This game really does sell the vibe that you're an analyst working inside of Orwell's system, while never feeling tedious or contrived, a big achievement in my book. But of course, the real pull of a game like this is its ability to explore difficult themes about freedom of expression, security, surveillance, checks and balances, etc...
I found the narrative compelling and nuanced. The gameplay effectively branches narratives based on the prejudices of the player and it was interesting to see how an individual with different philosophies might simply follow a different rabbit hole, never stumbling upon the same "truths" that I had. In presenting the narrative this way, the creators wrote a fair bit of nuance into the story: little arcs that can be easily missed if someone's inclined one way or another on a controversial subject. The tension between the themes is reasonably well managed and the endings express different morals; I find the decision to not conclusively state a moral position to be quite brave from the creators' parts and such a decision serves the broader concept of the game very well.
In considering games as art, I think Orwell provides an excellent example of an expression that is best explored through the medium of video games. Orwell feels like a fledgling OS, simple, sleek, intuitive as an Apple product, creepy and intrusive as a Google one. As a user, you are complicit in the structures of surveillance and, while you have some authority on how to navigate the complex moral questions in front of you (and in doing so, revealing your own biases), there is a palpable sense that this apparatus is large, amorphous, and exuding a sense of clinical evil that only exists with oppressive regimes or corporations. In other words, this game conveys appropriately both the individual and systemic realities of mass surveillance. Now onto my main gripe.
The characters are all viciously annoying human beings. While I certainly understand that in order to create a game with significant nuance in the face of large, controversial themes, individual characters almost necessarily have to retain both positive and negative qualities (a very human characterization), I nevertheless ended up finding the characters insufferable. If my ID had its way, these asshats would all be jailed simply for being pompous, room-temperature IQ, morons with the total and absolute inability to make a single correct decision in their lives. Even characters I initially found likeable or at least, found myself agreeing with, ended up talking their way into these childish and absurd holes and given that the characters are crucial to the gameplay and their interactions are the basis for plot advancement, I often found reading their texts quite a drag.
Overall, a solid exploration of difficult themes through a very effective medium. Props to the creators for their creativity, narrative complexity, and willingness to engage with controversial subjects without tribalism or devolving into virtue-signaling. I especially like how the game exposes your own biases (though never in an explicit manner). May Hancock slowly rot into agonizing, ego-shattering insanity as he's thrown into the darkest dungeon.
