Stories Untold Reviews
Stories Untold places a hidden story within a hidden story; a puzzle that only reveals itself once you piece together its outer layers – and it's one of the most fascinating and unique tales you can play this year.
It is unfortunate that Stories Untold builds up such an immersive experience just to ruin it with such a humdrum story. If you are a fan of adventure games you will have to try it, even if in the end you will be left wanting more puzzles and a story that would do them justice.
Stories Untold is a genre-bending and nostalgic trip back to 80s - the era of text-based games.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Every story is short, clocking in at just around 30-45 minutes each, which makes this the perfect game to pop on during an evening get together where your main goal is to spook your friends. The voice acting is also a high point, as each performance felt believable and different in a way that truly made me sink into each small world as I went. It's not a perfect game or even a perfect port, all things considered, but if you like a good atmosphere and a well-told series of stories, then you should probably go and contradict this game's title when you have the chance.
What could have been something lasting, something real, is instead a two dimensional narrative which brandishes plot twists and visual trickery to camouflage a lack of rich storytelling. Nonetheless, I would still highly recommend Stories Untold to writers and game developers: there are ideas in the first few episodes which are fascinating, and I'm dying to see where No Code's metafictive experimentation might take the text adventure genre.
Stories Untold is clever when it comes to delivering the narrative, and its brief text-adventure is interesting. Unfortunately, most of it is pushing buttons and turning dials on command, and this leaves much to be desired.
The shocking and distinct storytelling in Stories Untold will stay with you long after you finish the rather short experience.
Though I’m old enough to recall, with some fondness even, the days of playing purely text-based adventure games the likes of Zork and others I can’t say I was initially thrilled at the prospect of returning to that style of play...
The joy of other titles within this market is the length of episodes that you get at each release. A fair amount of content is dropped in each instalment, so if No Code hadn’t taken the approach they had, then this would have been a failure. If you take this game on, you’ll get around 4 hours playtime, which isn’t bad value as it costs less than £9. A copy can be purchased here if you so desire! Do I recommend it? Other than its few shortcomings, it’s a great game and one you should have in your library. Will you be able to gather the clues to solve the puzzles? Play through each of the 4 episodes and link the bizarre plot together, one piece at a time.
An interesting experiment that many players will find too taxing, Untold Stories shows what unique things can be done when telling stories through the medium of gaming, but ultimately fails to deliver on its own narrative.
GOOD - Stories Untold combines the old-school text adventure with modern day sensibilities. This one isn’t for the action fans out there – you’ll be mostly reading and solving small puzzles to progress. With four different stories and point and click interactions, fans of adventure games should consider picking this one up.
With all its elements combined, Untold Stories mixes nostalgia with a dramatic story and some varied gameplay styles. I unfortunately, found it a bit frustrating, but the developers seem committed to their product and the recent patch seems like it addresses some of the technical concerns I encountered. Still, I’m not sure I really have the patience for text adventures (if I ever had it all). I think this game is a gamble, but in some ways, that is what Indie Development is about.
The unique blend between classic text based adventures and today's gaming world that we know and love was perfectly executed with Stories Untold. It is fun, scary, and all around an extremely inventive way to get back into text based adventures again. No Code and Devolver Studio are doing this right and making Text Based Adventures cool again!
Stories Untold is a well-made try to modernize the outdated text adventure by audiovisual means and furnish it with meta levels.
Review in German | Read full review
"In an industry were visuals are the driving force to capture gamers, the folks at No Code did more with less."
Stories Untold brings back a classic genre with a bang, breaking the conventional mould of simply using words in a text-adventure by offering you a fully interactive setting that alters as you progress through each episode. It’s incredibly clever and also incredibly atmospheric, bringing an experience that manages to not only constantly impress but also creep you out at the same time. Not only is the gameplay tense, but the ‘untold’ stories are great too. I really got absorbed into the experience and my only disappointment was when the whole thing was over. I’ve got a lot of love for Stories Untold and hope this is just the start of something special.
"My issues with Stories Untold were largely technical and are being fixed by the developers as I’m writing this piece. There are some design flaws that tend to break the flow, but I’d say that they account for less than 10% of the experience. While rather short at around 2-3 hours, the game does make up for that with unique takes on familiar gameplay elements and tropes and manages to tell an intricate and compelling story in a very interesting way. Some of the puzzles and challenges, while not time-sensitive, will ask you to invest a bit of your brain power in solving them and it all builds up to a satisfying pay-off. Stories Untold tries something new and succeeds at delivering something fresh in terms of interactive storytelling (emphasizing interactivity, rather than just narration). That its aesthetics and themes reminded me of Stranger Things is purely a bonus."
Stories Untold proves that the adventure genre still has a lot to offer, and redefines the player relationship with the tools the game offers.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Stories Untold indeed deserves the '4 stories, 1 nightmare' title with its achievements on interactive narrative, mysterious and startling stories, strong 80's retro touch and fantastic gameplay mechanics.
Its four episodes build up such an intriguing, unsettling atmosphere, the experience is well worth it for fans of horror stories.