The Occupation

Release Date: March 5, 2019

Adventure, FPP, stealth, thriller, arcade elements, politics, indie games, 80s, singleplayer

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Steam

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A first-person adventure game created by White Paper Games - an independent British studio. The story involves politics to a large extent, and is set in England of the 1980s. The player takes on the role of a journalist who is investigating the circumstances of passing a controversial bill that reduces the citizens' freedoms. For the most part, the player explores the in-game locations and solves puzzles.

Plot
Mechanics
Technical aspects

The Occupation for PC is an adventure game played from the first-person view. It was developed by a team of five gamemakers from White Paper Games, which is a studio based in Manchester. The game is the second project of the British team, who debuted in 2014 with the release of another FPP adventure game – the well-received Ether One.

Plot

The player is taken to England, and the action begins on October 24, 1987. The story begins with a terrorist attack, which leaves 23 people dead. As a response to the threat, the British government passes a bill that greatly reduces the citizens' freedoms, in the name of security. However, traces appear, suggesting that the course of events had been orchestrated, and the terrorist attack was carried out by people working for the government. The game can be classified as a political thriller based on conspiracy theories – such projects involve the basic difficulty of interpreting one's information in a correct manner, as facts can be linked together in a variety of coherent ways. Although the story is set in the past, the game discusses such up-to-date issues, as freedom of speech, one's private sphere, journalism ethics or disinformation.

Mechanics

The Occupation for PC is an adventure game played from the first-person view. In the game, one spends most of their time exploring the locations, solving puzzles, and talking to people that can have information needed for the investigation. Apart from that, the game features elements of stealth, as the player sometimes has to reach a certain place without getting spotted, search it, and leave without raising suspicion. Contrary to a lot of other games of this kind, instead of getting acquainted with most of the events indirectly (conversations, messages, notes, etc), the player takes part in all the key moments, and their actions can determine the course of events.

Technical aspects

The Occupation for PC utilizes the Unreal Engine 4. Thanks to this, the game's visuals are both suggestive and atmospheric. The atmosphere itself is slightly dream-like and melancholic, and the game world was presented using a graphic style reminiscent of the BioShock series.

Last updated on February 5, 2018

Videos and Screens

[1:57] The Occupation launch trailer

[9:58] The Occupation trailer #2

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