This is my first post on this little site. While I know that probably not a lot of people will be looking at this corner of the internet, everything comes from something.
(That’s a BIT TRIP reference btw, go play that series now. It’s worth it.)
I should probably introduce myself. I am DGAMER. The tag may sound a bit too cringe-inducing, but I’ve been using it for quite a while now, and don’t wish to come up with another one. I’m an average guy, who likes all kinds of media, especially videogames. Playing games is something I really loved from when I was a small boy. I’ve always thought about starting a blog of sorts to detail my thoughts on the industry and talk about my passions. I guess now is as good as any time to start.
For those that wonder what kinds of games I play, I own a Nintendo Switch console and a PC. I tend to gravitate towards platformers, but I have played a tiny bit of everything (except FPS’s for some reason). I’ll discuss some mature content on occasion, but for the most part, this blog will remain family friendly.
Don’t expect the world’s greatest blog here. My intention for this blog is purely out of a desire to get my own personal voice out there. It may be rough, but I’ll try to deliver content on occasion. Don’t expect incredibly frequent updates at first, but as I get into the groove of things, I should be able to provide more content. (I don’t have a set schedule yet, but I do wish to have one in the future.) That content may be in the form of reviews, commentary on industry events, retrospectives, and maybe even non-gaming content such as movies or TV shows. (Gaming is the focus however.)
I hope that this little corner of the internet is able to grow in a way. It probably won’t, but hey if it does become a great thing later down the line, this post will be really funny to look back onto. (Hi future people!)
With that being said, welcome to this journey. I plan on adding some other posts before officially revealing the existence of this blog, so if you are reading this at the start, there probably already is some other posts for you to read. Hope you stay for this crazy ride together.
Recently, I was on a trip and during this trip, I had a desire to play a game from my backlog during the flights. Looking at my collection, I decided to download the two games in the Orwell series: the original Orwell and it’s sequel/expansion Ignorance is Strength. While I didn’t end up playing either of them during my flights, I did finish both of them once, so I figured I could write up a review on them based on my experience.
In Summary
For those that are unfamiliar with Orwell, it is a episodic simulation game about government surveillance. You play as an Agent that has been tasked at investigating a terrorist attack using the titular Orwell system. This agent browses the web (and eventually the devices) of target suspects and chooses which information (datachunks as the game calls it) to upload to the government, allowing them to investigate the case accordingly.
Orwell’s UI (Don’t worry, I’ll try and prevent spoilers for the most part)
Essentially, it’s Violating One’s Privacy Simulator. As the game progresses, you get to tackle more cases, each of which is intertwined with the previous ones. For the sake of spoilers, I won’t be delving much into the plot of this game, but if you are to play it, I suggest you do so blind to the game’s plot.
Is it Good?
While it was fun, I don’t think I can say much about both. For the first Orwell, the story is it’s main draw, and I don’t want to spoil it, but there were moments that got rather tense. The decisions I made were based on the logic of trying to please the government, but as the game goes on, it really tries to turn you against it. I felt really bad when I missed some valuable information, and every time you upload bad, out of context datachunks about someone, you feel a bit like a jerk. The characters were well written for the most part, and they each have their own distinct personality. The story was able to keep me engaged enough to see it all the way through.
That being said, some aspects of the game were very frustrating. The thing about this game is that it is pushed as quite a heavily choice based, however, the game sometimes refused to progress unless you provide information you don’t wish to. Most of the the essential choices were highlighted for convenience, but there were times that I spent a lot of time backtracking through a lot of the web pages I previously visited. While this is a natural part of the game, looking for that small datachunk sometimes was incredibly frustrating. It makes me wonder whether it was an intentional design choice, or a simple mistake.
Upon finishing the game, I looked up the other ending alternatives and while the choices I made did have an impact, the only choice that really impacts the ending is the final one. It’s a bit irritating that the game handles it this way.
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength’s UI (Notice that it’s a bit more fleshed out)
The sequel/expansion, Ignorance is Strength, is much better than the original. They added the extra pressure of a time limit throughout the entire game, (the original does this in some way, but only near the end), added voice acting (which helps the calls sound more realistic) and had a much more focused story. The game has the neat touch of utilizing your previous save files from the original to match continuities (both games take place at the same time), but I wish they were able to utilize this integration more. The new ideas that the game introduces are mostly near the end of the game, and the game itself is much shorter than the previous one. Had this sequel been given a full length treatment, it probably would have been so much more better, but the short playtime and missed potential sometimes sours the experience.
In Conclusion
In general, both games were good, thoughtful experiences. At it’s best, Orwell makes you question not only your own government surveillance, but also your own personal morals. The issue is that those best moments are inconsistent. Both are good games, but I don’t think going for the alternate endings are worth it. Still, if one is looking for a story based game that is different from everything else, it’s definitely worth a shot at least.
Scores
Since this is a series of games being reviewed, each game is scored individually. (Keep in mind that Orwell:Ignorance is Strength was built as a sequel/expansion to the original, and may assume that you played that first)
Orwell-7/10
Orwell:Ignorance is Strength-7.5/10
Links to both games’ Steam pages are found below. (I’d recommend you try the demo of the first one, and if you do like it, buy the full game. Wait for a sale on the second one)
(Wrap Up Note- Not a bad game to start off my review series. Hopefully I am able to get out more content soon. I know it’s been quite a while since that last post, and despite the fact that nobody even knows this exists, I do kinda feel bad a bit. But no worries! We’ll hopefully be able to provide more content in the future.)
Over the past year or so, I’ve managed to develop quite a backlog of games. I’m kinda proud of what my backlog has become. It isn’t probably the best thing in the world to be proud of the fact you own a variety of games you haven’t played at all, but I’ve grown fond of my collection.
It’s incredible to see a giant backlog in it’s entirety. After sorting my collection into a backlog site, (shout outs to the Backloggery) I found that I have 128 titles in my backlog, with 114 of those titles having never been played. If one may ask why I have such a backlog, I would point towards my time spent doing other things outside of gaming, as well as the games I always play when I have the time to do so. I’m not a fully committed gamer, but whenever I see a good game, I’ll try and get it.
Now, I am not a rich person who buys everything at full price, but I built this backlog thanks to a variety of offers. Most of my backlog comes from Twitch Prime freebies. I will admit, I didn’t think Twitch Prime would be worth it at first, but the site has been killing it with some of their offerings. I got games like The Messenger, SUPERHOT, Hyper Light Drifter, and more. I also have had a bit of a trend to pick up Epic Games Store’s free game of the week. (Look, Epic Games Store might not be the most user-friendly site out there, but a free game is a free game, especially quality ones like The Witness or Transitor.)
While it might sound like I simply scourge for free games, I do purchase games. Now, I’m what one might refer to as a conservative buyer. I take a wait and see approach to buying games, checking the lowest sale price and seeing if it matches or something of the sort. I tend to keep some money on those wallets for “emergency purchases” (IE something drops extremely low.) I don’t know if something others do, but it is something that could come in handy.
There always is a bit of an urge to just go at it when a game goes on sale, but I always tend to be careful. I struggled a bit at deciding my cart for Steam’s Summer Sale, especially when trying to figure out how much it would cost. I wanted to save some cash for those emergencies after all. I ended up buying two games from the sale. It cost around 5 bucks, which is a fairly good deal. That being said, now I have 130 games in my backlog, and by the time anyone reads this, it will probably have gone up.
Maybe at one point, I’ll be able to clear out the backlog. Maybe I’ll give thoughts on the games that I play on here. But until then, I will retain the mark of shame that is not having played over 130 games…
DGAMER's Blog About Gaming 