That fella is Robert Conway, a retired directive living in Dahlia View in the English town of Riverport. After an eight-year-old girl is reported missing, he gets nosy. He’ll observe residents to “uncover clues, study suspicious behaviour, and gain new leads” as well as exploring Dahlia View, solving puzzles, interrogating people, and profiling suspects. Honestly, that sounds great. A fine-sounding investigation. Also probably a grim investigation. “We’ve put a lot of energy into creating a blend between the puzzle and storytelling elements from Ether One with the evidence-collecting and character-driven dialogue interactions of The Occupation to bring you our latest IP,” White Paper co-founder Pete Bottomley said in the announcement. The Occuption was a fascinating game, running in real time with everyone doing their own jobs and tasks - and your reporter trying to learn these routines so he can poke his nose to better inform his interviews. Alice Bee said in our The Occupation review that it “does a brilliant job of making some seconds feel like hours” while you try to do something you shouldn’t do somewhere you shouldn’t be. “You can set a timer and alarms on your watch while you slip in and out of rooms,” Alice explained. “A safe needs two entire minutes to cycle through its unlock protocol, and the chunky, creaking computers of the 80s take an age to check if your login attempt was correct. Drawers in filing cabinets open at a glacial speed, and with a terrible drawn out screech that you are certain can be heard in every room in the building. I have never felt more like a journalist than when I was rifling through a box of files whilst keeping on eye on the office door. Then you get to slap down evidence in front of a lying witness, evidence that you stole from her office not 20 minutes ago! Take that.” I’m well up for more investigation. Especially as a nosy neighbour. Conway: Disappearance At Dahlia View is due to launch this autumn, coming to Steam, GOG, and Humble. It’ll be on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox too. E3 2021 may be over but our memories live on - see everything on our E3 hub. Many more big game showcases and streams are still to come this summer, leading up to Gamescom, so see our summer games stream schedule to stay up to date.
