Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

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!

This game is a crazy for the fact that the game play is you literally clicking through articles and websites to upload data to the in-universe skynet, yet the story and themes are so relevant and gripping. You play as an out of state contractor for a national government to spy on a set of the citizens who are suspected to be terrorists, but does the end really justify the means?

Orwell is an 8 year old game and social media at the time is even as ingrained as it was before, this game's theme ages better and gets more uncanny as time go by.

Very fun game, I love Orwell! Let's make it a reality!!

Aware

Really interesting gameplay and story

A thought provoking exercise. It doesn't get too heavy, but you do have to make judgements about what you consider to be ethical or moral in the pursuit of truth and/or justice.

What can I say, I love snooping and solving mysteries!

It starts more like a visual novel where you just keep reading text and click to 'upload' them without changing any outcome but then you realise that there are some changes that are taking place based on your decisions. It's really in the last chapter that things start moving. Not a bad six hours I spent on this game, but I wouldn't bother with a second playthrough although there are multiple endings.

Not the greatest of games, it's a text based adventure with a few graphics and twists.

A little frustrating as you cannot drag multiple obvious connections to a suspect file without your assistant chiming in their opinions! I will complete it and replay to get all achievements though, as the story telling is good, and makes you doubt your morals a little bit.

I have to say, I wasn't really a big fan of this one. Lots of clicking around to see if I can find information, and I really didn't feel roped into the storyline.

I first found this game after watching an Australian streamer play a little of it after PAX AUS. I loved the concept and what I saw, but nothing prepared me for how much I actually enjoyed it when playing it.

The game is simple in its mechanics, working a little like a computer screen. It is text-based with pictures and images, a computer style, and really cool music that makes up for no voices. It doesn't need any. The ambience makes you feel everything as you read. And it is especially good for a stream game - lots of talking for you as you read, great music, and amazing twists and turns.

And that is what this game is - a story game where choices make differences to how the story plays out, and there are lots of twists/big moments that keep you invested. I won't spoil the game or story for you, but if you enjoy story games, or dystopian societies, or stories with meanings and choices in them, then this is for you!

I loved it, and when I streamed it when it was released so did my viewers - people wishlisting and buying it just like I did when watching it! I very much recommend this game. It is worth full price (as I bought it) and I will definitely keep supporting the devs. Very impressed.

A really interesting and absorbing experience.

This game was very well written and the graphic style used (a browser page/desktop combined with additional features) is both easy to use and makes sense in the context of the story. This makes Orwell a very immersive and absorbing experience. The choices and research you have to do constantly causes you question what your doing and makes you think about the implications of your actions throughout the game.

The ending is amazing (I gather your decisions can lead to multiple endings) and made me excited to play the second instalment to see what happens next. I would rate this game 9/10

A thought-provoking narrative adventure that puts you in the shoes of a government operative, tasked with monitoring the lives of citizens to identify potential threats. As you sift through emails, social media posts, and private conversations, you’ll be faced with tough moral choices that affect the lives of those under surveillance. The minimalist art style and tense soundtrack add to the game's unsettling atmosphere, making you question the balance between security and privacy. An intriguing, often chilling experience that forces you to examine the impact of your decisions in a surveillance state.