TR-49
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for TR-49
Inkle builds a weirdo computer for the ages, then let you use it to solve a beautifully-written mystery. Outstanding.
Inkle mixes archive-surfing and audio drama to create a surprisingly powerful story of obsession and a machine.
The UK game developer's latest is a database mystery constructed from an archive of fictional books. Their combined contents threaten to crack the code of reality
They don’t just present an overarching series of arguments over the very purpose and place of fiction so much as they embody it. As the game puts it, “The world is the sum of our beliefs,” and in that light, TR-49 becomes a world unto itself, a heartbreakingly beautiful artifact of an alternative history.
Beautifully presented and intelligently put together, TR-49 is a masterclass in puzzle games done right – although coming from the developer of Heaven's Vault, that's not at all surprising. This delve into curious and forgotten literature is far more compelling than it has any right to be, and it's a must-play for any puzzle fan.
I was absolutely riveted by TR-49. I played in two long sessions, finishing the game in about seven hours. However, I wanted more — and so I did something I almost never do, and spent extra time getting 100% of the achievements, discovering multiple endings. TR-49 achieves everything it sets out to do. Furthermore, for its amazingly low price point of $6.99, TR-49 is an absolute bargain for an experience this good. If you love books, weird games, games that make you think, great audio design, code-breaking, war-time stories, and/or poignant reflections on what it means to be alive in the world, then you'll love TR-49. I could hardly bear to put TR-49 down, and once you try it, neither will you.
TR-49 is a challenge to the modern gamer’s attention span. It asks us to slow down and listen to the whispers of the past, to become readers before we become players. It is a work of restraint, a puzzle box that, once opened, cannot be easily closed. It lingers in the mind like a half-remembered melody, the kind of game that stays with you long after the screen has gone dark.
