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Stories Untold Switch Review: An Excellent Micro-Dose of Horror
An abandoned house is just the beginning to a story in four parts, an anthology of seemingly unconnected stories. It's at first a charming nostalgia trip, nothing like the creepy remnants of the colonial in Gone Home. But then, something changes. It appears that you, the player, isn't just playing a game. Rather you are playing a person playing a game. The text-adventure is a diegetic layer to our character's world, but the two are more merged than they first appear. To divulge any further would ruin the adventure of Stories Untold.
Originally released as a free-to-play PC and MacOS title in 2016, The House Abandon is the first of the four chapters in Stories Untold. It may be the only one that stands firmly on its own, and is the only one available to play when first starting the game. Further stories: The Lab Conduct, The Station Process, and The Last Session involve a bit more of the meta-narrative that verges into spoiler-territory. Each adds a new element of play as well; The House Abandon is a simple text-adventure, The Last Session involves some first-person exploration and more involved environmental interactions. It may purport itself as an anthology, but Stories Untold cannot be so easily defined.
Stories Untold is a story, first and foremost, inspired by the types of games and movies from the 1980s. The "trailer" that precedes each chapter is strongly reminiscent of Stranger Things, a clearly intentional nod that serves the game well. The mostly stationary backgrounds (a computer desk, a weather station in the frozen tundra) are dripping with atmosphere. The game does a lot with a limited view and even more with a short amount of time.
Clocking it at around two hours total, Stories Untold isn't a long game, but it is well worth it for the price. Its narrative is haunting, without an over-reliance on jump scares, and characters are compelling and rich without ever being seen. It's not necessarily a "horror-game," though each story could be classified as horror-adjacent, with elements of psychological and otherworldly terror.
The player controls an unseen character as they interact with a computer (and later, other pieces of technology). They are able to look around in the space and lean in - a functional zoom - to see closer. The "L" button opens up the available inputs for the computer, simulating the commands in a text-adventure game. It's a solid design choice that helps make this Switch port accessible and easily understood.
Unfortunately, the port is practically unplayable in the Switch's undocked mode. The text is way too small to be readable, even in the zoomed-in view, especially in later game sections. There are also several other control issues involving navigating that were likely much easier on the computer. Here paging through a file feels unwieldy. It's a small issue, but persistent nonetheless.
Stories Untold is the perfect game for a quick escape, which is ironic because it almost feels like a virtual escape room. Each "room" (read chapter) offers puzzles that can only be solved if the entire area is sufficiently explored. Some of these puzzles work better than others - when the game leans into logic instead of memory or repetition, it gets more interesting. But even when the answer eludes you, it is easy to continue to search for it. The small space could feel claustrophobic, but it is truly the ideal size. There's enough to get lost in, subtle hints at a greater mystery, hidden jokes like the Easter eggs developers hid in the games of old.
Yet Stories Untold is not a game for everyone; it's short length and limited interaction make it appear more like Black Mirror's Bandersnatch than most AAA titles. That comparison is not quite fair, because Stories Untold goes beyond what the player expects at every turn. Each chapter evolves and reveals a new layer of thought. There are many ways to tell a story, but Stories Untold could only be told this way.
Stories Untold is out now on the Nintendo Switch for $9.99. It was previously released on PC and MacOS in 2017.
