The Occupation

The Occupation is a fun stealth-em-up in a polished retro noir setting. Crawl through vents, nick keycards, fax documents, hack chunky 90s computers and sneakernet the floppies, in contained but meticulously detailed non-linear environments. The game's unique twist is the real-time nature of each level, forcing you to complete the objectives within a fixed time window, as various timed events play out. When it works, it's fun, tense and fair, albeit short. But I have beef. The developers have made a classic mistake, namely, messing with the save system. I get it: they want actions to have consequences and players to stick with their choices. Fine. But like almost every other game that does this, the devs have written checks their game can't cash. Tension is sneaking behind a guard's back and swiping the crucial evidence before ducking into the shadows. Tension is a crucial clue missed due to running out of time. It is not Tension to get caught on shoddy climbing mechanics, or to be told by an increasingly irate NPC to leave the area through the very door he's currently blocking, while I try to bunny hop around him in exasperation and insta-fail the entire game. The devs have crafted a handful of sprawling puzzle boxes of levels, which want you to explore them to their fullest... but the only way you can access them is through a single permanent save slot in order, going through the same unskippable cutscenes, hearing the same self-important dialog over and over again. Look, it's simple: letting people skip cutscenes preserves, not diminishes, the impact of the story. "This game relies on an auto-save system" is dev speak for "You don't get to engage with and enjoy this content in the most accessible, convenient and reliable way possible." You may look, but please don't try to get comfy. For a stealth game where you play the nosiest person in the world, this is a fundamental mistake.

This game is a perfect example of what happens if game is based on mutually exclusive gameplay elements - results can be somehow confusing. In this game these elements are a non-lethal stealth gameplay and a permanently ticking timer. Now non-lethal stealth requres a thorought exploration and careful observation of the environment and it's inhabitants - turn every nook and cranny, earsdrop on every conversation, read every note, peek into every hole, try every door, map guard routs etc. to solve this complex puzzle and win. That's what makes the gameplay enjoyable, that's what such games are bought for. But the developers took it all away by including a permanently ticking timebomb, making the player race against time, punishing him heavily for being careful, patient and observant. "Oh, there is a note on the table...Could be important. And there is this rookie guard discussing lost keycards. No time! The clock's ticking - soon the janitor will enter that very important room, switching the alarm off - we must be there at all cost - it's one in a lifetime occurence! Go, go, go!" What is this, Splinter Cell? Metal Gear Solid? We can't quickly dispatch guards here by silently shoting them in the head or stunning them - it's a completely different game. Add to that a crazy "restart the whole level all over again if you fail" save system, and all of this quickly turns from enjoyable into annoying. The only way to somehow avoid this is to abandon the idea of trying to keep up with the timer completely and just explore the levels. Then plan the whole run using the knowledge gathered and execute it in one go. I'm not sure they intended it to be played like this though but oh well.

I was looking forward - I loved Ether One. When I heard it was timed, that was a concern. But I still bought it. After my first run through I have these thoughts-- *If you are an "early to arrive" person in RL, the timed setting will drive you nuts. RL I arrive abt 15 min before a meeting. It is hard to break the habit in this game but if you don't you lose opportunity. Timed games are not good for early arrivers. *Spatial understanding. I cannot function without a map. I have no spatial awareness of how things connect so trying to figure out where I am and where I am supposed to be was horrible. That said, at the end of the game, I had the bad ending because I did not accomplish anything. Even when I knew what I was supposed to do I could never get back to where I was supposed to be. *Mechanics. This game had such possibilities but I could not enjoy them as the mechanics were a pain. As a side note, I just finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution so I was used to doors opening, climbing stairs easily, drawers opening, etc. This game was a chore. Why did I have to press extra buttons AWSD to open or close a drawer. Why was I limited to one inventory item that frankly screwed me over as I had a diskette but apparently lost it when I "traded" items and didn't realize it. Why did I get notes that disappeared into my portfolio but I didn't get to read & didn't have time to find them. *Gameplot. Honestly, I didn't really get what I had to do for most of the game. Oh, yes, I understood the concept of what was happening but didn't get what I was supposed to do with reels and cards and diskettes. And when I did get it, I couldn't find my way back to where I needed to go bc I was lost, didn't have the right ID card, or ran out of time. Yes I will go back for a 2d run & may use a walkthru to better access the fun parts of the game. I understand the point of the timed game, but don't really see the value when the point of a game is to enjoy it and have fun.

Original concept but still has rough edges. The best part of the game are the chapters where you truly feel like an investigator straight out of a 50's film noir movie. And the feeling of succesfully following a lead and discover something important is very satisfying, and it gets even better when you can use that proof and see your suspect's reactions. Story I think is very good, some things you can see miles ahead but there's more than meets the eye. This game's strenght is in the details, not what's on the surface. The worst parts of the game are some wonky controls, climbing up to something doesn't always work the first time. There are some game breaking glitches as well, i had to alt-f4 and restart the chapter on 2 or 3 occasions. The worst glitch for me was dissappearing documents in my briefcase, so if you picked something up without reading it first and it has an important code on it, but you can't find it in your briefcase for some reason, well you're f'd. Also the walking animation could use some work. Overall it's a really interesting game and I recommend it. Just keep in my mind that you need patience and a brain.