Orwell: Ignorance is Strength

When i heard that there was to be a sequel to the great Orwell and that it tackled the question of truth i was very thrilled! After now having played all three episodes i must sadly say, that the game lacks in several regards. While the core mechanics are still very fun and the basic story at least captivating enough to get you through the game, it never at one point reaches the hights of the first game. The new "Influencer" mechanice, while being a good idea, is introduced way too late and there is no real progress made in how you can tackle choices. Especially the second episode is irrelevant to the story at a whole and the ending was not satisfying to me. All people who liked the first game i can recommend to get this in a sale, but otherwise stay away from it.

I was absolutely delighted by the first Orwell game and eager to play the sequel. It is still a good game, but if engaged me less than the first one. However, that may depend on one's preferences, so I will explain what I liked and what I didn't like. - I liked that the story was very powerful. There is a lot of human tragedy involved and it is a good - but sad - example of how politics, greed for power can ruin lives and how ruthless those in power can be. The attention to detail in the source provided was also very good again. There were a few tie-ins with the first game, which were enjoyable and also helped to create this virtual world again in a lively way. It was also a good idea to be able to use stored data in search fields or a passwords to gain new information. - Between like and dislike was the new "fake news" function. It's good that they added new elements, I like it when there is some innovation. The fake news angle is more important then ever and the game shows how easy it is to manipulate. However, I enjoyed the pure investigation bit of the first game much more and I also felt more uncomfortable with my role as the game progressed (which may well be a purpose, but I do want to enjoy gameplay). Then, the focus was very limited. Everything mainly revolved around 3 characters (with a 4th one being somewhat involved) and compared to the rich world of the first game it was not as satisfying, not as varied. So, some might like this game more than the first one because of the fake news angle, but I hope that if there is a third game one day (and I very much hope there will be), it will be more investigative and with more characters again.

The first 'Orwell' game is one of my favourites of all time. Despite its ludicrous premise, the game mechanics and story worked really well together. To me, it was a complete experience; so to hear that there would be a sequel got me curious. Where else could the 'Orwell' story go? 'Orwell: Ignorance is Strength', is set during the same time frame as 'O1'. In 'O2', you play as another new recruit, tasked with profiling persons of interest in a political scandal. The story of 'O2' runs in parallel with that of 'O1', and that is one of the weaknesses of the game. 'O2' seems to expect you to remember the politics of 'O1', which I don't. The setting and politics of 'O1' to me were merely dressing and reasons for snooping on people. However in 'O2', you need to have a keener awareness of the players in the politics of The Nation, Parges, The Party, etc. Without a proper review of these background information, it's hard to get into the story. Intersecting the story of 'O2' with that of 'O1' just highlights how uninteresting, unlikeable and unsympathetic the main players are in 'O2'. My decisions in 'O1' were in part based on how much I liked or empathized with the characters. But in 'O2', I couldn't care less. That meant the twist at the end of the 'O2' suddenly became less impactful because I felt all characters deserved some form of retribution. The most interesting thing about 'O2' is a new game mechanic called Influencer, which allows you to construct a narrative to combat an opposing one to change the direction of the dominating online conversation. Unfortunately, this mechanic doesn't appear until the last of 3 chapters, while the first 2 is spent on building profiles like in 'O1'. It's a shame that such novel game mechanic and opportunity were wasted. It pains me to say that 'O2' is not that great. It's interesting, but it's nowhere near the brillance of 'O1'. It's worth a try if you're a fan of the first game, but it's overall worth passing over or ignoring.

I liked the first game a lot, and was excited to see another game in the series. If you liked the first, you'll like this one as well. The story is interesting, and I feel like some of the answers require more thinking/detective work than in the first; which I loved. They also added a new feature or two in regards to the data chunks, this made me quite happy! All in all, I loved the game.