Orwell and Orwell: Ignorance is Strength

Orwell and it's sequel, Ignorance is Strength, are a sort of mystery puzzle where you spy on people through their social media, emails, phone calls, and other electronic communication.

The plot is that there has been a terrorist bombing in The Nation and you're part of a new taskforce with basically unchecked powers to investigate anyone the system flags as linked (however tangentially) to the crime. The game does its best to make these powers feel Orwellian and dystopian, but half the information you gather is public and the other half is obtainable in the real world with a warrant, so the moral message that these powers are inherently bad or have gone too far lacks some oomph.

The first game I give points to for doing something different. Most spy games involve shooting and sneaking, not poring over documents and listening in on conversations. It is voyeuristic, and fun. The second game though, I can't really give those same points for originality. It's basically the same game again, with a slightly different plot, and an added game mechanic (leaking misleading stories to the media) which isn't implemented very well.

Theoretically a sequel to a good game that is just more of the same should be fine. But I was more

forgiving of the first game's mistakes, hoping that they'd learn what didn't work and improve their storytelling for the sequel. Unfortunately it felt a bit slapped together and in the end didn't make a lot of sense. For example, new pages of information into the suspects past opening up for no discernible reason. Like, that webpage is 5 years old, why couldn't I read that at the start? There was one big plot hole I was waiting all game to have resolved or at least mentioned, but no luck.

So, final verdict. If a mystery game where you read through people's facebook sounds interesting to you, give Orwell a go. It's not perfect, but it's quite a good attempt, and it's trying something new. The sequel you can safely skip.