Orwell is a game that I have mixed feeling about. While I did enjoy the game, I also want to clarify that there is certainly more than one issue with the game that makes me want to not recommend it.

The gameplay boils down to one and only one mechanic. Being able to drag selected text into a profile which affects the story. You need to bounce between internet pages, phone-call logs, and a few other forms of data to find keywords and important text to upload. Depending on what you upload, what the government believes and what happens to the person(s) involved changes. Do you portray a spoiled brat as a terrorist? An old man as a kind teacher. You decide what information they've put online defines them, very literally.

The issues I have with this is as such:

1. Choices don't ultimately matter.
   
2. It is painfully short.
   
3. A lack of any audio design.

From top to bottom, the linearity of the game. Despite being able to chose what information does or doesn't get uploaded, a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of events will happen regardless of your actions. The game literally says in it's description: "But, be warned, the information you supply will have consequences." However, despite this, the only things my choices ended up affecting were the achievements. And spoiler alert: You can get any of the three endings no matter what choices you made in previous episodes. Sure, on a superficial surface level your choices have consequences, but these "consequences" never actually impact your story or gameplay expericence.

Onto the next, the length. You may see me having 7.5 hours and tell me "Oh well 7.5 hours in NOT a short game!" You'd be right. Except Orwell is not 7.5 hours long, it is 3 hours long at most and 2 hours long at it's shortest. The only reason I have more than 3 hours of playtime is because I went back to get all of the achievements, which is also why i know how little your choices affect the story. I've seen all the endings, seen the affect of almost all of the choices, and even then with some time spent idle I was able to see 99% of this game's offerings in under 8 hours. This isn't inherently bad, but Orwell has little to no gameplay, audio design, or anything. It's just an on rails story, and for it to be that short for a $10 USD price tag is a little much.

Lastly, the audio design. As previously mentioned, there is little to no audio in this game. You have 3 music tracks, the main menu theme, the basic ambient theme and a more intense theme for when things "get serious." Outside of the music, you might have a few computer beeps or a quick musical tone at random points, but they're so spread out that a majority of your time is spent with almost nothing going into your ears. You can't hear people on their phone calls, your boss can't speak to you, there are no audio transcripts. It is the most barebones audio design I've seen in a story driven game.

The only really good thing I'd argue in favor of is the art style. It is a fractal/cubism artstyle that absolutely draws you in. The issue is that this art style is not the primary focus, instead that focus is on a painfully bland UI. If you look at the screenshots on the store page, you see that profile tab on the right, your bar up top and the righthand screen? That is 90% of the game. Just looking at those screens It could've been so much more.

I really like the idea of Orwell, an Orwellian (pun not intended) dystopia with a spying government and terrorist plots. The thing that makes me not like it though is literally everything else about it. And that is the problem.

Orwell is a game that I have mixed feeling about. While I did enjoy the game, I also want to clarify that there is certainly more than one issue with the game that makes me want to not recommend it. The gameplay boils down to one and only one mechanic. Being able to drag selected text into a profile which affects the story. You need to bounce between internet pages, phone-call logs, and a few other forms of data to find keywords and important text to upload. Depending on what you upload, what the government believes and what happens to the person(s) involved changes. Do you portray a spoiled brat as a terrorist? An old man as a kind teacher. You decide what information they've put online defines them, very literally. The issues I have with this is as such: [olist] [*]Choices don't ultimately matter. [*]It is painfully short. [*]A lack of any audio design. [/olist] From top to bottom, the linearity of the game. Despite being able to chose what information does or doesn't get uploaded, a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of events will happen regardless of your actions. The game literally says in it's description: "But, be warned, the information you supply will have consequences." However, despite this, the only things my choices ended up affecting were the achievements. And spoiler alert: [spoiler] You can get any of the three endings no matter what choices you made in previous episodes. [/spoiler] Sure, on a superficial surface level your choices have consequences, but these "consequences" never actually impact your story or gameplay expericence. Onto the next, the length. You may see me having 7.5 hours and tell me "Oh well 7.5 hours in NOT a short game!" You'd be right. Except Orwell is not 7.5 hours long, it is 3 hours long at most and 2 hours long at it's shortest. The only reason I have more than 3 hours of playtime is because I went back to get all of the achievements, which is also why i know how little your choices affect the story. I've seen all the endings, seen the affect of almost all of the choices, and even then with some time spent idle I was able to see 99% of this game's offerings in under 8 hours. This isn't inherently bad, but Orwell has little to no gameplay, audio design, or anything. It's just an on rails story, and for it to be that short for a $10 USD price tag is a little much. Lastly, the audio design. As previously mentioned, there is little to no audio in this game. You have 3 music tracks, the main menu theme, the basic ambient theme and a more intense theme for when things "get serious." Outside of the music, you might have a few computer beeps or a quick musical tone at random points, but they're so spread out that a majority of your time is spent with almost nothing going into your ears. You can't hear people on their phone calls, your boss can't speak to you, there are no audio transcripts. It is the most barebones audio design I've seen in a story driven game. The only really good thing I'd argue in favor of is the art style. It is a fractal/cubism artstyle that absolutely draws you in. The issue is that this art style is not the primary focus, instead that focus is on a painfully bland UI. If you look at the screenshots on the store page, you see that profile tab on the right, your bar up top and the righthand screen? That is 90% of the game. Just looking at those screens It could've been so much more. I really like the idea of Orwell, an Orwellian (pun not intended) dystopia with a spying government and terrorist plots. The thing that makes me not like it though is literally everything else about it. And that is the problem.