Recent reviews by Trintar

**Before starting, know I will avoid any story specifics or spoilers.**

I got The Invisible Hours as part of a bundle and went in having no idea what it was about beyond being some sort of mystery/detective game. Right off the bat, I was a little disappointed by the fact that it seemed to be more of a movie than an actual game. That disappointment evaporated as I played - well watched - through it.

So, how does this work?

Since it's an interactive story more than a game, there are few interactions. You can't interfere with the characters or affect how the story unfolds in any way and are just along for the ride. That being said, you do have things you can collect in the game that help fill in some details on the characters and what was going on before the story takes place. You also have complete control over how you watch the story by positioning yourself wherever you want (even in an area where there are no characters or anything of note to see), as well as have some basic play controls (play, pause, fast-forward, rewind), and the ability to pick up and inspect items in the game - some of which are integral to understanding the whole story.

I quickly realized the potential that stories like this have in a game; especially in a VR setting. Following characters around as they were up to no good as a silent, watchful eye was entertaining. I would watch them lie to each other one minute, and have side deals going on the next. It was great to see the story unfold and it is impossible to catch all of the details without rewinding; and many times there are multiple important interactions going on between characters.

I initially had some reservations that once I saw the story unfold from one character's perspective (you can freely move throughout the game, you aren't tied down to one character or even one place), that the story would then be more or less spoiled and, while I could see the story from the others' perspectives, I would already know what happens. I could not have been more wrong. The story continued to grow in complexity as I watched each character's point of view. It was really interesting to see a character behave one way, only to discover the reason for that motivation later when I was replaying a scene from their perspective. As stated at the beginning, I won't go into specifics, but there are several great twists and turns in the story and I was shocked at things that were happening all the way through my playtime.

Technical Stuff

I played the game in VR on a Vive and used the motion wands for all controls. The game supports teleport to move (and nothing else that I could see) and it works well. I never felt like I needed to be able to have split-second timing or that the teleport wasn't allowing me to stay engaged in the story or keep up.

Duration

If you just sit and watch the story unfold, I would imagine it can be done in 30-45 minutes. Watching the point of view from all characters and seeing the whole story, however, is more in the 5-6 hour range. It took me a little over 7 hours to watch everything as well as get all of the collectibles and achievements.

Who is this game for?

This game is slower paced and for people looking for a fun story more than game play. I found it requires a comparable mindset to a point & click style adventure game (minus the puzzle aspect, though I guess you could argue the puzzle is piecing together the story as you watch).

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was very pleased with this game and enjoyed it very much. I can certainly see why someone would not be interested in it or find it fun, but I do highly recommend it to those who are okay with a more hands-off approach and okay with just watching a story unfold.

This game did something to completely renew my interest in the point and click adventure genre. Though it is a bit dated and showing its age, it has excellent atmosphere. Each location has something haunting and offputting about it. Black Mirror isn't really a horror game, but it is definitely creepy and dark with a couple shocking moments. The story itself is an interesting enough mystery, but it was really the environment and atmosphere that kept me drawn in. The characters and locations are varied and the art style is effective with prerendered backgrounds, though the limited resolution options causes the game to really show its age on higher resolution screens.

Gameplay-wise, a couple of the puzzles aren't exactly logical and can sometimes be frustrating, so I did find myself looking up hints a couple times throughout my playthrough, but that didn't detract from the experience as I was careful to not completely spoil the puzzle or story. Another frustrating part is the lack of a button to show interactable objects in on the screen, sometimes leading to pixel hunting. I found for the most part that it was pretty clear what you were and were not able to interact with, but there were a couple times it wasn't completely clear until I took a peek at some hints. These were usually during instances where the puzzle had an illogical solution.

Overall, I would highly recommend the game for the atmosphere alone if you have an interest in Gothic architecture, old churches, small English towns, or an early 1900s setting (though the game takes place in 1981, a lot of the locations and people feel older).