Text-based stories live on as they reinvent themselves to the many possibilities of modern gaming, and a great example of this is the fresh out of the oven title Stories Untold by No Code. It’s a nostalgic kick that brings the 80’s back with atmospheric horror tales.
The game recompiled four chapters of an experimental sci-fi show that got canceled, including a remaster of the pilot episode: “The House of Abandon”.
New, Untold Stories With Some Old Tech
The cover of the game evokes Stranger Things‘ style, and it was in fact designed by the show’s poster artist Kyle Lambert in a bold marketing move that clearly marks the similarities between the two of them. Dark, reminiscent of retro pop-culture, and a bit techy, it takes an amazing story to catch a player’s attention with text-based titles, and Stories Untold not only has that but also carefully designed scenarios that change as you type away through the plot.
These array of interconnected stories are structured like the show that inspired it. As you input commands and the plot thickens, so does the atmosphere with the room immersing the player by reflecting their decisions. Everything around you might help solve the puzzles that mix reality with text because you won’t be just typing but also interacting with machines and decoding messages in an Arctic station.
Spoilers aside, Stories Untold brings a plot worth telling but better experienced, so sit in front of a Spectrum 128k and discover your way through four tense chapters with a unique merging finale.
