Stories Untold

Stories Untold is an adventure game that consists of four parts. It was started with the first part, The House Abandon, which was originally created as a 72 hour game jam project for Ludum Dare 36. It is available as a separate, free game and it was remastered as a demo for this title. Building on the first part it was expanded with three additional parts that make up the complete story as the commercial title Stories Untold. The four parts are available right away and are selected from the main menu. They are meant to be played in order, but in the options all four can be made accessible at once.

The game tells the story of the character James Aition. Each part has a different setting and often very different gameplay, but everything is tied together in the fourth and final part. The first part is about playing a text adventure (literally, inside the game) in an abandoned house, the second part deals with assisting scientists to experiment on an alien artifact and the third one is set in a radio transmission station in a cold environment. Gameplay mixes text inputs, often as a text adventure, with point-and-click gameplay. Sometimes this is in a fixed location, while in other parts there is a larger freedom of movement. All parts share tinkering with equipment and machines.

Unlike many traditional adventures, there are hardly any objects to use as there is no inventory, but rather the player needs to interact in a meaningful way with machinery, turning knobs and adjusting systems. Clues are provided through conversations and instructions, elements in the environment, but also code books that require deduction and reasoning from the player, along with deciphering and taking notes. There are no permanent fail states and progress is entirely linear.