Stories Untold Reviews
An atmospheric collection of clever, surprising interactive short stories with a gorgeous retro aesthetic.
The puzzles are unrelenting and unforgiving, but those who rise to the challenge are rewarded with spooky sequences and an emotional showstopper of a finale
"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."
Stranger Things meets Zork. Stories Untold starts as an experimental text adventure set in the 80s, full of lo-fi technology, nostalgia and terrible text parsers, and it slowly becomes a creepy, captivating story you won't forget soon.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you're looking for a tense, unnerving experience in a simple yet eerie setting, this is it.
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.
"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.
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 is a boundlessly smart and stylish adventure game that both celebrates the past while changing the future.
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.
Stories Untold is about the haunting feelings and stories we haven't told even ourselves. It's about unraveling the truth and facing our fears. For players looking for a new episodic thriller, Stories Untold was an amazing way to kick off 2020 on the Nintendo Switch.
Stories Untold is a chilling adventure that manages to draw us right into its world through the ingenious use of its UI and perfectly realised lo-fi aesthetic. Through the walls of old technology and complicated machinery, it creates a uniquely strong bond between player and narrative, giving you a real sense of place within its world as it slowly corrupts and twists from the comfortingly familiar to something else entirely. It's one of the best interactive horror stories we've ever played and a perfect fit for enjoying alone in the dark on Switch.
A whirling nightmare made of green phosphor screens and infinitive verbs
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stories Untold is a gloriously 80s homage which doesn't rely on too much familiarity or retreading old ground. It's a fantastic, fascinating example of interactive visual storytelling.
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.
Stories Untold is bleak and disturbing, novel and experimental, and most importantly when doing all that, very clever. It's smarter than you'll realise, in fact. And why it's smart is all in the experience of playing, not to be given away in the process of reviewing. A pain in the arse for me, but worth it for you.
Wistful, lovingly textured and highly experimental, Stories Untold is a haunted house adventure with a difference.
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