Stories Untold

Great gameplay, fun puzzles, interesting story.

So incredibly good. I thought it would be more horror-based and have alot of jump scares but honestly it's so much better than that, its so beautifully and geniusly crafted. Anyone who enjoys a good puzzle mystery with atmosphere, I implore you to give this a try. Each episode is so different from each other than yet the way it develops from one to the next is such that you just want to keep going.

Nice, short, unusual adventure game, whith a lot of text base gameplay features (but thats not all gameplay) and thick atmosphere. Story gets a bit haphazrd towards the end, but nothing critical. You should not miss this game, if you lake adventures, eerie atmosphere and unrushed mini gemes.

This game is way better then I expected! At first glance I was nervous to play considering that puzzle games are not my strong suit. However thought some of the puzzle were very picky and particular it was worth it! I was recommended this game by a friend and I'm glad they did! It's a real turn around of a story, the last episode of the story is the best! But damn it was a twist in this game even I didn't figure out, which normally I'm the type of person to predict what will happen before it happens but not this game! I highly suggest you play this game at least once, to experience it. It's not very scary for horror but it's very mind blowing and eerie! I would give this game a solid 8/10. I can tell the developers but a lot of work into it and I appreciate it! I will be playing more of there games from this dev!

Chapter 3!!! <3

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3188089548
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A excitingly suspenseful game that rewards your patience, with an engaging, varied story. It's a bit on the shorter side, but it ends before it outstays its welcome.
I also loved the little segments of interactivity that supplemented the text-based gameplay.
For people who haven't experienced text-based games before, it might be frustrating, but I would highly recommend giving it a shot. It's a unique experience that you can't really get in other genres.

The game is really good actually, some of the puzzles can be tough. But the problem for me is that I can't complete the game. I was finally able to get past the crashes in chapter 3 but again it crashed in chapter 4. At this point I think I'm done, pretty sad. Apparently they have put out updates to fix these problems years ago the first time I quit but even now it's still happening.

Great experience with this game, a true psychological experience with a very intriguing story. I highly recommend it!

so fucking annoying to play. i get out of the car. spend 20 minutes typing in random bullshit to find a key the game gives you zero hints about where it is. I HAVE TO LOOK UP A YOUTUBE VIDEO and i figure out i can get back in the car! i go back and grab the key from the glove box and the note which is also in the glove box which tells me where the key is. i say fuck it and delete the game. so here we are! fuck this game

as soon i started chapter 2 i said f this sh!t!

There isn't much to say about Stories Untold, albeit not in a bad way. I'll also do my best to not spoil the game for anyone and be as comprehensive as possible.

The plot is pretty straightforward and simple, but also enjoyable(the game is somewhat short,but it doesn't feel that way(if you catch my DRIFT(someone will get that))). The foreshadowing is well executed, where bits and pieces are scattered around the gimmicks/puzzles and narration. Speaking of puzzles, they're quite fun and immersive, although solving them is a bit of a mixed bag.

My main criticism about this game is the progression, that being text input. At the start of the first episode, when accessing the pause menu, you are given some basic command prompts - those not being not the only one you can use. So I tried to find as many inputs as can(such as: "approach *that", "head to/towards", "inspect *that", "examine *that" and so on), which many are unresponsive. this isn't a big deal per say, but it proves annoying when you can't further the narrative with the command of choice - my point being that the way you express yourself and progress is somewhat limited.

Overall, the story offers more than one would expect and it's worth giving it a try, even with it's minor flaws.

What a treat! For fans of text based adventures, it's a unique gem for its style breaking direction and expansive options that made me surprised over and over. I tried out things I didn't expect to work and to my surprise it often did, putting a smile on my face. To add to that, the sound design was clever, the episodes were fun to accomplish, and it was short and sweet. Worth your money, support the artists!

I did not have the required amount of patience to play the first episode so I quit the game... It is either the text commands that needs to be refined or I am just not ready for this sort of experiment.

A little frustrating sometimes, but fun

74%

Really enjoyed this game, though it proved to be a bit of a challenge. I love the text adventure features and would love to play more like this. Really hope to see this company make more like this!

Really good game, short and fun! The first episode is so scawy 😨 Loved all the puzzles! There's a lot variaty in here so something will catch your interest.

The game can get very obtuse with what you are supposed to do in the 2nd half of Episode 2 and parts of Episode 4, but besides that, I really enjoyed it. A total steal for 97 cents

Beautiful! Engaging! Challenging!

It was $0.99 and I still refunded it within 5 minutes of playing.

amazing

Drink and drive

I like the concept of the game and the variety of the puzzles. The problem is there is a game breaking bug in chapter 4 that the devs have ignored for many, many years. You will have to restart chapter 4 several times to get past it.

cool story-line

this is a reallyy nice indie game that has approx 2-3h playtime and the most important downside is the difficulty of understanding what you need to do to progress. personally, I used a guide but even so I still enjoyed this !

good gem

A very unique style of horror storytelling, paying homage to long-lost text-based adventure games. I'm a little disappointed by the direction of the final chapter, but more horror games should seek to tread these long forgotten avenues and genres!

Best anti-drunk driving ad ever

Absolute cinema

Love the ambiance and sound design. Second episode is my favorite, I loved figuring out the machines and hearing the doctor over the radio only really added to the atmosphere, and episode was 1 simple but effective and eerie, the writing almost beautiful.


Episode 3 was good but i could could barely read the manual, it was so bad i had to look up half the codes. I liked the story telling through the radio and i usually love puzzles like that but it was literally impossible to read some of the manual and it took me out of the immersion to keep having to look up what its supposed to say. Witch is a real shame because i really loved the voice work, the creepy monotone voices of the radio, and the feeling of being a sitting duck while you hear the progression of things going on and you can do nothing but work.


I'm mixed about episode 4. I liked that you had to do the puzzles from the previous episodes in a different context to regain your memories, that was very clever. But I don't like the actual story and reveal. I do think having the events of a story not be real and instead were a way to interpret the world around you when you were in an altered state of mind CAN be done in well, but this was.... not that. There simply wasn't enough tying it cohesively together, separating it into smaller different games really didn't help. And the story that was 'fake', the aliens, was much more interesting than a basic 'oops it was a coma'. And while 2 and 3 go together very well, 1 doesn't have any overlay with either, so mushing them all into one story just felt very out of nowhere. I think episode 1 and 4 could have been there own thing if they have been more focused on and given more connection and a few tweaks, and then have 2 and 3 be there own thing just as they are.


Overall the gameplay, atmosphere and puzzles were really solid, but i would only reccomend it in a "sum of your parts is greater than the whole" type of way.

I love this concept and especially enjoyed chapter one. HOWEVER, the amount of precision you need to have without any help understanding the puzzles is frustrating. And I encountered a game breaking bug in episode 4 that prevents me from finishing the game. That's irritating. I even walked away from the game and came back to it but no, still not working. If you're not frustrated by tedium then this game may speak to you. But the game breaking bugs are frankly unforgivable on a game of this age and overall steam rating.

Dear esther in 80s

This game is seriously super good. There are 4 episodes, and each one has a different theme and gameplay style, yet they all manage to relate back to the same story. All 4 episodes are really good and definitely had me hooked from the very beginning (my favorite was episode 3). I really appreciate that the devs incorporated so many different gameplay styles (e.g. text-based adventure, code decoder, adventure puzzle game, etc.)--it made each episode feel really unique.

This game strongly reminds me of Firewatch--in both games, it is implied that something sinister is afoot, and you as the protagonist are completing various (often unrelated) tasks, and the story unfolds around you as you live your life doing everyday tasks. Both have very compelling storylines that just reel you in, and you can't stop playing until the game is done. Some parts of the game also remind me of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes where you have to consult manuals and follow directions based on what you see in the game.

The achievements are very easy. There are comprehensive guides online you can follow to ensure 100% completion in the first playthrough. It took me about 2.5 hours to 100% the game.

I was seriously freaked out by some parts, as the game is really engrossing and creates a spooky atmosphere really well. Definitely a must play for horror genre lovers who enjoy interactive stories (e.g. The Walking Dead series) with some puzzle elements.

<3

This game told an all-too-common story in a unique way. The actual gameplay was an interesting combination of text adventure, point-and-click, and puzzles. While I pieced together the reality of the story in the final half of Chapter 3, the path to getting to that point and the unraveling of the truth in the final chapter was a great ride.

The most frustrating part of the game was using the microfilm reader in Chapter 3. Until I realized there was a way to zoom and clarify the images (the white sliders above the panning and rotating buttons), I was guessing at some of the text lines that I had to read. That chapter took longer than it should have, as a result. Total playtime for the full story was ~3 hours, plus another 30 minutes to back track for missed achievements.

Thrilling short horror stories with an unexpected twist. You need to power through some hardcore number puzzles but the overall experience is worth it, especially when the game is 90% off.

Quiet unusual, not a normal game experience, there are no jumpscares or lots of thing happening but you feel very tense and invested all the way. Awesome little short game.

they tell you the story don't worry

Unfortunately the game broke for me on the first section (while streaming at that) so I cannot give it a thumbs up. Been on the store too long to have game breaking bugs unpatched.

4 stories, takes from 30mn to 1h to complete each. Very nice visuals, cozy 80's horror/scifi vibe, light puzzle solving. Don't expect a lot of actual gameplay, but if you're looking for a short atmospheric horror game, Stories Untold is perfect. get out of the car

Stories Untold is an episodic mixed-media adventure game with the sleek presentation of a Netflix horror series.

I say mixed-media as while the game's meat is text adventure, it is presented in the context of an external 3D space that sees you manipulating equipment outside of the 'game' and looking for clues in your environment. This is uncannily clever and I find myself disappointed that no one has hit upon it before. If it had been done right, the game could have been flawless with groundbreaking immersion for what is predominantly a text adventure.

But let's be clear: this game is not flawless. I can tell it was made by a small team and not enough time was put into fleshing out the text parser. It is one of those games that is looking for answers that are sometimes obvious only to the developer, and commits the sin of occasionally not giving the player the necessary clues to progress. The story is very rigid, and these two things combined break the immersion they're trying so hard to cultivate. You will on occasion likely have to reference a walkthrough in frustration. That said, buried within all this is a story that is genuinely horrifying and sticks with you after the game ends, as well it should!

As a proof-of-concept this is great, and I recommend the experience especially if you are a game developer looking for inspiration. For most people it will be a novel game that is unlike anything else, but it probably won't land well with everyone. The spoiler-free walkthrough available on Steam's community page smooths the process of playing the game considerably so I can suggest giving it a try with a freer conscience than I might otherwise; especially if text adventures were well before your time.

TLDR: Stories Untold modernizes the text adventure in ways that feel obvious and elevates the genre but doesn't do enough with its text parser to be more than just a proof-of-concept. Occasionally frustrating, the mystery of the horror story and how it's presented keeps you invested. In order to truly be great the game needs a more complex parser with more branching story paths but this is a good start and they are on the right track.

It's certainly an interesting take on a horror game.
The game is split into 4 chapters or minigames that each has their own game mechanic that makes them unique to eachother.
It's hard to talk about the gameplay elements of each chapter without spoiling things that will be revealed.

But the game does an excellent job of having you interact with various machinery and solving various "puzzles" to progress the game, and these were quite fun to do.
The game uses the "text based game" mechanic quite a lot and is done fairly decently, however by using this archaic type of game, it also comes with all of the issues that text based games had.
Where the most common message you'll be seeing is "i'm sorry i don't understand what you're meaning" since you have to be quite specific on what you need to write, so if English isn't your first language, you can have a hard time figuring out what sentence the devs wanted you to use.
But when it's used in the game, it is still supported by great atmosphere and genuine tension.

Graphically it looks great and each chapter is distinct, not much to fault on that department.

The sounds are great and further drags you into the atmosphere and immersion of the game, only critique i could say is that the "startup" sound of the textbased game is immensly hard to listen to, but i dont know if that was made to sound authentic or to be unnerving.

The story is you trying to unravel some sort of incident that has happened or is happening and while it does have a lot of intrigue at the start, the end result was still fine, but less than i was expecting.
But at the same time, it was predictable and i had already started to piece things togethere between the second and third chapter.

In regards to horror, i'd say the best in that department was chapter 1 and 2, the first for the usual uneasy horror feel and the second chapter for more the discomfort of what you're watching.
The other chapters didn't really feel as good on that department.
While the 3rd was the weakest on horror, it was the most fun in it's gameplay mechanics.

While i still will recommend it to people, i got it on sale for dirt cheap, i wouldn't probably have bought it at full price.
So my recommendation is if you're looking for some horror games that tries to do something outside the ordinary, i'd say give this a shot, but perhaps at a sale.

4 short creepy stories told through text adventure and more. It's a love letter to old school adventure games, 80's horror, and powerfully effective, especially as you start to infer that perhaps the stories aren't so separate after all...

While the premise is interesting, and I always love a good unreliable narrator, the technical limitations of the text-based segments, vague puzzles, and rushed ending left me feeling just "okay" about this game. This game is not worth $10, and at the 90% discount I purchased it at, I still considered refunding.

The story starts slow, ramps up with an interesting cliffhanger and fun, engaging game play, then comes to a halt and dumps the rest of the exposition on the player in an unsatisfying ending. Aside from wrapping up too quickly, the story also comes off as hypocritical because it refuses to acknowledge other characters' mistakes and insists that the protagonist is solely responsible for the central conflict. I can't take the messaging seriously when complicity is excused in favor of creating more perfect victims.

I can only recommend playing this game with a spoiler-free guide on standby, because it really was that annoying to advance the story in multiple instances. It had the right idea using Episodes 2 and 3 to build intrigue and subvert the players' expectations, but the negatives make the final product just okay; don't expect much from the story and just have some fun with the game play.

I don't remember how Stories Untold wound up in my Steam library. I'd probably have clicked right over it to another forgotten sale item if the trailer's voice acting didn't grab me so quickly. But something clicked and despite being tired of games, too tired to even start, something pulled me in. And if you let it, it'll give you a fantastic creepy ride that's never grisly but instead hair-raising and thought provoking.

I'll admit I nearly bounced right off it, though. The end of episode one had a prompt that disappeared, and I couldn't recall it so I gave up and lost progress. And episode 2 has a LOT of strobing effects that made me feel like if I wasn't yet epileptic, I might be about to find out I was. But I blocked the screen for some of these and powered past. (seriously though, don't play if you think that's a problem for you; that bit really needs an off-switch to pop up early on).

It's probably only 2-3 hours in total if you use a guide; maybe even less. But the voice acting is superb, the music on point for the mood it's trying to evoke and the scripting was tight and concise enough to get its point across without too much diversion or distraction.

This game bad touched me emotionally.

I didn't expect this game to be this good, all the chapters are haunting and the gameplay is really creative, plus the overall narrative of the game left me speechless.

The horror of Command Not Recognized.

Played up to chapter two and then got stuck at the text adventure part.

I rarely play text adventure games, but then I feel like I don't have that many options in making choices and it seems you have to type what devs want somewhat closely to advance the story. I guess that's how most text adventure games work, but then waiting until the error message is fully typed out every time I get the input wrong is really annoying.

Whenever you backtrack to an area, you have to wait for all the sentences about the scene to be typed out before you are allowed to make any input as well. I guess this kind of inconvenience existed long ago, but this is 2024. Please stop wasting player's time.

Story was pretty subpar from what I've seen in chapter 1 and 2. Doesn't matter even if it's a dollar on sale. Your time itself is worth way more than a dollar. Spend your time on something else. Refunded.