Unform

"Unform" starts out looking like a test, very similar to the "The Test Is Now READY" from 2012 and "9 Lives" from 2013. But where "Unform" differs is that it is very clear that the "test" is really more of a trial. The "right" answer isn't the one that you personally choose or the one that matches the author's worldview: it's the one that the in-game authorities want to hear. So then it becomes a question of figuring out what these people believe and, by telling them what they want to hear, escape.

Of course, it's not that simple.

Structurally, the game is divided into two parts. The first part contains the afore-mentioned test. The second part concerns your escape and your relationship to the whole setup -- why you were put there in the first place. Because of this, the game is a little bit back-to-front: the exposition is done in the second part, while the first part contains most of the action. I imagine that this technique could work well in drawing in the player with action, and then, once the player is properly hooked, explaining to him what is really happening.

I say it "could work well" because I'm not sure that "Unform" really achieves this, nor am I sure that the author consciously chose to structure the game in this fashion for this reason. The problem here is that the progress of the first part does not really impact the second part all that much. I do see a few points here and there where a relationship is made: there's a woman who seems to reappear in the crowds, from test to test, and this woman, it turns out, is significant to our hero's backstory. But if I'm trying to achieve anything ... I don't know if it really matters.

Then again, I'm not sure I actually succeeded in telling the testers exactly what they wanted to hear. So there is that. Maybe the game turns out differently if I do. But there's an air of completion that suggests that this is how it all should be, and no hint that it could have all turned out differently. Perhaps what this game needs is a clear and easily achieved losing ending.

Still, it's competently put-together, and the world-building is interesting. The connection between our hero and his rescuers is a little convenient, but on the whole, as a story, it's not bad at all.

French toast from home-made bread, fresh out of the breadmaker and with the crusts cut off, and a double espresso.