Developer Osmotic Studios and indie label Surprise Attack Games today announced that their privacy-invasion thriller game, Orwell, will release as a weekly serial with five episodes, the first of which is now available as a free demo. The remaining episodes will release over the next four weeks and the full season will cost US$9.95, available from stores including Steam and the Humble Store.
Orwell is divided into five episodes, each of which take roughly one hour to complete and encompass one day of game time. Reflecting its nature as a narrative-driven thriller, these episodes will release weekly, keeping players in suspense as they wait for the next episode to drop.
The first episode – The Clocks were Striking Thirteen – is available now as a free demo from Steam or IndieDB. In this episode, the player is recruited into the Orwell program and, following a terrorist attack, is given their first target to investigate. Cassandra Watergate is a young woman with a criminal record who was spotted by surveillance cameras at the site of the bombing. Digging into her social media, chat messages and online presence, the player starts to uncover a web of connections and a mysterious group who might be involved in the attack.
About Orwell
In the style of games such as “Papers, Please”, “Her Story” and “Cibele”, Orwell raises serious questions about contemporary society in a way that only a game can. It’s themes include the balance between security and freedom, what it means when we trade privacy for connection, and the impact of the internet on the way we perceive our world and are perceived by others.
The player is cast as themselves, recruited by The Nation to be a part of a secret new security program – Orwell. Through Orwell, the player gains access to information from the internet, and the personal communications and private files of anyone suspected of connection to the terror attacks. Acting as an impartial outside, the player must choose what information to provide to security services, and what to hold back. These choices will have consequences for those involved and affect the outcome of the story as it unfolds towards its dramatic conclusion.
Orwell Release Schedule
Orwell is a privacy-invasion thriller, releasing as five weekly episodes and can be purchased as a complete season for US$9.95 / €9.99/ £6.99. The first episode is available now as a free demo. Save games from the demo will carry over to the full game.
20th October: Episode One – The Clocks were Striking Thirteen
27th October: Episode Two – A Place where there is No Darkness
3rd November: Episode Three – Unperson
10th November: Episode Four – Memory Hole
17th November:: Episode Five – Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree