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[More_Badass]

http://www.doublezeroonezero.com/westport.html
Release Trailer | Gameplay Trailer | Announcement Trailer

Steam | GOG | Humble
IOS | Android - $4.99

A game about Censorship, Corruption and Newspapers

The Westport Independent is a censorship simulator taking place in a post-war country, governed by the recently elected Loyalist Party. As the editor of one of the last independent newspapers in the country, your job is to remove and edit the content of your paper, affecting the people’s opinion of both the rebels and the Loyalist government. With an increase of rebel activity and an ever watching government breathing down your neck, whose truth will you print?

- Change the content and meaning of your articles by censoring them to your liking. While you can’t lie, you don’t have to tell the whole truth either.
- Employees with fleshed out character, who will not only react to your actions, but also discuss them with other colleagues.
- Receive letters and messages from public figures, rebel leaders, employees and other characters affected by your actions.
- Adaptive stories where your actions affect the opinions of the people, which affects what happens in the city, which in turn affects the stories you receive.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Wow. This looks truly interesting. Definitely has my attention.

 

[Coppanuva]

Looks cool! Will get when out on Android.

 

[Bobs Big Boy]

What an interesting concept for a game, love the premise, going to watch this one.

 

[Inumbris]

Okay this definitely has my attention. I was a big fan of Papers, Please, so this seems right up my alley!

 

[mrboo001]

This reminds me of a small game made by Lucas Pope (maker of Paper's Please), "The Republia Times"

http://dukope.com/play.php?g=trt

Definitely interested in it.

 

[Fat4all]

Seems like a sort of spiritual successor to The Republia Times by Lucas Pope (creator of Papers, Please). Very interested.

This reminds me of a small game made by Lucas Pope (maker of Paper's Please), "The Republia Times"

ARG, IVE BEEN SNIPED IN THE SIDE!

 

[Princess Viola]

Looks really interesting, will probably pick it up at some point.

 

[Dr. Benton Quest]

I've been hyped for this since they announced they were making a full game.

Lol at this first Play Store review

 

[BTA]

Oh, I was wondering when this'd come out. Guess I'll be picking up the iOS version and chipping away at it for a bit.

 

[More_Badass]

Android link

 

[jholmes]

The Steam reviews are really, really negative. Game sounds super short and pretty limited. I don't need this to be a 40-hour epic but for $11 Canadian I expect a more substantial experience.

Any contrary views in the thread from anyone who has played it? I'm certainly interested in the idea.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I actually did quite enjoy it, and I would disagree with some reviews that say it doesn't provoke empathy as Papers Please did. It doesn't to the same degree, cos there is a smaller cast of characters, it's just your office and your writers after all.
But it does match PP in that it still has that oppressive atmosphere that has you want to achieve a greater task against a bigger power holding you down, and the stories give the world a sense of place, with many running stories across each week.

The major concern though is that it is much more limited than PP

First, it doesn't have the same gameplay; PP was like a puzzle game that required you to not only be accurate but quick for best results. This is just you making a choice - which articles, which sections to censor, give it to which writer, where do the articles go in the paper, who do we market the paper to.
This last variable however seems useless as far as I can tell, i'm not sure how your sales affect your experience frankly

It took me an hour to finish, and from what I can see endings aren't as varied as PP either; more variables that are affected in binary, depending on area allegiance or writer stress.

If you can get it really cheap it's worth a look, it's not bad but it is limited, a lesser Papers Please in almost every regard:
very short
seemingly less replay value
nowhere near as difficult (as long as you don't max out your suspicion bar I think you're fine?)

 

[Sblargh]

I like the concept and the (stolen?) visuals, but RockPaperShotgun's review left me cold. Apparently is just not as interesting and deep as Papers, Please.

Seems like if they add more stuff to make your choices more meaningful, it will be a fine game.

 

[Corpekata]

Yeah, this isn't very good. Everything's a bit too vague. Like a huge chunk of the "endings" are the fates of your four reporters, but they left no impression on me over the course of the game other than "This guy's a rebel, this guy's a loyalist."

And really it seems like the headline is often the only real thing worth changing in a lot of articles. There needed to be more in depth ones where you could edit it to appeal to one side more or the other. There needed to be a bit more control over the story and how it appeared to be interesting.

It's a solid idea but it feels half baked.