Have you been watching season two of Mr. Robot? Perhaps you're still catching up with the brilliant first season. Or maybe the recent hype means you're just starting out with Sam Esmail's series, which is currently available to stream on Amazon Video. If so, you're in for a treat.
Whatever your level of familiarity with Mr. Robot, you'll want to pay attention to Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n, a new iOS and Android game from Night School Studio and Telltale Games.
Yes, that Telltale Games - the studio behind a series of excellent adventure games utilising popular IP like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Interested?
Can you hack it?
If you've ever seen an episode of Mr. Robot, of course you're interested. It tells the tale of a mysterious hacker collective headed by a troubled young computer genius, and the group's attempts to bring down the world's biggest company, E Corp. It's about a lot more than that, of course, but to go any further would be to encroach into spoiler territory.
All that's important to know is that Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n is a new interactive fiction game set during the first season. So it's probably a good idea to get that watched (at least partially) first.
The game itself styles itself as the fiction E Corp's messaging service. Think WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. You'll 'sign up' for the service, accept the terms and conditions, and agree to receiving notifications on your phone (you really should agree to that last one, regardless of your normal intrusive game policy).
According to the game's fiction, however, you've picked up this phone from the street. You're soon contacted, through E Corp's app, by the owner of the phone - and they turn out to be involved in something pretty major. Oh, and also one of the main characters from the show.
You have a new message
The plot unfolds in a series of text messages from various parties (which is why you should say yeas to notifications) over time. You choose from multiple responses to further the dialogue. There's a natural ebb and flow to the conversations, with convincing txt spk selling you on the idea that you're having a conversation with a real person.
You'll also get various automated messages from third party services (library notices, pizza deliveries), just as you do in real life, which adds further colour to the game's world.
If you've ever played and enjoyed the Lifeline series of games, you'll be familiar with this effective approach to narrative. With an added twist of Mr. Robot's scarily plausible world, it arguably packs even more of a punch.
Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n is available to buy now on iOS for £2.29 and on Android for £2.79.
