Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 141 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 91 out of 141
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 141
  3. Negative: 23 out of 141

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  1. Sjalka
    Dec 18, 2016
    8
    I love this game - and the decisions you make feel like making a real impact. You can easily immerse yourself in your investigation - mostly due to the fact that there is not much to distract you. No walking around, no action - just you as yourself.

    Of course this feels a little like "work" kind of - but work that you can enjoy because you are making a difference. Now - what difference    I love this game - and the decisions you make feel like making a real impact. You can easily immerse yourself in your investigation - mostly due to the fact that there is not much to distract you. No walking around, no action - just you as yourself.

    Of course this feels a little like "work" kind of - but work that you can enjoy because you are making a difference. Now - what difference you make is something you need to think about very much. You are interpreting - but so is your supervisor based on your findings. You have a direct influence on what conclusions and actions are being taken (well..... more or less anyway).

    What i did not like about this otherwise very good game is that there are certain key findings that MUST be delivered - otherwise the story will not proceed. So you do not have the option to actually let a suspect simply go. (so the open-world/free choice really is more of an illusion)

    The game is very mature in its mechanics and presentation. You need to read a lot and need to actually be interested in the subject matter to draw any kind of enjoyment from it. It is also a game that i like to turn on ... in short to medium bursts ... so to say. It can become kind of exhausting to go on for longer - but then - making pauses pulls you out of the immersion making it fairly hard to get into it sometimes.

    Artstyle and visuals are very nice - and have a unique charme. The low polygon style is not exactly new that is... but fits the sterile and unpersonal feeling of being distant to what your actions might provoke.

    The music is soothing - and puts you further into a mood of being uninvolved - with certain consequences making a sharp impact on this feeling.

    I would have wished for an "expert" mode (likely too hard to do though...) where you would not decide on pre-marked key notes but instead freely mark and interpret stuff yourself ... because more than once i read passages and informations that i would have loved to proceed - but was not supposed to use due to the game engine.

    I can highly recommend this game to the probably rather small target audience of past time investigators that want to take the subject matter a lot more serious than 99.9% of any other so called "investigative game".    … Expand
  2. Magnethead
    Jul 28, 2017
    9
    Orwell is one of the most interesting games I've played in a while; it's well thought out, the game experience is smooth and natural and the core elements are solid. It's arguably not a game for everyone but it's a fantastic achievement, that should be beyond doubt.

    So who is it for? I guess that's the core question for an indie, niche production such as this so let's get right to it:    Orwell is one of the most interesting games I've played in a while; it's well thought out, the game experience is smooth and natural and the core elements are solid. It's arguably not a game for everyone but it's a fantastic achievement, that should be beyond doubt.

    So who is it for? I guess that's the core question for an indie, niche production such as this so let's get right to it: Orwell is for the player looking for a contemplative, narrative-driven challenge that you can play on your own time. If you like unravelling a mystery carefully, if you like narrative driven games or if you really like surveying people, then this is definitely for you. Who's it not for? It's not for players looking for explosions, fast-paced action or who don't like to read. You read in this game, quite a lot. It's not like reading a novel but expect reading.

    In Orwell, you take on the role of an analyst who's trying to unravel a terrorist plot using the governments newest super-surveillance tool, Orwell. The system highlights 'datachunks' in POIs internet activity, chat activity, phone activity, anything really, and it's your job to decide what information is pertinent and what isn't. You build files on suspects while you slowly expand the network of POIs and what you choose to include is what decides the 'system's' attitude towards groups and individuals. Of course, the question soon beckons; should you be doing any of this?

    As the story moves forward, the player is confronted with many choices and they have real consequences for the story, not merely symbolic ones. Furthermore, while the system highlights important information, some decisions can only be made accurately through the players own memory and deductions from text pieces that at the time perhaps seemed inconsequential. It's a game that rewards the player for keeping up and thinking for themselves.    … Expand
  3. chjacobsen
    Dec 16, 2016
    8
    This is basically a detective game - sort of similar to Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishment - but in a very unique package. Instead of walking around, clicking things and hoping to find clues, the game is a copy-paste simulator, and you find your clues by sifting through articles, IM conversations, E-mail accounts, wiretapped phone calls...

    This may sound a little bit boring and,    This is basically a detective game - sort of similar to Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishment - but in a very unique package. Instead of walking around, clicking things and hoping to find clues, the game is a copy-paste simulator, and you find your clues by sifting through articles, IM conversations, E-mail accounts, wiretapped phone calls...

    This may sound a little bit boring and, indeed, early on it is. At times, there are so many pieces of information involved that it almost feels grindy and overwhelming. However, the game does a great job at gradually raising the stakes, and towards the end, the tension and sense of urgency is almost unbearable.

    Overall, as far as story-driven detective games go, this one is pretty good, and the writing really pushes it over the top. Looking forward to see more from these guys.    … Expand
  4. robly
    Nov 10, 2017
    9
    Really innovative take on a detective game. It plays like a really flash, atmospheric, choose-your-own adventure. The story is really engaging and exciting, with many twists and turns. It's not hugely difficult, but you are often presented with moralistic choices and dilemmas. What you upload to the system can really sway the outcome.

    It is almost an art piece, a commentary on the    Really innovative take on a detective game. It plays like a really flash, atmospheric, choose-your-own adventure. The story is really engaging and exciting, with many twists and turns. It's not hugely difficult, but you are often presented with moralistic choices and dilemmas. What you upload to the system can really sway the outcome.

    It is almost an art piece, a commentary on the modern rush towards total surveillance we see in politics now. I felt totally creeped out for most of the game, and I believe this is Orwell delivering exactly what is intended.    … Expand
  5. TitaniumDragon
    Oct 8, 2017
    8
    Orwell is an investigative game akin to a visual novel. You play as The Investigator, someone whose job it is to use the powerful Orwell surveillance system to solve crimes – or in this case, solve a particular crime. You see, a bomb was set off in Freedom Plaza in The Nation, killing three people, and it is your job to try and catch the bomber before they can kill anyone else.

    You    Orwell is an investigative game akin to a visual novel. You play as The Investigator, someone whose job it is to use the powerful Orwell surveillance system to solve crimes – or in this case, solve a particular crime. You see, a bomb was set off in Freedom Plaza in The Nation, killing three people, and it is your job to try and catch the bomber before they can kill anyone else.

    You start out with a single person of interest – a young woman who left the Plaza shortly before the bomb went off. She was a protester who had been arrested for attacking a police officer, but who wasn’t prosecuted for it due to lack of evidence. It quickly becomes clear that not all is as it seems, and it seems unlikely that she personally was the bomber – but she has past associations with a group known as Thought, an anti-government group which often engages in extremist rhetoric. But are they really the sort of people who would kill people? Or are they just innocent bystanders coincidentally caught up in the investigation?

    Orwell is a very ambiguous game, and it is precisely this ambiguity which really makes the game work. Thought is upset about living in a surveillance state, but it is clear from your perspective as The Investigator that the system is designed to be humane in many ways – the investigator passes on information to someone else, whose job it is to analyze the data. You cannot investigate people who aren’t targets – unless someone has been designated as suspicious by actual data, you cannot collect data at all them, nor are you allowed to go snooping through their things. But if they are a target of interest, you have nigh unlimited authority to go snooping. And while the state is clearly a bit authoritarian, it is also clear that the system works – crime has gone down, and you can catch several criminals over the course of the game who really did do bad things. The person on the other end, who helps to determine whether or not the data is really indicative of wrongdoing, is a genuinely nice person who cares about people and who urges you to collect more data. The leader of The Nation appears to genuinely be trying to help out neighboring states.

    But all of this is muddied with the ambiguity of the fact that not everyone in the government is nice, and the general sinister nature of your surveillance. Your actions do have consequences, and it is clear that if you made the wrong decisions, you could potentially feed people bad data and get people put in jail – and the choice of whether or not to feed people bad data, and the impression you leave the government on people, is dependent on what data you give them.

    The game, thus, is a combination of an investigation and a moral choice system – you are not only investigating who might be the bomber, but also deciding what is and is not relevant, what should and should not be part of the investigation, and you have the power to wrongfully put people in jail or put people in danger. The very simple gameplay of choosing what pieces of highlighted information to put into a database from various documents, webpages, emails, and phone and text conversations thus takes on a great deal of weight, and makes you think about what you’re doing in a very different way from other investigatory games, as you think of it not only in terms of true/false, but also whether the information morally belongs in the hands of the government.

    The game’s gameplay also shows how a system like that can lead to paranoia, as you see people engage in a lot of extremist rhetoric and it is easy to jump to conclusions and morally convict someone in your mind who didn’t do anything worse than complain, as well as how easy it is to prejudge someone in the opposite direction as well, making you think more positively of them than they truly deserve. And it puts stress on the player as well – you cannot take back your actions, so if you incorrectly present someone as a dangerous criminal, you can’t fix it and have to live with the consequences.

    How humane the system is – and who is in the right and wrong – is a complicated question that the game ultimately doesn’t answer for itself, but which the player answers via their actions throughout the game. Like “The Lady or the Tiger”, the way the player responds to the story really reflects as much on the player’s own evaluation of humanity, and how they weigh the risks and benefits of a system like that. Rather than being preachy about how evil the system is, the game also shows why people might like a system like that and want it to be implemented. It is perhaps the most even-handed presentation of the subject matter I’ve seen, and it achieves this by putting the player in the seat of someone who might be a part of such a system and showing just how ambiguous the system can be and how much power they wield, both how dangerous it can be if misused but how beneficial it can be if used appropriately.    … Expand
  6. Fireantus
    Aug 22, 2018
    8
    Orwell delivered more than I asked for. It's short, but that's not a problem for me, for I am exactly in the market for short, story driven games. The decision matters to a nice degree, which was a really fun thing about this game! I really felt after two full finishes that doing different things brings out differing outcomes (even if the main story, of course, remain intact).

    It's a    Orwell delivered more than I asked for. It's short, but that's not a problem for me, for I am exactly in the market for short, story driven games. The decision matters to a nice degree, which was a really fun thing about this game! I really felt after two full finishes that doing different things brings out differing outcomes (even if the main story, of course, remain intact).

    It's a fun game of picking up puzzle pieces to assemble a bigger picture and deciding how the picture will look in the end. It has neat music, solid characters, surprising amount of suspense and is a very good purchase for anyone looking for a Single Session game with some thrills to it.    … Expand
  7. ScaryB
    Nov 2, 2016
    9
    Very cool casual indie game about deduction and hint collection. As the story unfolds you're collecting data about the personae involved in the case you're investigating. Small game, but exciting story.
  8. bluefrisky
    Nov 28, 2016
    10
    Great game. It's insightful, interesting and draws you right in with a compelling story and unique presentation. If you're looking for something casual, intriguing and mysterious, you'll be satisfied.

    P.S. it really makes you feel like a creeper, conversations between characters seem very authentic and I felt like I shouldn't have read some of them.
  9. kezzyhko
    Sep 6, 2021
    8
    ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍
  10. rodericrinehart
    Jan 1, 2017
    8
    It was an enjoyable and unique game. It definitely makes you consider our current surveillance in the world and how it's all headed to exactly what George Orwell predicted in 1984. There is a LOT of reading, so if that is not your thing, then this game is absolutely not for you. I wish it had more replayability and I wish it was longer.
  11. pcapinheiro
    Mar 2, 2022
    10
    Muito legal. Voce consegue obter bastante informacoes sobre os suspeitos, inclusive dados conflitantes, tendo que decidir quais os mais relevantes para a investigacao. Quando voce pensa que estah fechando a historia por tras das acoes de um suspeito, uma nova evidencia muda tudo.
    Empolgante.
  12. dg51829
    Nov 20, 2017
    9
    I really love this game. I originally got the game because it was relatively cheap. I fell into a pit of four hours of a gaming non-stop. I couldn't stop till I had finished. I was engaged in the story and with the characters. Sure, they weren't perfect but if you think enough they are three dimensional, for the majority of the characters at least. It actually managed to evoke feelings.I really love this game. I originally got the game because it was relatively cheap. I fell into a pit of four hours of a gaming non-stop. I couldn't stop till I had finished. I was engaged in the story and with the characters. Sure, they weren't perfect but if you think enough they are three dimensional, for the majority of the characters at least. It actually managed to evoke feelings. The first time around it hit me like a brick, what had I just done? Though i was just wanting to give data to help the program twists it into all sorts of things I didn't mean. I didn't want the game to end. I wanted the story to continue. I highly suspect the sequel isn't going to give me that closure I want. My only compliant is the comments every single time I collected data, I just wanted a certain person to shut up so i can do my job without being interrupted. If there was a way to turn that off I would. Give me a short tutorial then let me go at it and make my choices without feeling like it was a never ending tutorial to the end where all your choices pretty much limit your choices. It also glitches sometimes depending on choices you made where you can't move forward, that is always so irritating. But it's worth buying and is very thought provoking. If you have any background in government or psychology it's really interesting and eye-opening. Hello Milgrem's experiment on a bigger and very real scale.… Expand
  13. FrostyFeet97
    Sep 13, 2018
    10
    This game is absolutely awesome, The story, the way you create the story is absolutely outstanding. You can do anything you like you can be good or bad thats on you. Remember Orwell is watching.
  14. Aladdin718
    Mar 28, 2021
    8
    An unique take and game mechanic. I don't want to give anything away but definitely worth a try one afternoon or weekend.
  15. NightGeisha
    Apr 12, 2019
    8
    Orwell is hard to describe but it a very enjoyable experience!
    In Orwell, you are the investigator that is using a "Big Brother" look-a-like tool to investigate a series of terror attacks.
    Is a game of choices and your analysis of the suspect and events can allow interesting outcomes, that so many times make you feel that you are not playing for the good guys. Is a curious approach    Orwell is hard to describe but it a very enjoyable experience!
    In Orwell, you are the investigator that is using a "Big Brother" look-a-like tool to investigate a series of terror attacks.

    Is a game of choices and your analysis of the suspect and events can allow interesting outcomes, that so many times make you feel that you are not playing for the good guys. Is a curious approach about digital privacy and the invasion of it, the pros and cons, and what would you do if you had "the power".

    An awesome experience that I fully recommend.    … Expand
  16. Jonneeyy
    Mar 30, 2020
    8
    Kein Spiel für Action Fans, aber ein Spiel für jeden der spannende Geschichten und bockschwere Entscheidungen liebt.
  17. Chubac
    Jul 12, 2020
    9
    This game successfully achieves what it wants: making you paranoid of surveillance and online presence. Other than the few bugs I encountered this is a perfect game.
  18. apokalipto
    Sep 1, 2023
    10
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  19. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    8
    Its a short and unique detective game that has a clear and concise point to make. it isn't long, it isn't complicated, but it is engaging and sells a unique game premise.
  20. moomoo1068
    Aug 14, 2023
    8
    Orwell did a fantastic job of depicting the reality of such a system and its potential consequences. It is also a great allegory for government and corporate overreach. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys problem-solving and critical thinking both inside and outside of Orwell.

Awards & Rankings

80
#80 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
41
#41 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. Games.cz
    Feb 14, 2017
    90
    Orwell is both minimalistic and generous piece. Try out the role of an official in a state that degenerated into ‘spy-o-cracy‘. You'll see how easy it is to control a society dependent on the Internet. The idea and gameplay are perfect.
  2. RPG Fan
    Jan 18, 2017
    86
    With such a compelling tale and well-crafted characters, it's easy to look past the fact that gameplay solely consists of absorbing information and choosing to pass certain things on. Though there are no random puzzles to solve, the main puzzle for the player is clear: are you willing to let a government do this to its citizens? Where are the boundaries of freedom of speech and privacy in such an interconnected world? Is it more important to guarantee the safety of all by being paranoid, or to ensure that everyone has the right to be innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt? If asking difficult questions and finding a way to your own answers sounds like a good time, Orwell is the game for you.
    Read full review
  3. GameStar
    Jan 16, 2017
    85
    If you are willing to read a lot, Orwell can send shivers down your spine when working as a profiler.
    Read full review
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