Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

Great Game. No prior knowledge of the show is necessary, but it is helpful if you do. Fortunately I do, so I was ready for a good scare fest whenever the Angels make an appearance in the game.

[NOTE: played on a smartphone] Doctor Who is both one of British television's most beloved shows and the longest running Sci-fi show to date, spanning 60 years of this writing. It's also a show that, despite being one its owners DO care about, has unfortunately seen better days, currently in a bit of a slump where the show preferred Far-Left pandering to good storytelling and where the mythology was destroyed thanks to "The Timeless Children", regarded as the worst Doctor Who story ever, with not even the returning showrunner Russel T. Davies deciding to at the very least ignore it. However, the BBC DO care about this franchise, as shown by Collection releases of the classic era seasons, special short films, and this game, because this is hands down the best thing to come out of the current "slump era" of Doctor Who. Despite the game being made during Chibnall's tenure which is infamous as where the "slump era" began, thus including Jody Whittaker's 13th Doctor alongside archived footage of Tennant's 10th and nods to her stories, the game actually owes more to the Russel T. Davies era by serving as a continuation of the classic story "Blink" by Steven Moffat. The game plays very much like a found-phone mystery a la the devs' other series, Simulacrum, but with a Doctor Who aesthetic. If found-phone mysteries aren't your cuppa, then you'll definitely pass on this. However, if you're interested, you should definitely play it as not only is the plot well-written and plays out like a better episode of the show, but the gameplay is immersive, acting solid, and atmosphere spot-on. Even the titular antagonists, the Weeping Angels, feel like a credible threat with them haunting the player and sometimes trying to get them, leading to some tense scenarios. So, yeah. If the "slump era" ticked you off, or you don't like found-phone mysteries, you won't like Lonely Assassins. But if you don't care, like what you see, and are a fan of Doctor Who regardless... go for it.

Though this is definitely a mobile-game, less enjoyable on PC. There's also the problem of "easy mechanics", where you can skip all reading the clues, and just hit the "scan" button (that has some annoying features by the way, just to top it). The real issue here is, this is a Joe Dee White-Taker game. You know, the person who killed the franchise. As annoying as ever.