Episodic puzzle horror adventure game Stories Untold from developer No Code and publisher Devolver Digital is an analog punk-themed game combining text-based adventure, first-person exploration, and puzzle-solving elements.
H0w to Download Stories Untold
You can download this masterpiece of a horror game from Steam or from GOG.com. Additionally, there is a free demo available. Steams offers also Stories Untold Official Soundtrack as a separate download. This is a difficult game so If stuck you can also search the net for a walkthrough to the game. You can enjoy Stories Untold is a PC only title. Sadly, you will not be able to play it on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One or PS4.
The Game Review
Consisting of four episodes, the first of which is a remake of the free-to-play game House Abandon, Stories Untold is set in England in 1986 with the first three episodes of the game playing out more or less like standalone titles and the fourth acting as a glue that binds them all together narratively speaking.
The House Abandon plays out on an 8-bit computer screen from the early 1980s, late 1970s and features voice acting to help set the tone for the story. Interestingly the narrative seems to shift as you progress into something increasingly malevolent. It begins by introducing you to a family vacation home but then quickly informs you that this place makes you feel uncomfortable and, once you receive a note from “your father” telling you “get out,” you know things are about to get real in Stories Untold’s first episode.
This first episode relies upon a text-based adventure game format and is meta in that you are playing a game about a man playing a video game. As the narrative of the text-based adventure changes and begins to describe the environment, the actual environment surrounding the player character begins to change as well until you realize that they two are mirroring each other completely.
Needless to say, for fans of suspense and horror based on what is not seen, this game’s first episode is tough to beat.
The Lab Conduct places the player in a more sci-fi atmosphere and is evocative of films like Poltergeist or any of the alien contact movies of the 1980s. Indeed, the second episode is less overtly suspenseful and more of a creature feature in terms of its execution. Here, as in the last game, the text of the game begins to describe the transformations and events occurring in the physical environment around the player character.
The third episode, The Station Process, takes place at an arctic monitoring station in Greenland and functions as a series of puzzles that the player has to solve in order to advance the narrative. Again employing the theme of “contact” with an alien or some other type of entity, this game serves as one of the pieces that tie all of the episodes together and, like the other episodes, employ simple yet effective graphics to convey the tale.
The final episode ties the events of the three together in a somewhat surreal, almost artistic way. Without revealing any spoilers, let’s just say the denouement is quite clever, especially for a horror game such as Untold Stories. Indeed, the name itself is given clarity in this final episode.
Gamers can expect tense atmosphere and excellent storytelling but the graphics are quite simple and may leave something wanting for those players not used to games like Return to Zork, Myst, or Phantasmagoria –- all classic, narrative-driven adventure games for the PC released in the 1990s.
