The Invisible Hours

Release Date: October 10, 2017

Adventure, detective, Meta Quest / Oculus, 19th century, PlayStation VR, SteamVR, VR, Game Pass, EA Play, singleplayer

7.5

OpenCritic

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Original adventure game prepared by Tequila Works studio with VR goggles in mind. The Invisible Hours tells the story of several colourful characters invited to a mysterious estate who are trying to solve the mystery of the death of their host Nikola Tesla.

Plot
Mechanics
Technical aspects

The Invisible Hours is an adventure detective game in which we participate as a ghost. It was created by Tequila Works, the studio responsible for such productions as Rime, The Sexy Brutale and Deadlight.

Plot

A group of seven strangers from different social classes receive an enigmatic letter from the famous Nikola Tesla. It is an invitation to inventor's property and a promise of redemption. When the last guest arrives on the island where Nikola's residence is located, it turns out that the host is dead and it was by no means a death due to natural causes. Thus begins a series of speculations, accusations, attempts to catch the perpatrator and learn the secrets hidden by the guests.

Mechanics

In the game we play the role of an invisible observer. All events take place in real time, regardless of our presence. Fortunately, we are given the opportunity to freely manage time - speeding up, stopping and reversing events. This enables us to see the situation again or check what other guests were doing at the same time.

We can also interact with various objects and collect notes and guest memoirs scattered around the house.

The game spans across five acts. The story itself takes about an hour to complete, but if we want to get to know the whole thing and see events from different perspectives, we have to complete the game seven times. Many scenes are shared by several characters, so each subsequent playthough is much faster and we don't feel that it is prolonged by force.

The creators bet on creating colorful and complex heroes, towards which the player is supposed to have an ambivalent attitude. In the game we meet a sentenced murderer, an excellent French actress, son of a railroad tycoon, a blind buttler, a former assistant of Tesla and Tesla's biggest rival, Thomas Edison.

Technical aspects

Three-dimensional visuals of the game are prepared to work with VR sets, such as Oculus Rift or Playstation VR, but do not require them for operation.

Last updated on May 15, 2020

Videos and Screens

[1:57] The Invisible Hours trailer #1

7.5

OpenCritic Rating

Game is Recomended by 63% of Critics. There are 13 Critic Reviews.

OpenCritic

Push Square: 8 / 10 by Sammy Barker

It's the unique way in which individual stories overlap that makes The Invisible Hours such a great game. You'll need to replay this story multiple times over in order to uncover all of its secrets, and with each run you'll come to appreciate its choreography more and more. Existing inside a living, breathing world with famous historical figures like Thomas Edison is what virtual reality was made for, and the fact that the fiction is able to deliver shocks with such frequency is testament to the quality of the story-telling on display.

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Destructoid: 7 / 10 by Brett Makedonski

There's a complex narrative arcing across all of The Invisible Hours, and Tequila Works found a novel way to present it. It's the rare video game that requires no real player intervention to complete. But, the best possible payoff is a result of diligently following all the stories and getting a full picture of all the proceedings. By the end, you'll feel as if you cleverly solved this murder. In all actuality, you only watched the murder solve itself. That is The Invisible Hours' greatest theatrical feat.

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GameSpot: 7 / 10 by Kallie Plagge

The Invisible Hours is less about solving a murder and more about appreciating the interwoven stories of its compelling characters.

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