Prone Squanderer
A bit of a Sillius Soddus.
As a heads up, this may be slightly spoilerish. Also I'm not the most articulate of individuals so this is more of a ramble than anything.
During the Steam Winter Sale I decided to grab some games whilst they were at a good price. Only problem is my PC isn't that powerful so new games really struggle. Therefore I just browsed in various categories and bought some games I had before like System Shock 2 and others that I was interested in but didn't buy due to price.
However there were two games I bought because they stood out to me. One of them was Orwell. The title alone grabbed my attention so I took a closer look, liked the concept and bought it.
Orwell is a story-driven game set in The Nation, a country clearly inspired by a mix of modern Britain with Airstrip One elements. The game has many references to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, from the Nation's government ruled by the party known simply as The Party to various characters with similar names to those out of the book. And of course the title of the game itself, Orwell.
The game starts on a bright cold day in April with the bombing of a memorial square called Freedom Plaza, which kills several people and injures more. Shortly before this, the CCTV network identifies a woman and notes her criminal record, who boards a bus moments before the explosion. And so the game begins.
You are a newly-hired investigator who is tasked with operating Orwell, the government's latest surveillance program, in a test run before it is revealed to the public. Orwell, under the new Safety Bill, allows investigators (outsourced to individuals outside The Nation) to access private communications of people suspected to be risks to national security.
You're quickly introduced to Symes, who explains his role as adviser. Your job is to investigate the suspected bomber by filling in a profile, by passing on information you feel is relevant to Orwell. He explains that due to the Orwell Ethical Code only you can view communications of target persons and only what you pass on is what can be given to his superiors.
To start with, the information you come across initially is all public, save for the suspect's police record. The game alludes to how many people put a lot of personal information online without giving much thought into which details are given away. Birthdays, interests, photos, all willingly uploaded for people to see.
By reading various pages, initially public information such as the suspect's blog, you find various highlighted bits of information (called datachunks) which can to be dragged onto the suspect's profile. Some information is not relevant and others can be ignored, though some are required to progress the story. As you pass on more information more people become linked to the suspect and are subsequently investigated, as well as more private information being accessed such as phone calls and instant messages.
Occasionally throughout the game you'll find conflicting data, which requires you to actual discover the context behind them to avoid incorrect information or even affect how the game plays out. In the second act after another bombing, you are given the choice of two datachunks which may indicate where the third bombing target is. You have to be careful and pick the correct one, doing so results in the authorities finding and disarming the explosives, whereas the wrong location will cost innocent lives.
Sometimes passing on all the relevant information has bad consequences. For example in the third act I placed information on a suspect's profile warning the adviser they were armed and ready to flee. As a result they were killed in the subsequent shootout with police. Had I been more careful with what information I passed on they might have survived.
Depending on how you look at it, you may feel justified in snooping around people's private communications and computers, after all if it saves innocent people from getting killed it's worth it. Or is it? The game questions how far does surveillance have to go before it becomes unethical. In Orwell, by mere association, a person can become a target of investigation and have their entire privacy stripped away. As investigator you are able to view their phone calls, their chat logs, emails, desktops and even bank accounts, all without a warrant and on the suspicion they're a threat or are connected to those who are.
In the end, I was conflicted. I had been so focused on finding out who carried out the attack that I essentially became ignorant of how I was affecting these people in my search for justice. As invasive as Orwell is it did allow me to prevent another attack and eventually discover who was ultimately responsible, but it had cost the life of one person, orphaned a child, left two people who were barely involved in custody, another arrested shortly before the game's end and all of them had their right to privacy violated. Of course, had I ignored or chosen other datachunks this outcome would have been very different.
I want to talk about the endings but I feel if anyone's interested they'd want to play the game and discover them for themselves. I enjoyed playing the game and liked how it played out. If Orwell sounds like your cup of tea give it a try.
During the Steam Winter Sale I decided to grab some games whilst they were at a good price. Only problem is my PC isn't that powerful so new games really struggle. Therefore I just browsed in various categories and bought some games I had before like System Shock 2 and others that I was interested in but didn't buy due to price.
However there were two games I bought because they stood out to me. One of them was Orwell. The title alone grabbed my attention so I took a closer look, liked the concept and bought it.
Orwell is a story-driven game set in The Nation, a country clearly inspired by a mix of modern Britain with Airstrip One elements. The game has many references to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, from the Nation's government ruled by the party known simply as The Party to various characters with similar names to those out of the book. And of course the title of the game itself, Orwell.
The game starts on a bright cold day in April with the bombing of a memorial square called Freedom Plaza, which kills several people and injures more. Shortly before this, the CCTV network identifies a woman and notes her criminal record, who boards a bus moments before the explosion. And so the game begins.
You are a newly-hired investigator who is tasked with operating Orwell, the government's latest surveillance program, in a test run before it is revealed to the public. Orwell, under the new Safety Bill, allows investigators (outsourced to individuals outside The Nation) to access private communications of people suspected to be risks to national security.
You're quickly introduced to Symes, who explains his role as adviser. Your job is to investigate the suspected bomber by filling in a profile, by passing on information you feel is relevant to Orwell. He explains that due to the Orwell Ethical Code only you can view communications of target persons and only what you pass on is what can be given to his superiors.
To start with, the information you come across initially is all public, save for the suspect's police record. The game alludes to how many people put a lot of personal information online without giving much thought into which details are given away. Birthdays, interests, photos, all willingly uploaded for people to see.
By reading various pages, initially public information such as the suspect's blog, you find various highlighted bits of information (called datachunks) which can to be dragged onto the suspect's profile. Some information is not relevant and others can be ignored, though some are required to progress the story. As you pass on more information more people become linked to the suspect and are subsequently investigated, as well as more private information being accessed such as phone calls and instant messages.
Occasionally throughout the game you'll find conflicting data, which requires you to actual discover the context behind them to avoid incorrect information or even affect how the game plays out. In the second act after another bombing, you are given the choice of two datachunks which may indicate where the third bombing target is. You have to be careful and pick the correct one, doing so results in the authorities finding and disarming the explosives, whereas the wrong location will cost innocent lives.
Sometimes passing on all the relevant information has bad consequences. For example in the third act I placed information on a suspect's profile warning the adviser they were armed and ready to flee. As a result they were killed in the subsequent shootout with police. Had I been more careful with what information I passed on they might have survived.
Depending on how you look at it, you may feel justified in snooping around people's private communications and computers, after all if it saves innocent people from getting killed it's worth it. Or is it? The game questions how far does surveillance have to go before it becomes unethical. In Orwell, by mere association, a person can become a target of investigation and have their entire privacy stripped away. As investigator you are able to view their phone calls, their chat logs, emails, desktops and even bank accounts, all without a warrant and on the suspicion they're a threat or are connected to those who are.
In the end, I was conflicted. I had been so focused on finding out who carried out the attack that I essentially became ignorant of how I was affecting these people in my search for justice. As invasive as Orwell is it did allow me to prevent another attack and eventually discover who was ultimately responsible, but it had cost the life of one person, orphaned a child, left two people who were barely involved in custody, another arrested shortly before the game's end and all of them had their right to privacy violated. Of course, had I ignored or chosen other datachunks this outcome would have been very different.
I want to talk about the endings but I feel if anyone's interested they'd want to play the game and discover them for themselves. I enjoyed playing the game and liked how it played out. If Orwell sounds like your cup of tea give it a try.
