I was avoiding getting this game because it seemed like they were giving away the punchline of the game in their trailers. Mysterious thing happens and everyone’s gone, its your job to find out what happened – except actually that isn’t what the game is really about.

I really loved Dear Esther, and when I heard this was considered the spiritual successor I decided I would give it a try.  Both of these games feature a narrative that unfolds as you go along, and have mastered pacing these interactive experiences.

Players navigate the game which is set in the late 1980s England, where they are able to hear previously recorded messages from cordless phone answering machines and radios. Quickly its established that the people are gone, and there is a strong hint as to what happened, there are energy signatures that remain of the people who were once there and they replay the events that lead to their disappearance. These pulses of energy also serve as breadcrumbs to help the player navigate the areas and prevent them from becoming lost, which is a marked improvement over its predecessor.

The narrative becomes about the people living in this town and their relationships with each other, with the primary character being the one responsible for the current plight. The story mainly surrounds why they would do that sort of thing, and what caused them to grow into this character. Each chapter follows a specific important character but secondary characters are introduced and remain throughout the story. Each Chapter culminates in a spectacular end as if a new day is beginning following the next character.