Stonewall Penitentiary

If you like films where a group of people are trapped within a single location trying to work out why they're there - films such as Cube, Saw II, Exam, Breathing Room, The Employer and Nine Dead, to name a few, then this game is for you. If you like the novel, And Then There Were None, or any of its various film adaptations, then this game is not to be missed. Stonewall Penitentiary is a game that takes the premise of the aforementioned novel and combines it with elements of the aforementioned films to create a mystery that is simply gripping. There will be players who say they can guess the killer right from the start. The truth is, though, that the story could go in any one of several directions - many of which we have seen before in the films. So, this game will keep you guessing as to who the killer is. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the works referred to, I'll set out the basics of the plot. You play a man named William Thane who wakes up in a long-abandoned prison. Will realises quickly he is not alone and has been brought there, along with the others, to partake in a game of survival. The game even includes a Jigsaw-like villain and a Steam achievement, both of which are clear nods to the Saw films. They have six hours to escape from the prison. Each hour they fail to escape, the mysterious captor promises one of them will die. This is not a game where you are on a timer to complete it. There are only a handful of timed sequences, each of which keeps you in a confined environment, and thus not needing too long to figure out what to do. If you die, the game offers to put you back where you were. This is an autosaving game. If you need to take a break to do something else, and close the game down then don't worry - it will save more or less exactly where you left off. Unlike other point-and-click adventure games, this one doesn't boast exotic locations, comical characters or situations, or top-notch graphics. Instead, the game uses its central strengths of a gripping mystery, interesting characters and, for the genre, an unusually high degree of suspense, in order to attract and maintain your interest. In addition, the atmosphere of this prison is, in itself, rather ominous. And that's achieved not just due to the soundtrack and the visuals, but also the inclusion of a system of various journals, detailing some of the horrors that took place in the prison when it was open. The acting is first rate, the pacing allows you to settle in and explore everything without boring you with monotonous tasks or endless and redundant dialogue, and the puzzles are all logical this time round. There's none of what I call "developer's logic", where the sense of the puzzles exists seemingly only in the mind of the game's creators. The only thing that seems to be missing is a hotspot system to show all interactive elements within a single location. This is a story that I have long wanted to see be told in a game. It's been done many times on film, with variations on the location, number of people trapped and so on. But this is the only game where you will see this sort of story, aside from the adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I haven't counted that, since it is largely a direct adaptation, and not a unique work. For reasons unknown, the game languishes in obscurity, with few reviews of it here on Steam. I only came across it by extensively searching for new mystery-themed games. Do not let this dissuade you from playing. If you like mystery stories of any kind, particularly those associated with murder and/or horror elements, then you will probably see this game as a hidden gem, as I did. Give it a try!

Quite Good

I became a fan after playing some of their older games. This is really great to play, I finished it in one go. It's awesome. I did actually think it didn't have many issues, waiting for their next games.

There are already several reviews that describe the set-up of the game, so I will skip that. I will also say that I did use a walkthrough as I had troubles occasionally figuring out what I was supposed to do next. If one had not been available, I probably would still have enjoyed it as the characters and ambiance were very good. I've been playing a lot of Hidden Object/Adventure games lately, and one thing that bothers me is that in such games, puzzles have a tendency to feel tacked on or extraneous to the plot. This game is different. Most of the puzzles or tasks needed to proceed fit well within the story. The exceptions would be the time-based scenarios where you had to do something quickly. Some of these resulted in the main character's death. Thankfully, when this happens, and you select Try Again, it puts you at exactly the last place you were. I read an interview with the developer, and learned that each time you "Try Again" the task gets easier. However, these had some flashing bars that did remind me I was playing a game instead of immersed in the story. All of the other puzzles felt truly like a part of the game, even if I sometimes needed help solving them. The other part of the game is the mystery. Near the end of the game, you have two major turning points where you make a choice. I was disappointed with the first of these as I wanted to choose an option that was not listed. Apparently William was more tunnel-visioned than I was, and I found that frustrating. But the other choice was to determine who the actual murderer was, and that did fit in with all the other clues you have. I will say that, as an Agatha Christie fan who knew the solution to And Then There Were None... I hesitated a moment about who the guilty party was: I had actually three different ideas in mind, but only one of them really fit ALL the clues, so I went with that one and was correct. In that regard, I think the mystery was handled extremely well. There are some options that, had they been the answer, would have disappointed me. I did notice some discrepancies: mainly, how the captor found out about each of them. Without going into too many spoilers, the main character's situation is slightly different, so it shouldn't have worked the way they said it did. I also didn't really like the hereditary aspect: I don't think people are destined to be a certain way because of their own ancestry. I think this part of the game would have been more powerful if there wasn't an actual blood relationship involved. One of the things I loved was the idea of having achievements based on learning about the prison and unlocking more *information*. I did not get a perfect score, and knowing that there is a separate ending for those who do really inspires me to try again. I wanted to replay it anyway just because I loved being in that story, but that gives me even more reason to do so. In short, I loved this game and am looking forward to replaying it and also to trying out the other Storycentric games. I also hope I can find other games like this.

I enjoyed this escape room-style mystery game. In comparison with the other games in the Storycentric Worlds series. This one wasn't as "fun" as the previous one where you were exploring a theater, but it had something none of the previous ones had, which was a villain you could understand. All the others were Good vs. Evil, which is just never interesting. In particular I liked the little ARG bit that you get to do after the game is over which allows you to hear a little bit more about the killer from his own lips. It was good and made sense. I do wish the killer had had the chance to discuss these thoughts with the main character, however. The plot is nothing remotely original, but it is well-executed and the characters are interesting to learn about, especially the ones who survive longer and the protagonist. The puzzles are all logical, but on the easy side (though I've seen worse in this type of game, definitely.) I only got stuck once because of pixel hunting, but fortunately it was when I was confined to a single room with three screens. I think a fun idea would be to remake this game from the killer's perspective as a stealth game. How do you constantly get all your murders set up with out running into any of the several people walking through and searching the same corridors you have to navigate. :-P I only say because after I finished the game, I was trying to figure out how was possible for the killer to be in front of the protagonist in certain scenes.

Cool game. The story its good by itself, but damn, the music is a masterpiece, made me feel like i was in stonewall penitentiary myself.

It's competently done. While they are simple, it does have puzzles, which is nice, even though you several times have better means to solve a problem already at hand the game forces you to ignore in order to let you go find a different solution and that becomes headscratchingly weird soon. So far, so mediocre, but the story is incredibly dumb and unoriginal. You play as a moron among morons. It all seems to be glued together from already formulaic tv movie scripts. Boring cliché characters, idiotic decisions and nonsensical behavior make you roll your eyes so much they'll hurt. The dialogues are pure cringe. Everyone writes and leaves notes and diary entries all the time, everywhere for no reason other than, well, that's how videogames communicate information, right? There's literally one that ends something like: "Oh no, what was that noise? I think someone's coming, I should—" The killer announces he will murder one of them each hour until morning and whoever survived until then may escape through the front door he will then open for them. And they believe the killer is one of them. (Not that that deduction made much sense to begin with, but let's roll with it for a moment ...) They could easily survive it all by just sitting in the cafeteria together until the night is over. "Hey, let's all split up and wander the prison alone for literally no reason instead." The game is full of such idiotic moments. It's Facepalm: The Videogame. Don't believe me? Wait until you learn how the killer chose the victims and why, then come back and apologize.

Loved it. A really eerie atmosphere and a game that really gets your brain working. Loads to explore and an excellent plot which twists and turns. It took me 6 hours to complete but I did not manage to achieve everything. Some really clever puzzles too. Would definitely recommend.

I loved this game! The story line and tension were brilliant. I also really enjoyed Shady Brook but Stonewall Penitentiary was my favourite. Once I started playing I couldn't stop.

Много неожиданных поворотов