Does This Interactive Horror Story Offer Riveting Choices or Just Tedious Text?
Video games have evolved far beyond mere button-mashing, with many titles now embracing intricate narratives and player-driven choices. Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination steps into this interactive storytelling arena, promising a blend of psychological horror and dark humour within a mostly-text-based corporate setting. Can its focus on reading and decision-making create a truly immersive and terrifying experience, or will players find themselves bogged down in endless text? Read on to find out!
Navigating the Narrative Nightmare
In Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination, players are thrust into the unsettling world of SMYRNACORP, a corporation with a sinister underbelly. Unlike traditional games with direct control and action, the core gameplay here revolves around reading text, making choices, and solving cryptic riddles. The narrative unfolds through a non-linear structure with multiple branching paths and endings, meaning player decisions have a significant impact on the story’s progression and outcome. The characters you come across are bizarre, disturbing characters, although it’s hard to put your finger on why that is, exactly.
As you progress, you will develop skills, and find hidden items that unlock further story possibilities. The overarching goal is to uncover the corporation’s dark secrets and escape with your sanity intact.
Textual Tactics and Interactive Terror
The primary mechanics of Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination centre on interactive fiction elements with light RPG aspects. Players navigate the story by reading text and making choices presented on screen. These choices often require holding down a button, adding weight to the decision-making process by avoiding accidental clicks or presses. (Everything you do will be deliberate, according to the corporation!)
Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination incorporates skills that can be developed, influencing the available choices and story outcomes. Additionally, you will encounter interactive puzzles, such as examining video footage for clues or hacking colleagues’ computers, which require careful observation and problem-solving. There is also an autosave system, preventing you from simply reloading to explore alternative choices, thus emphasising the consequences of your actions.
Stark Sentences and Ominous Overtones
The visual presentation of Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination is minimalist, with a focus on text and static imagery. Character portraits are stylised and often unsettling, contributing to the game’s eerie atmosphere. At key moments, the game employs visual cues such as colour inversion to heighten the sense of danger. The sound design is also well-developed, with most interactions incorporating gentle background music. Conversely, in the “darker” aspects of the game, the sound adapts to build tension, utilising unsettling ambient music, sudden silences, and the beeping of monitoring equipment to create a palpable sense of unease.
Re-Reading the Riot Act?
Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination offers significant replay value due to its non-linear storyline and multiple endings. With hundreds of possible story routes influenced by player choices (and the finality of those choices by not being able to save-and-reload whenever you wish), each playthrough can reveal new information, characters, and outcomes. Discovering all the secrets of SMYRNACORP and experiencing the different narrative paths provides a compelling reason to revisit the game.
Conclusion
Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination presents a unique and unsettling experience that successfully blends interactive fiction with psychological horror. Its emphasis on player choice and consequence creates a sense of immersion and makes each decision feel weighty. The minimalist presentation effectively enhances the eerie atmosphere, and the narrative is filled with intriguing mysteries and disturbing revelations. Although text-based games and their unconventional gameplay may not resonate with all, this “literary machination” masterfully incorporates psychological features, such as its creepy, minimalist art and subtle, yet disturbing music, to create a compelling atmosphere for those who enjoy narrative-driven experiences with strong player agency.
Pros
- Compelling non-linear narrative with multiple endings.
- Meaningful player choices with significant consequences.
- Effective use of minimalist visuals and unsettling sound design.
- Effective psychological tricks create player unease.
- Strong sense of atmosphere and psychological horror.
- Intriguing puzzles and light RPG elements.
Cons
- Primarily a reading experience, which may not appeal to all players.
- Autosave system prevents easy exploration of alternative choices.
