4/5 ★ – Poefred's review of Stories Untold.

Very creative take on text-based adventure games. The story is a major part of this game and I'll get to it in the spoiler section lower down. The exact words the game wants you to use to progress can be a bit fiddly at times. The first story is the most inherently interesting and unique one. Didn't care for the 2nd one as much as the text gameplay didn't really make as much sense as the first and was otherwise just deciphering weird tech instructions. Throw in a rapid flashing picture test to see if you're prone to seizures and it's onto chapter 3. The third story has no text based gameplay at all and is entirely about figuring out how to find and use the instructions it gives you. I actually really liked chapter 3, but your mileage may vary depending on how fun you find things like deciphering morse code for example. It's also got a walking simulator bit. Which was nothing that special but it's always interesting when a game where you're in one stagnant location the entire time has a moment where you leave your pre-set camera angles. The fourth chapter ties it all together with elements from all 3. The game goes on sale for 2$ and It's definitely unique enough to be worth a shot at that price. It's a short 2-3 hour experience. Though the ending is pretty divisive, I find it's got more depth to it than it initially seems. ~~STORY SPOILERS BELOW~~ The reveal of what the game is about in the 4th chapter straight ruins the game for some people. The incredibly cliche and lame *The main character was in a coma and everything's been in their head up to this point* is super disappointing to come out of what's so far been an intriguing and unique game. I don't think it completely shatters the experience, they do a decent job at forshadowing it all and providing proper context after the reveal to follow through on it to its logical conclusion. While it does entirely spell out the story to you, I do think the story they decided to tell, was a really smart use of the text-based adventure formula. The game is about someone who went drunk driving and got in a bad accident. The nature of text-based games and how specific it wants you to be works REALLY well to tell this story. As you do things like try to open the car door thinking you're standing at the car but really you haven't left the house yet. You put in a command to start the car only for your character to try and turn the ignition with no key in it, because you didn't first use a command to put the key in the ignition. You then try and back out of the driveway only for your sister to be like *dude you didn't take off the break*. I think beyond everything else this game does, the perfect decision to tell a drunk driving story using a very strict and intentionally somewhat obtuse text-based adventure formula REALLY works. This section is a pretty small portion of the game but I think it delivers on taking such an old genre and doing something cool with it using modern tech. The story itself also does need a small bit of fan theory to not be ruined honestly. But I think that's pretty neat. Like yeah the game spells it all out for you and removes 100% of the intrigue and mystery, leaving nothing to your imagination. And taking that at face value, it's VERY cliche. But there's also still room to consider your player character is actually innocent. No matter what you say or do, you can't get out of drunk driving. Which can be frustrating as it frames you as the sole one to blame, as though your entire family wasn't constantly forcing you to do it no matter how much you said no. But the theory, is that you truly were innocent but the cops are trying to get a false confession out of you while you're in a barely coherent state of mind. Planting fake memories through suggestion. Coolest part about this theory is in the very first chapter, they force you to say exactly "It was all my fault" It demands you admit to it with no uncertainty. And of course, this being chapter 1, you don't know exactly what it is you're admitting to at this point. (Heck with the way chapter 1 was going, you may even think you're admitting to the premeditated murder of your entire family or something) In chapter 2 the voice talking to you primes you to follow his instructions despite the experiment not truly being in your best interest. Seeing the story through this angle makes it interesting again since despite the game's efforts, not everything is so cut and dry if you choose to look deeper into it. I don't know if it was intentional or not but otherwise what's presented to you doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You're supposed to make the huge leap in logic to try and frame the dead police officer you ran into by pouring your whiskey all over him so they think it's his fault. Got a bit stuck here as the entire chapter so far has been you slowly playing through the inevitable events until suddenly you're forced into some untelegraphed *frame the dead police officer* plot that doesn't really hold up well considering alchohol tests have existed since the 30's. Maybe they couldn't have tested it on the officer since he's dead (Unless a blood test would have worked? Honestly don't know much about this) But they could have absolutely still done a breath test or SOMETHING on the player who survived and confirmed without a doubt you were drunk driving. Dumping the bottle on the other guy doesn't suddenly make his system clean. So to me the only way this truly makes sense is if while you're practically in a coma they fabricate the entire story in a way that only sounds like it makes sense on paper. I don't think the main character actually did drink. Your sister literally goes to you and asks for a ride because everyone else was drunk and she wants to be safe but yet she doesn't seem to worry much about all the clearly drunk behaviors I explained earlier. The story presents you as being completely smashed beyond belief and yet relies on your sister not picking up on that and asking for a ride anyway, while ALSO relying on an alchohol test not being able to prove your guilt. So yeah taken at face value it actually sucks but there's enough seeds to imply a deeper story that keeps the spirit of the game alive .