THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN
MARKED FOR DISPOSAL
OS 210/64
OS 504/6
A Hand With Many Fingers is a short and humble corkboard sleuthing game that posts the player into an archive of boxes, paper slips, and a whiff of conspiracy.
I don't have much I'd like to split hairs over about mechanical specifics; the game is relatively thin on substance, as well as in the scope of the overall investigation. The ending is also rather abrupt, which is a little disappointing! Also… shocked to learn that there was a kernel of truth to much of the names and events depicted?? Never knew!! Genuinely wish the game went further into exploring the atrocious under-the-table dealings of the CIA, and I’d def hold it against AHwMF for only giving us the top layer. O well, I've always desperately wanted a sleuthing game that granted me the power to Pepe Silvia across a few corkboards, linking articles and photos with a hieroglyphic cobweb of red twine - and this is the closest I’ve found yet!
I’d most like to compliment the game for its stellar employment of oppressive atmosphere, how well it builds a sense of paranoia without cheap tricks. As my corkboard grew more complex, my search for the truth turned almost frantic and conspiratorial. Milling over a filing cabinet I was sure to find the information I needed in, and turning up blank. “I know the man I’m looking for was here, in this year… right? Who was he with? Why was he here, anyway?”. The phone rings, and when I pick up, nobody answers. Did I just see someone looking at me from the building across from me? Has that car just opposite the office window always been there? The looping classical music sample on the radio becomes annoying, so I turn it off, only to realise that the sheer quiet of the archive is host to a palpable hostility. Come to the end, I was a jumpy mess, skipping heartbeats at subtle audio cues like bugs skittering and lights flickering. I kind of loved that, and frankly genius that it managed to wrangle these feelings out of me where the gameplay loop is essentially just admin work!! The untapped power of beige, babye.
MARKED FOR DISPOSAL
OS 210/64
OS 504/6
A Hand With Many Fingers is a short and humble corkboard sleuthing game that posts the player into an archive of boxes, paper slips, and a whiff of conspiracy.
I don't have much I'd like to split hairs over about mechanical specifics; the game is relatively thin on substance, as well as in the scope of the overall investigation. The ending is also rather abrupt, which is a little disappointing! Also… shocked to learn that there was a kernel of truth to much of the names and events depicted?? Never knew!! Genuinely wish the game went further into exploring the atrocious under-the-table dealings of the CIA, and I’d def hold it against AHwMF for only giving us the top layer. O well, I've always desperately wanted a sleuthing game that granted me the power to Pepe Silvia across a few corkboards, linking articles and photos with a hieroglyphic cobweb of red twine - and this is the closest I’ve found yet!
I’d most like to compliment the game for its stellar employment of oppressive atmosphere, how well it builds a sense of paranoia without cheap tricks. As my corkboard grew more complex, my search for the truth turned almost frantic and conspiratorial. Milling over a filing cabinet I was sure to find the information I needed in, and turning up blank. “I know the man I’m looking for was here, in this year… right? Who was he with? Why was he here, anyway?”. The phone rings, and when I pick up, nobody answers. Did I just see someone looking at me from the building across from me? Has that car just opposite the office window always been there? The looping classical music sample on the radio becomes annoying, so I turn it off, only to realise that the sheer quiet of the archive is host to a palpable hostility. Come to the end, I was a jumpy mess, skipping heartbeats at subtle audio cues like bugs skittering and lights flickering. I kind of loved that, and frankly genius that it managed to wrangle these feelings out of me where the gameplay loop is essentially just admin work!! The untapped power of beige, babye.