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I think I got this game in a humble bundle a year back and thought nothing about it until I picked it out of my library for this marathon and man I'm glad I did because Stories Untold surprised the hell out of me.
The game unfolds (haha) through 4 short stories where you as the player use an old ass computer to type out and solve puzzles, these stories range from psychological horror, sci-fi horror, and the gift that keeps on giving lovecraftian horror.
The horror of the game at least for me really didnβt really come from the events that were unfolding but more how your actions and lack of mobility really added to a feeling of hopelessness. I really donβt wanna spoil anything about the later stories but the first one is not only a real standout and probably my favorite; but it also has all the best aspects of the game rolled into one great first story.
It starts you off stuck at a desk with only a dinky little desk lamp, a keyboard, and a tv where you play through a text adventure game going through your old family holiday home, but the longer you play through the text adventure game the more you start to realize that the house in the game has a striking resemblance to the house youβre currently in, and then the worst possible thing starts happening; the actions you do in the game start having a real tangible action in the real world along with your surrounding becoming more corrupted and moldy as you continue. Now Iβm sure you're reading this and rolling your eyes at the concept, I mean it sounds hokey and honestly really lame. Well the thing that really made the horror work so well at least for me was the story taking the game within a game approach, and what I mean by that is you are still playing a game Stories Untold where you sit at a desk and play a text adventure game; but your also playing the text adventure game The House Abandon sitting at a deck as the world around you changes depending on the actions you type in. As you type out the action to have the character turn on the generator the light on your dinky little lamp flickers with a faint glow, as your character opens the door youβll hear loud footsteps echoing downstairs talking through the living room and kitchen. If you type in the game for the character to walk upstairs youβll hear it walking up with quite possibly the loudest footsteps imaginable, you can hear whatever's in your house right outside your room door, and sometimes the phone in your room will go off sending a message into the game with the character wondering where that ringing noise it just heard. That disconnect between the βreal worldβ and The House Abandon game really solidify the horror to me, yes you are playing a game within a game but if you got as sucked into the atmosphere as I did you wonβt even notice that βoh those footsteps are just parts of the gameβ youβll think βOH GOD OH SHIT THERE'S SOMEONE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO???!!?!β. Itβs a feeling that Iβm sure is hard to pin down with games like this but man does it do a great job.
Honestly if I could compare this game to any other ones Iβd compare it most with The Stanley Parable. Yeah they're not one for one, this game is trying to be a horror game and the other one is a meta comedy on the nature of video games; but they both have that disconnect from the player and the game but because itβs still a game that disconnect ironically sucks the player in more where youβre not just playing The Stanley Parable as Stanley, you ostensibly are Stanley. Your playing through as game as Stanley, but also playing as Stanley the person holding the controller and you get to pick where to go as the narrator yells at you for picking pathways and options you were never supposed to pick because this is a video game with pre-laid out design choices where you canβt just go wherever you want. Obviously Stories Untold doesn't do the same kind of deconstructed narrative that Stanley Parable does but it tries reaching for that same kind of feeling that Stanley Parable gave the player only this time rather than a funny meta deconstructed; itβs to scare the crap out of them, and personally I think the game succeeded. Please go play the game, I think this game deserves a lot more attention then it got at launch and you can pick it up pretty cheap during most steam sales and itβs only 3 or 4 hours long.
#π πππ¨π«π’ππ¬ ππ§ππ¨π₯π
I think I got this game in a humble bundle a year back and thought nothing about it until I picked it out of my library for this marathon and man I'm glad I did because Stories Untold surprised the hell out of me.
The game unfolds (haha) through 4 short stories where you as the player use an old ass computer to type out and solve puzzles, these stories range from psychological horror, sci-fi horror, and the gift that keeps on giving lovecraftian horror.
The horror of the game at least for me really didnβt really come from the events that were unfolding but more how your actions and lack of mobility really added to a feeling of hopelessness. I really donβt wanna spoil anything about the later stories but the first one is not only a real standout and probably my favorite; but it also has all the best aspects of the game rolled into one great first story.
It starts you off stuck at a desk with only a dinky little desk lamp, a keyboard, and a tv where you play through a text adventure game going through your old family holiday home, but the longer you play through the text adventure game the more you start to realize that the house in the game has a striking resemblance to the house youβre currently in, and then the worst possible thing starts happening; the actions you do in the game start having a real tangible action in the real world along with your surrounding becoming more corrupted and moldy as you continue. Now Iβm sure you're reading this and rolling your eyes at the concept, I mean it sounds hokey and honestly really lame. Well the thing that really made the horror work so well at least for me was the story taking the game within a game approach, and what I mean by that is you are still playing a game Stories Untold where you sit at a desk and play a text adventure game; but your also playing the text adventure game The House Abandon sitting at a deck as the world around you changes depending on the actions you type in. As you type out the action to have the character turn on the generator the light on your dinky little lamp flickers with a faint glow, as your character opens the door youβll hear loud footsteps echoing downstairs talking through the living room and kitchen. If you type in the game for the character to walk upstairs youβll hear it walking up with quite possibly the loudest footsteps imaginable, you can hear whatever's in your house right outside your room door, and sometimes the phone in your room will go off sending a message into the game with the character wondering where that ringing noise it just heard. That disconnect between the βreal worldβ and The House Abandon game really solidify the horror to me, yes you are playing a game within a game but if you got as sucked into the atmosphere as I did you wonβt even notice that βoh those footsteps are just parts of the gameβ youβll think βOH GOD OH SHIT THERE'S SOMEONE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO???!!?!β. Itβs a feeling that Iβm sure is hard to pin down with games like this but man does it do a great job.
Honestly if I could compare this game to any other ones Iβd compare it most with The Stanley Parable. Yeah they're not one for one, this game is trying to be a horror game and the other one is a meta comedy on the nature of video games; but they both have that disconnect from the player and the game but because itβs still a game that disconnect ironically sucks the player in more where youβre not just playing The Stanley Parable as Stanley, you ostensibly are Stanley. Your playing through as game as Stanley, but also playing as Stanley the person holding the controller and you get to pick where to go as the narrator yells at you for picking pathways and options you were never supposed to pick because this is a video game with pre-laid out design choices where you canβt just go wherever you want. Obviously Stories Untold doesn't do the same kind of deconstructed narrative that Stanley Parable does but it tries reaching for that same kind of feeling that Stanley Parable gave the player only this time rather than a funny meta deconstructed; itβs to scare the crap out of them, and personally I think the game succeeded. Please go play the game, I think this game deserves a lot more attention then it got at launch and you can pick it up pretty cheap during most steam sales and itβs only 3 or 4 hours long.