Stories Untold

Stories untold is one of the titles that make you realize, that video game might be the wrong term when the medium evolves into its adolescense. The game has adventure mechanices well implemented, but it is fun only in the 2nd or 3rd degree and mainly focused on a dark tone in a dark story and it is well done that way. The multilayer retrospective commentary on computer history itself, adds up for the story and the medium itself. The game is set in the 80's and as an interaction with media from that time. Being told over the length of 4 episodes, it focuses on one or two core mechanics per episode until it mixes them up in the 4th episode. In that regard I find the game convincing and interesting. It is impressive that a game in 2017 can be convincing by implementing mechanics that in part are about 30 years old. But there are two main critique points: focussing on one or two mechanics per episode, begins to fall flat in the 2nd one and almost fails in the 3rd. What saves this one is, it has the most convincing puzzles, that do not just feel like clicking through the story. But it felt repetitive at that point. The game has just about the right length. Shorter and it it would take away from the story; longer, and the gameplay wouldn't hold up. The 2nd critique is about the story's resolution. MILD SPOILERS: How it is played out, it shouldn't happen at all, given that the protagonist is not the only one involved and therefor aware of the situation. The situation is so avoidable, that the twist almost falls flat in the end. It doesn't take away from their point and from the presentation, but it certainly undermines the otherwise high quality throughout the game. Due to the dark tone this game certainly isn't for everyone but a really good one in that niche, when it comes to presentation, gameplay and narrative. A Must? No. But it is a game you won't forget or regret, when you can open yourself for its unique approach. It certainly is a rare gem.

Let's start with the good. If you liked Stranger Things or even if you haven't seen it, but still have a nostalgia about the 80s, particularly 80s microcomputers, then you will love the setting the game thrusts you into. If someone told me I would have this much fun playing a text adventure game in 2017 I would not have believed them, but once I started this game up for the first time I couldn't stop until I finished it. The game is set across four different episodes with the fourth being split into several distinct segments that force you to use the knowledge and experience you've gained in the first three to make your way through. The first episode is fully text based adventure, but not quite. Rather than just staring at text and a prompt you take a first person perspective of someone else playing the game with elements around you and outside of the game screen coming into play. Very tense at points where I had to force myself to continue. Some genuine horror happening here. The second episode feels the weakest as it's just a case of "follow the instructions", but it is incredibly intense in the story it weaves, nonetheless. The third episode was a fantastic bit of puzzle solving and critical thinking. The first person interlude where you walk around was jarring after playing this long while not moving and the controls were not quite responsive and it was easy to get stuck on the terrain. I can forgive it these things as this isn't where the core gameplay lies and it's short enough. The fourth and final episode I won't spoil, but it has you revisiting the skills you learned in the first three episodes, but with a twist on each one that really makes you think even further outside the box. I can't say enough good things about this one. The only real negative I have is the length to price ratio. I feel that 2 hours of game for $10 is a bit steep. I got it at 25% off which feels closer to a fair deal, though the game was good enough that I will not complain.

Stories Untold has a killer setup and manages to pull off the "deliberately vague" angle surprisingly well. It's also painfully hard to review, because it's probably best experienced with as little advance information as possible. Overall it seems to ape a retro, late 80's TV-show aesthetic very similar to "Amazing Stories," with the dated computer hardware and synthesized musical score. The game play is split across 4 chapters and mostly consists of solving an array of puzzles before proceeding to the next. Most are simple exercises in following directions, but some of them can be mind-numbingly complicated requiring the decryption of Morse code or identifying rapidly-flashing pictographs. The game has no time limit or failure conditions, however, meaning that with patience and tenacity anyone can eventually see the game's conclusion. It's also almost completely devoid of cheap jump scares, earning Stories Untold two immediate gold stars for dodging common puzzle game pitfalls. I was having a great time until I reached the conclusion of the game's third chapter, when the overarching story connecting the vignettes started to come into focus. Without any spoilers, the ending really seems too predictable and overused to cap off what was shaping up to otherwise be one of the best suspense-adventures I've played in the last five or more years. If you do enjoy the odd experimental type game, or any atmospheric horror games, if you're a fan of the retro aesthetic, or you're just looking for a way to kill a couple hours, you could certainly do a lot worse than Stories Untold. Aside from a few lapses into predictable patterns, it's a wholly unique experience.

Stories Untold telles great Stories an builds a great atmosphere and is full of this charming 80ies mood. It's a great peace of entertainment on a cold winter evening. The puzzles and riddles in this game are trivial. The most challenging part is messing with this stupid textparser from Ep. 1. IMHO the actions in Ep 2 & 3 where very repetitive, but they add a meaning to the plotline. IMHO its the most cinematic game i've ever played.

Until a certain point this reminded me less of a game and more of a collection of creepy short stories. I liked the range of ideas and settings - creepy houses, scientific experiments, arctic research stations. All begin with almost normality, then have a gradual increase in tension and mystery. In SU there is no need for reflexes, just some thought and experimentation, taking your time to acclimatise to what it expects of you, what you can do. Yet the game still managed to surprise and impress me on a few occasions. It's never quite what you think. The sound design deserves special praise - exemplary effects and voice work, much more than just boo jumps. Subtly appropriate effects and music really pull you in. The stories felt really immersive, especially in the ones where you switch between screens in different parts of the room. US is a great contrast to a game I was playing last night. FEAR 2 is supposed to be scary but actually it is more of an action game, and very predictable - I was just playing FEAR 2 on autopilot, and never felt like I was there. I would much rather have a short, surprising, immersive experience like Stories Untold any day. I may not return to SU but each of the stories has stuck in my mind. My only quibble, that stopped me giving full marks, was the text parser for two of the episodes. It frequently rejected words that were the correct response, but which weren't the words the game expected (e.g. "get out" versus "exit" versus "leave" etc.). It seems an oversight that could have been easily fixed by building in more variety to the synonyms accepted, or just add a "help" command that listed acceptable verbs.. My favourite story was the third. It really captured some kind of cross between films like The Thing and Pontypool, and I could easily have played an extended version of this as a full game, expanded along the lines of the Penumbra games. The third episode was worth the price of admission alone to me. The rest was just a bonus.