Stonewall Penitentiary

[b]stonewall penitentiary[/b] is a 1st-person point & click murder mystery. you wake up naked and tied up in a prison cell after somebody brought you and a few others there to confess your sins, and they will probably resort to more convincing methods than saying 'please'. once you and the girl next door get out of your cells, you're invited to meet some new friends in the prison cafeteria, because the villain is one of those playful ones, like jigsaw from the [b]saw[/b] movies. 6 people who all killed somebody, whether they acknowledge it or not, 6 hours to find a way out, but after each hour somebody will die. luckily, [b]it's not a timed game[/b], and after a 7th person shows up, it's clear that one of them is the captor. this is mentioned on the store page, not much of a spoiler, and there's clearly more to the story, to be found out at your convenience. simple point & click controls with optional hotkeys, left click on an item to look at it or take it, but [b]no hotspot indicator and right click doesn't zoom out of a close-up[/b]. besides the inventory there's a map, shows all possible exits for the rooms, but no fast travel and only the current area is visible, can't switch to others. the character window shows your current goals and score, like in the good old days, and journal entries scattered all around fill story gaps. companions will occasionally follow your around, commenting on stuff and [b]some dialog choices affect the story[/b], handily marked before making a decision. there aren't many of them and they didn't seem to do much, except near the end. windowed mode available, separate volume settings (low/medium/high only, not the best) and text size settings, which is always nice, should be a more common feature. since it's a very dark game, brightness settings would've been nice, but there's in-game representation of achievements and a tutorial to familiarize yourself with the interface. [b]manual saving only before quitting[/b] (no prompts or confirmation, straight back to desktop, very elegant), a single slot per game, but [b]progress is logged continuously[/b]. still, no proper manual saving anytime over multiple slots is not good game design, especially coupled with emptying the inventory after certain sections even though some of the items could've been used later as well, like in an instance that locked me out of an entire room unnecessarily. [b]there are quick-time events[/b], have to click at the right time for a certain action to succeed, but it isn't too bad. what's horrible is [b]the captor occasionally showing up, forcing you to do something quickly[/b]. I hate it when they add things like this to a point & click clearly made for a different kind of audience. [b]no progress is lost if you die[/b], you can keep trying, it's just incredibly annoying. and of course, there's a maze, but it's very binary and over fast. the presentation is like a comic book, but somehow weirder, still fine, and while it's fully voiced, [b]I wasn't a fan of the main guy's voice and the performance of some of the others[/b]. beating the game unlocks a codex with character infos and stuff, it's online-only, not part of the game, but covers all the developer's games, as they're part of the same universe. and getting all the achievements reveals a bonus post-ending scene in the main menu, but I obviously didn't bother with that, just looked at the relevant files in the game's folder. it was a really enjoyable adventure despite the few issues I had, [b]took about 7 hours and it's definitely recommended[/b].

A very cool mystery and a very intense and gritty story. I recommend it!! I must confess something..

"Stonewall Penitentiary" is a first-person point&click adventure with static screens (no camera movement, no scrolling). It features an interesting and suspenseful story with a fair amount of puzzles (some of them rather challenging). You awake in a cell in a dilapidated prison that has been out of commission for decades. You have no recollection of how you got there, but you find others in the same situation, and it soon becomes clear that you have all been abducted, apparently because all of you have been responsible for another person's death at some point in your lives. The kidnapper lets you know that he will bring each of you to justice, or rather his own warped sense of it, since the punishment involves successively killing the abductees. You and six other victims are trying to escape before that happens, but there are indications that the kidnapper might actually pose as one of the victims, so there's a reason for caution and distrust. The story is told quite well, with several twists and surprises along the way. The characters are interesting and believable, and while you have to work together with them, you can never be certain if you can really trust them. The plot development felt rather linear, but I only made one playthrough, so that's a bit hard to tell. I still had enough player agency to feel immersed, as I could move freely through the area, and my exploration was often rewarded with additional information. There were a few points where the game forced me to make a decision while not offering the choice that I would have preferred, but since that happened only a few times during a long and complex story, it didn't feel like a huge problem. Gameplay mostly involves exploring the prison, talking to the other victims, and solving puzzles. Most of the these are logical, but I found some of them quite hard regardless. The game gives you clues for the more difficult puzzles, but you a) have to find those in the first place, b) interpret some correctly, and c) still do some guesswork and trial-and-error. It's great for the player's immersion that the game provides so many texts with background information, but in some cases that made it difficult to recognize the few words among all those texts that provided an important clue. Another reason why some things are easy to miss, is that the game may, depending on the state of a given puzzle, add new hotspots or new interaction options to objects that you have already examined. Since the game also doesn't show hotspots until you move the mouse over them, that means that you have to pixel-hunt and check the same objects many times, just to see whether something has been added that may be important for a new puzzle. This could have been designed better, Personally, while I love challenging puzzles in games that focus on them, I prefer puzzles in _story-focused_ games to be a bit easier or at least more clear than the ones I encountered here. They were still enjoyable, but detracted a bit from the story in my opinion. Other players' preferences may differ from mine though. The puzzle design isn't bad per se. The graphics are serviceable, but not very detailed. All dialog is voice-acted, which contributes to the atmosphere. The actors have very distinct voices and manners of speaking that fit the characters very well. Unfortunately, the protagonist - who has by far the most to say - is the only actor whose delivery is sub-par, even though his deep voice is easy to listen to. His slow and cumbersome manner of speaking, his lack of relatable emotions, and his rather amateurish technique of stressing even the most simple and obvious statements as if they were important revelations, made him sound a bit stupid. The game autosaves after every action, but unfortunately has only one save slot. If you want to explore other decisions, or if you want to hunt achievements (many of which are missable), your only option is to start a new game from scratch. Since the game is fairly long, the interface is a bit slow, and much of the suspense will be gone in a second playthrough, a more user-friendly approach would have been welcome here. I recommend "Stonewall Penitentiary" to fans of point&click adventures with intricate suspenseful stories and well-designed settings, especially if they like the occasional challenging puzzle. The game might also be a good way to introduce fans of puzzle-heavy visual novels to the more open gameplay of point&click adventures. The storytelling uses some of the techniques that are common in visual novels, and the setting reminded me a bit of "The Nonary Games".

I really have enjoyed this game. Brilliant albeit creepy story with great voice acting and immersive sets. Although it is an interactive novel, it isn't a static, page by page experience, but rather more a point and click adventure with plenty of objects to look at, interact with, plus loads of journals and pages with hints to find..( I loved that part as one really felt like a detective) The few quick action required sequences were manageable . I am a bit clueless sometimes...lol. Plus the game didn't make one go back a LONG way to try again; much like Nancy Drew games, in which one can die but is placed right at the same point to try again. Very appreciated...Interestingly enough, I actually did guess the murderer correctly , but for some reason decided against this choice so I guess always trust your instincts is very true! This developer is very talented and I look forward to more games from him... Totally recommended.... Oh and I WILL be re playing it with the view to achieving all the achievements...

Another winner from Storycentric Worlds! Stonewall Penitentiary has a graphic novel look to it with very good voiceover talent. The story is well-written and engrossing. While, yes, I was getting the Agatha Christie And Then There Were None feel to it, knowing that did not take away from the mystery and intrigue of this horrific prison's history and its less than desirable current inmates. I love the detail that go into these games and I always think I have looked at everything, but still find that there are things I missed. I will just have to replay the game again! There are some serious choices in this game that will determine how you proceed at certain points (maybe how I missed some of the things I missed). There are lots of letters and journals to find, and clicking to get info on everything you see is vital to the game experience and solving the mystery. If those kinds of things appeal to you, this game will likely make you very happy.

Stonewall Penitentiary is a First-Person Point&Click Adventure from one men developer Storycentric Games in a style I have actually been waiting for for a long time. This is the first game by this developer that is fully graphics based and voice acted. Graphics is kept quite simple, although enough to create the dark mood, but I take that as a good thing as it allows a one men developer to finish their game in a for the fans of their work pleasant time frame. So what makes Stonewall Penitentiary for me so special for a Point&Click Adventure? First it’s the specific setting. A number of strangers are trapped in a for seemingly all of them totally strange place. Bad things happen that open the question who actually can be trusted. Second it’s the fact that the other (non-player) characters believably make the impression to be acting on their own, are trying to improve the situation themselves or are handling it in their own specific way. In a typical Point&Click Adventures, you are just getting more and more tasks by the NPC’s and sometimes want to ask yourself if they actually can do anything on their own. Puzzles can be quite challenging, but while there is an official walkthrough available (in the Guide section) I actually was able to finish the game and also find all the optional stuff/achievements (yes, in overall 4 playthroughs) without any help. From my experience I would say a normal playthrough will take 9-10 hours, while additional playthroughs can be finnished in about 3 (due to knowing what to do, skipping through the dialogues and the possibility of very fast movement). My only complaint would be the streaky voice acting, while for the NPC’s all do a decent up to really great job (I especially like Louis in this matter) of all the main character in certain scenes falls short on emphasis in my opinion. Overall for fans of dark and thrilling Point&Click Adventures I would call this is must play.

Will wakes up in an abandoned prison for the criminally insane. He is locked in a cell with his hands tied. A female voice reaches out and Will must work together with this mysterious woman to escape from his cell. We soon find out that the two of us are definitely not alone and more victims were also kidnapped, put in the same prison and worked together just like us to escape from their own locked cells. Shortly after meeting each other we learn why we are put in this prison, what we must to do survive and what would happen to us if we were to not carry out the instructions of our captor. There is only limited time to escape and every hour one of us has to die. The door will open when the clock hits a specific hour but who will make it out alive when that time comes? Our captor surely follows up on their word and bodies start dropping like flies shortly after. The killer is among us in the prison. Who is he or she among the 7 suspects including our character? Who can we trust? Can we even trust ourselves? This whole theme is a constant and most welcome reminder of the many Saw movies I enjoyed watching as well as the awesome concept of Agatha Christie's masterpiece and my most favourite murder mystery novel of all time, Then There Were None. Stonewall Penitentiary doesn't have moon logic puzzles. There are clues and hints for every one of them. There are also just enough hints to determine who the killer is at the end without making it too obvious. Guessing the killer correctly will also reward you with an achievement called "Elementary" which is a nice little nod at Sherlock. While I truly appreciate the game not having pixel hunting or moon logic puzzles, there is ample amount of backtracking. When you do a certain puzzle or trigger a specific event, something will happen in some room. For example an item you need to progress will be strategically placed there by the killer. Therefore I found myself constantly checking every room far more frequently than I should in my opinion just to avoid getting stuck. There could have been vague hints for this but maybe there were and I missed them. I also would have truly appreciated having the option to "read" journals or notes instead of trying to directly read characters' handwriting. Certain journals were hard for me to decipher due to their fonts. Speaking of missing hints or clues, the game has a point system. In order to get the perfect score which is 675, you need to have triggered every possible dialogue with every character, found every clue and discovered every secret. My final score at the end was 634 so I missed 41 points worth of secrets. Who knows what I missed because sadly there is no guide for it either. I'm actually quite curious because the prison is filled with so many secrets giving the player a lot of insight about its background, management, guards, patients as well as the experiments and "treatments" that took place there. This horrifying prison becomes even grimmer than it was before with each of these revelations. Unfortunately there is only one save slot and it gets deleted after finishing the game. After making a certain decision I proceeded with completing the game. I backed up my save prior to making that decision because I wanted to choose the other option only to realise that I can't use that save file again. If you like murder mystery "whodunit" type of stories and/or enjoy point and click let's escape puzzle games do yourself a favour and make sure to try this little gem out.

Well executed :^D character and story driven adventure game. Due to language, nudity, moderate gore and other "adult" references, I recommend this only for people age 17 and older. Christopher, the programmer, outdid himself with this one! The voice acting is excellent! The controls are great! The music is appropriate for the story and locations. And the graphics are outstanding! Definitely 5 out of 5 stars!

This is the second game I play from this developer. And I can say now that this dev really has a great knack to create thrilling stories. The game is a mix of graphic novel, point&click and text adventure, and it does it very well. It is hard to stop after you started playing. If you enjoy reading and like a good plot, I definitely recommend this game to you!

Stonewall Penitentiary is an outstanding adventure on many levels. The story is well written and will keep you guessing until the very end. The choices you make and the characters you align with have a definite impact on the outcome so the game has solid replayability. The hand-drawn graphics, coupled with a very professional sound track, create an environment that is immersive and downright creepy. The interface is intuitive and provides the player with everything needed... a map, inventory, objectives, and notes. I have enjoyed all of the previous games from Unimatrix but I think that this is the best they have released so far. Stonewall Pen is a title that reminds me why I love the adventure genre. Read my full review at [url=http://justadventure.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4177] Just Adventure. [/url] (Note - I completed the game in 6-8 hours. My Steam time/stats do not reflect this, as I started with a copy received from Unimatrix. I have since purchased the game through Steam and am in the process of replaying.)