Orwell's Animal Farm Reviews
A video game based on Animal Farm is a crazy idea on paper, but it mostly manages to stick the landing with its weighty political themes still intact.
Orwell's Animal Farm relays the content of the book well, but stops short of drawing from any new depths, as choices are limited and the plot takes second place to a dry management sim.
The novella's dated metaphors are ousted in the best moments of this interactive homage, but its alternative endings pull their punches
Orwell's Animal Farm is a pleasant mix of Visual Novel and management experience, with some lovely visuals, music and a very good narrator. The fact that it allows you to retell the story is interesting. But as it still offers a good way to know what the book has to say, it can feel redundant, and a bit foggy in its intentions and mechanics.
Review in French | Read full review
The turmoil of a revolution gone wrong is conveyed through nothing more than a few mouse clicks and quick decisions. It's flawed and frustrating, but there's an undeniable elegance to the game.
A solid interactive narrative based on the classic novella, Orwell's Animal Farm lacks a lot of gameplay, but makes up for it with its use of the prose.
Orwell's Animal Farm is a bold attempt at turning a classic novel into a video game. While the actual gameplay isn't anything special, it does manage to stay true to the message of the book.
Forever stuck in the programmed roles the game assigned them. When there is no way out, no real play, there is no message, no change. Animal Farm lives forever, dying and being born, always doomed to failure.
At the very least, Orwell’s Animal Farm made me want to read the original book after a decade of resenting its inclusion in my high school curriculum. I can see what the game was trying to do, and I had a passing amount of fun with it, but it’s just not engaging enough to play for more than a few hours. I can recommend Orwell’s Animal Farm only as a curiosity for fans of the novel.
All animals are equal! Are you sick of Napoleon and Snowball’s ideological quibbles? Could do any better? Relive Orwell’s farmyard fable as you try to keep everyone fed, attempt to fend off human attacks and, most importantly, keep the spirit of Animalism alive.
While Orwell's Animal Farm stays true to its source material, its repetitive and unclear gameplay weakens a stylized portrayal of the book. It's not the worst way to spend a couple hours thanks to replayability and excellent narration, but it's not compelling to get every ending and collect every stamp. You'll get a lot more out of reading the book than you will from the game.
Animal Farm remains an important story, and this retelling in game format feels incredibly timely and poignant. With lots of ways the game can play out depending on your choices, you can revisit Orwell's themes as well as being able to dive even deeper into them.
Orwell's Animal Farm faithfully recreates and even reinvents the classic allegory at a time when it's never been more relevant for some players.
Orwell’s Animal Farm is a pleasant retelling of the 1945 novella, and revisiting the story again after reading it in high school has been lovely. As a lover of literature as well as video games, I couldn’t help but smile seeing the story come to life. Not everyone will feel the same way though, and as an adventure game or even a visual novel, Orwell’s Animal Farm is unlikely to grab players that don’t already have a vested interest in the original story. Still, it’s a valiant effort in bringing a classic novella to new audiences, and might just be a valuable tool for students.
Orwell's Animal Farm deserves a chance with its sweet graphics and successful voiceovers.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Choice-driven narrative game is not so absorbing as legendary book.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
After playing Orwell’s Animal Farm, I found myself gobbling up every analysis I could find on the original work and ultimately settling into bed with a copy of the book found online. From the subversion of politics through the subversion of language and logic to reducing complex ideals to meaningless catchphrases, it was truly eye-opening just how Orwellian the past few years have been — although not the way in which the word has been thrown around after January 6th. The team’s unique history with totalitarianism made them competent candidates for the game version of this compelling allegorical tale, and I find myself still trying to wrap my head around the experience with these additional layers of context. If you’re looking for an incredibly memorable and surprisingly emotional refresher on this all-too important story, look no further than Orwell’s Animal Farm.
With not a whole lot of options at the beginning of the game to choose which animal gets what role in the farm, or even a little more explanation why come choices go the way they do, it was still interesting to follow the 1945 story and compare it to today's day in age. While there are a few more endings I'm able to get, I'll be going back to the game to see how I may be able to get there by forcing a few choices through.
Orwell’s Animal Farm is a great retelling of a classic story. It’s almost a visual novel but the level of interactivity and choice elevates the game well above what it could’ve been with a little less ambition. It’s small scale but the number of options and potential story outcomes give a good amount of replayability and intrigue. Overall, I think the content is perfectly pitched for the price and, whether you’re a fan of the novel or want to experience the story for the first time, it’s definitely worth a couple of hours of your time.
I really think of all the ways to adapt Animal Farm, this is definitely one of the best ways. Actually making the decisions and watching corrupt leadership undermine them, or being the one to justify sacrificing the “lesser” people for the “greater good,” really emphasizes how easily selfishness ruins a perfectly good dream.