Release Date: 20/10/2016
Played On: Win
Available On: Lin / Mac / Win
Time Played: 4h 40m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Osmotic Studios
Publisher: Surprise Attack Games
Immersion often seems like the holy grail of game design, as it's often seen as the key to a player's overall enjoyment. It's why so much effort is put into input methods and fancy new controllers with motions sensors and vibrating functions. The more a game can draw us into its world and make us believe what we're seeing, the better, but there's one type of game that needs nothing more than a player sitting at a computer.
Of course, I'm talking about games where the player is cast as an anonymous character sitting at in front of a computer. The player's role in the game is a facsimile of the player's role in real life. The player's desk and computer becomes part of the game as they act out their role from the comfort of their home. They're not asked to be a super strong warrior in space; they're just a person sitting at a computer.
These are some of my favourite games to play, as they require very little suspension of disbelief. The easiest example is a classic like the game Uplink, which presents itself as an interface for hackers to log onto the internet and access remote systems. The interface is all designed to look like you would expect it to look on a real hacker's computer, complete with windows to open and close, and even a chat room to speak with other "hackers" while you play.
Her Story is another fine example of a game that uses this technique, as you play a person sitting at a computer terminal attempting to piece together a mystery. The interface is a typical desktop with folders and icons, and you spend your time searching and reviewing files as you would on your own real-life system.
I love these kind of games because they are immediately accessible and I'm easily sucked into the world as soon as they launch. Even the dystopian future of Orwell manages to short-cut a whole lot of disbelief, by using a believable interface to bring you into its world. For a game that could otherwise be a work of disjointed science fiction, Orwell's interface goes a long way to making the whole game enjoyable and interesting to navigate.
As the name implies, Orwell is a game about surveillance and the ethical challenges of 'big brother' policies. Despite being inspired by an old book, the game leans on contemporary themes of anti-terrorism laws and profiling. There's a nice balance between current issues and a believable interpretation of how those issues might evolve in the future.
Your job in the game is to review surveillance and public information to identify potential criminals within the population. The interface you operate is a sophisticated system that gives you the ability to not only search through social media and read people's emails, but listen in on phone calls and access security camera feeds. You're essentially taking on the role of 'big brother' in an effort to keep the public safe; or are you simply controlling the populace with an invisible hand of power?
Mechanically speaking, Orwell requires a whole lot of reading and remembering different points of interest as you delve deeper into people's lives. At first it might seem like you have free reign to search for information, but there's a clear path to progression which becomes apparent early on. While a game like Her Story left you open to figure out relevant keywords and points of interest, Orwell holds your hand a lot more.
Without giving anything away, you're tasked with investigating a select group of people. After reading a few pages of their online profiles and comments they've made on 'suspicious' forums, you're given the ability to use more invasive techniques. Eventually you're tapping phones to read text messages and listen to conversations, while reading personal emails and analysing photographs and camera feeds.
It sounds like there's a lot going on, but one of the key gameplay systems in Orwell, is the ability to highlight phrases and compare them. It becomes a little bit of a 'spot the difference' puzzle, as you might find a job description for someone, but on their public profile they comment that they were fired. It's not a difficult system to navigate, but it's used well to push home the fact that you can't work from a single piece of information.
In fact, the entire Orwell experience seems to be a pretty obvious message that cold information can be misleading. There are plenty of examples throughout the game where you find highly incriminating evidence on someone, but later it's revealed to be innocent and out of context. Thus, most of the game is spent trying to find context for the little bits of information you manage to uncover.
I suppose you could also take the perspective that these invasive practices are necessary, as you end up needing as much information as possible to interpret it properly. At times it's hard to determine whether Orwell is trying to say that personal privacy should or shouldn't be compromised. The people you work for are obviously pushing for any and all compromises to be made, but the information you uncover and the story it tells seems to argue that these practices remain misleading.
Perhaps I'm thinking about it a bit too much, as this is a classic ethical conundrum that gets discussed in tutorial groups during first year philosophy. Is it morally just to remove an individual's human rights, if it leads to the preservation of many others'? It's the "is torture morally just" argument, which despite all the philosophy, usually ends in the realisation that statistically torture doesn't actually work anyway.
So I'm confused at where Orwell is coming from, as I'm aware that these kind of invasions of privacy and blanket profiling doesn't work as well as some would have us believe. During the game there are moments of revelation that feel like the point is to show how misleading your investigations can be. However, there are others that reaffirm the validity of what you're doing.
While I enjoy an ambiguous narrative, I often prefer political statements to be made with a little bit of conviction and purpose. It's part of what enticed me about Orwell in the first place, as it certainly makes more arguments than your average game. Although, it still managed to play it a little bit too safe at times and never really sinks its teeth into the meaty questions it raises.
I shouldn't be so harsh though. Overall I enjoyed the shit out of Orwell and it's a game that I plan to revisit again in the future. I'm just not sure if it's because I love the conceit of sitting at a computer and role playing a person sitting at a computer, or if the game itself is really that compelling.
Thankfully if you're able to put aside the philosophical land mines of such a theme, the game is very well put together. The 'interface' is clear and quickly understandable, while the information follows a well-designed arc. Initially the scope of your task feels a bit overwhelming, but the more you get used to what you're doing, the more you're able to reign it in and learn the structure of the game's systems.
What's more, the soundtrack and overall aesthetic deserve a big tick in their column. Everything looks and sounds clean and semi-futuristic. The 'photos' of people are low-fi and distorted, but it fits the theme and actually works better than if they had been unedited photos of real people.
It's interesting that part of the aesthetic appeal is how unrealistic it can be at times, while using such a realistic and immersive interface. However, I feel like the cartoon-like representations of faces and identity only adds to the already obfuscated dystopian setting. It bolsters the notion that you never really know the full story and have to make decisions based on nothing more than interpretations.
Orwell might not be the pinnacle of 'interface games' (going to have to work on that descriptor), but it's a fine addition to the genre. It might not be as open as it presents itself to be, and it might not have the balls to have a strong opinion either way, but it all works well in the end. It succeeds at raising questions and pushing you to think hard about the decisions you have to make, which is an achievement in itself.
For a long time, the only games I played that used the same kind of 'interface' design, were hacking games. Thankfully though there are games like Orwell and its contemporaries that are pushing the genre into new territory that offers a different kind of narrative experience. I suppose it's an evolution on traditional text adventures, but sophisticated enough to present more accurate depictions.
Hence, Orwell finds its place in the world of 'interface-driven narrative experiences' (still working on it), and manages to create a compelling world and raise a lot of questions in the process. I'm looking forward to the game that comes along from a big budget team and has a scope large enough to obfuscate any limitations that are always built-in to branching design. However, until then there are some decent titles to play, just like this one.