The Occupation

There’s a lot to love with The Occupation. It’s got humanity, tension, and plenty of little touches that make finding that extra bit of information exciting without the usual violence you’ve come to expect from stealth games. However, its focus on no manual saving and real-time gameplay will be a dealbreaker. It’s not for everyone, but anyone craving consequence and narrative in their stealth game will find a challenge worth facing.

The Occupation presents a hidden gem of the investigative puzzle genre, with it’s approach to gameplay and storytelling. Despite its annoying bugs and huge technical problems, with certain fixes on that part, it presents itself as near-masterpiece of an experience.

The Occupation is a remarkable vintage mystery with a high degree of player freedom, flexible story and moments of real thrill. The narrative will suck you in, the peculiar stealth system and 80s atmosphere will keep you there.

From the last effort of White paper games emerges a highly political, exquisitely interactive, courageous work in being perhaps late with technical standards, but fresh and original in the formula play.

Of course, it seems churlish to complain too much about a game I'm enjoying enough to willingly replaying it again and again to explore every facet of its story.

Freeform investigation with multiple outcomes is scarcely as good as it is in The Occupation, so it’s disappointing to see it paired with clunky stealth and an unwillingness to give players enough time to find the game’s best-kept secrets.

The Occupation is an intriguing video game with some cool gameplay mechanics, but it’s flawed by many issues.

The Occupation, albeit at times coarse and overly eager to test your basic motor reflexes, enthralls with dozens of small details, nuanced environments, choice-based gameplay and good audio.

The Occupation is a game of intriguing ideas and sublime atmosphere; the tension of its real-time thrills gives way to a romance with journalistic sleuthing.

With eight more months of development, The Occupation could have been the indie breakout hit suggested by glimpses of its brilliant bones throughout the experience.Technical issues and a punishing save mechanic take the joy of experimentation and exploration away from a game that could have been so much more.

An occasionally brilliant immersive sim blighted by bugs and a restrictive save system.

White Paper Games had the courage to try new things in an era where everything looks like it’s repeating itself and everyone one another. Some development choices and many bugs though keep Occupation from being a great game.

Despite a nice and complex scenario, and a quite original concept, The Occupation has many flaws, from many technical issues to an imperfect AI. Most players won’t see all the different endings because of this.

The Occupation is one of the most elaborately designed games I’ve played in years, delivering heaps of atmosphere and enthralling puzzle-solving and exploration. The ambition here is palpable. Unfortunately, there are just too many moving parts at work, and they seemingly got the better of the small but clearly passionate team at White Paper Games. In time, I’d like to believe, The Occupation will be amazing. But I can’t, in good faith, recommend it in its current state.

The Occupation is an investigation game that tries to make every second count but is ultimately a missed opportunity.

The Occupation structures itself in an interesting way, sets a unique tone, and toys with some potent topics, but lacks the depth or polish needed to live up to its potential. Like a disappointing newspaper article, you’re left with more questions than answers and wishing somebody would do the subject proper justice. The Occupation is, unfortunately, pretty vacant.

A great idea executed in a mediocre way. If you can deal with the lack of polish, there is an interesting game here.

There’s a fair bit of fun to be had sneaking about the workplace in this first-person fixed-time thriller at first, but The Occupation ends up overstaying its welcome due to some clumsy implementation.