all countries, utterly exhaust all of humanity with hatred, struggle, envies, torture, starvation, and diseases, so that the people will be forced to take refuge in our complete sovereignty.”

“Our master card has been, is, and shall be, the destruction of all privileges, on the ruins of which we shall set up our absolute autocracy.”

Please be mindful that most pro-isreal comments on social media are generated by the largest bot network in the world, not by real people.

Specifically, this is what has been done, using video-games to brain-wash, indoctrinate, demoralize, and fractionalize, young(er) people who would otherwise be focused-on family and community, is IN-YOUR-FACE, now, and is openly-known to be happening with the games we buy from Steam, and others.

Search for this article using the following search-terms: Zero Hedge "Leftist Consulting Firms Exposed Behind Wokification Video Games":

""How the tables have turned in the past decade. If you were involved at the inception of the culture war around a decade ago then you probably remember an abrupt and distinct change in popular media from 2015 to 2016. There was a surge of far-left and feminist propaganda in movies, television, commercials and even video games that was highly aggressive, perhaps even militant. Some people spoke out at the time and questioned the motives behind the trend, only to be smacked down by angry mobs of activists and corporate journalists with accusations of “conspiracy theory” and “bigotry.”

In other words, their claim was that you were not seeing what you thought you were seeing. There was no feminist agenda. There was no gay or trans agenda. There was no socialist messaging. It was only in your head.
If there is one rule that encompasses all political endeavors, it is this: If you have to hide your intentions and lie about your goals when trying to spread your ideology, then something is probably very wrong with your ideology. This is exactly the problem inherent in the attempt to spread woke doctrine – Activists and provocateurs never ask anyone if they want to hear about woke ideas; they seek to force everyone to see and hear woke ideas, to the point that people cannot escape the messaging.

Even more insulting is the fact that even though most of these activists claim to be fans of the media they target, they are usually discovered to be frauds. Woke ideologues have little sincere interest in nostalgia, movie making, video games, comic books, etc. They only care about these properties because they see them as a vehicle to be co-opted, infected and dominated. Leftists know well that if they control pop culture they can control the thinking of the next generation."...

Very interesting game that has a theme that is still relevant nowadays despite having been published nearly a decade ago. Definitely makes you think about things...

Unravelling the story is fun. The only issue I would point is that at certain points, it's easy to get stuck searching for a single clue and not being able to progress.

Fantastic game, gripping story line and a number of possibilities make this game very replayable!

I've been through it twice so personally witnessed two of the endings and it was very good.

I feel like the people that dont recommend the game are missing the point of it, the greater image. I, myself, arent big on text-based games nor do i enjoy philosophy, but if you can't see and appreciate art, then thats on you. This isnt a game for those who seek adventure; its supposed to make you think and reflect - much like G. Orwell's works (hence the name).

Amazing storytelling, beautiful soundtrack. LOTS of world-building, there really is a lot of things to read there - some more, some less relevant. Daily news that are unrelated to the main plot; immitating how the real life news would work.

Relevant tags:
- interactive fiction/choices matter/multiple endings (3)
- atmospheric, dystopian, philosophical


and tbh, ive always thought the world already works like this, and when i say always i mean ever since i was like 6.
Blessings for all those who read through this, have a lovely day, folks!

> Whole game is about you keeping tabs on people
> One of them is a terrorist
> Someone they work with hacks you
> "*User*, YOU thought you weren't being tracked too?"

Bruh

This game is okay, not amazing. I wish there were more "datachunks" that were conflicting or more ways to investigate, because it's a very one-to-one experience. You often have no choice but to include most chunks or the story won't progress, I would rather we pick our own evidence and then draw a conclusion and submit the file.

This is more like a story simulator game than choices matter, but still it was a very interesting game with a lot of cool concepts and interesting play on moral or ethical topics. I would say 6/10 maybe 7/10, short and sweet, nothing crazy.

Spy on people simulator 10/10 would spy on people again

It's a nice couple hour game. If you're achievement hunting, expect 9-10 hours.

I like the mechanics and story, however it can wear a bit thin when replaying. The first play through was a great experience, the replays were alright.

If you want to save some time:

- Adjust the texting speeds. You're going to deal with a lot of text chats and calls (which are transcribed in text).

- You can also run conversations in the background, so you can work on other stuff while they work on in the background. Feel free to do this if you're trying to 100% the game, otherwise this would defeat a huge purpose of the game.

- If you're aiming to 100% the game, I highly recommend a guide after your first play through.

This "game" is insanely boring. All you're doing is reading a bunch of "papers" that they tell you to read and dragging the highlighted text to the other side of the screen. You have to keep switching which "paper" you're looking at as if you're doing something. Seriously a lot of nothing. I don't know how this is even called a game since you're not doing anything.

A great game that unites perfectly well its gameplay with its story.

I'm surprised how lukewarm a lot of the reviews of this game are - I thought it was phenomenal! I guess it's because the game is mostly reading?

The government has created a piece of software designed to spy on anyone and everyone with the aim of catching criminals and terrorists. You are recruited as an investigator tasked with using it to create profiles of suspicious individuals, going through their emails, phones, desktops, etc... aiming to find anything incriminating.

Although it might seem obvious that an all-powerful piece of spying software may be somewhat unethical, Orwell does a great job at making you experience it. When you're listening in on a suspect's phone call and rather than anything incriminating you just hear an argument between a couple going through a hard time in their relationship, you feel kinda gross. When you label somebody as angry and hateful based on a blog post they wrote years ago, which you later found out they regret, you get a pit in your stomach realising that the profile you made of them could have a big negative impact on this person's life in the future.

Saying that, the game doesn't feel preachy. You are able to use the software to hunt down and reveal criminals who may have otherwise gone scot-free, and the game makes it clear that increased surveillance is leading to dramatic reductions in crime. So does that make the gross invasion of privacy ultimately justified?? I really enjoyed how conflicted I felt up to the very end and how much it made me think.

This is a game where your choices really do matter, different people may live, die, or be arrested in your playthrough based on the choices that you make. I actually replayed the final chapter a second time because I wasn't satisfied with my ending, and managed to unlock a lot of extra information I didn't get the first time.

I was super gripped the whole way through and am excited to play the sequel now!