TR-49 is a new game from the folks at Inkle, who have created a number of narrative-driven games I've enjoyed. Heaven's Vault, 80 Days, and Overboard to name a few.
This game is a solid attempt at a narrative deduction game, in the same style as The Roottrees are Dead and Her Story, where you explore data and piece together a mystery.
What I Didn't Like
Narrative Stakes Imbalance
TR-49 takes place in a basement using a World War II-style code-breaker computer that is designed to read through text and analyze it. As you explore the comments on the texts it has ingested, you start to put together a story of what sort of power this computer has.
While you analyze the data, you receive voice comments from various characters from outside of the basement who elaborate on the state of the world, where it seems kind of grim from the sound of things.
My problem is that the stakes in the data really don't line up with the state of the world. After completing the game, I looked a little more into it, and that might have been by design to lead to some debate, but it was something of a gap while I played.
What I Liked
Clever Uses of Simple Mechanics
In a deductive reasoning game, there usually aren't a lot of mechanics. It's data analysis with a sort of in-game interface that helps you organize your thoughts and deductions.
TR-49 is no different, but what is interesting is how they play around with such limited mechanics and find different ways for you to analyze and interact with the data.
Duration is Adequate
This is about a 6 to 8 hour experience, which means for me it was closer to 8.5. 😅
This was the right length for the game.
The biggest challenge with narrative deduction games is that the last bit of deduction is the slowest. For me, it involves searching through everything you can to figure out what detail you overlooked, and it can get tedious.
As usual, I hit that monotonous stretch right around hour seven, but had the pieces to figure out what I was missing (for the most part). Once I managed to find those missing details, the game drew to an end, which is exactly when it needed to end.
Were there more secrets? Yep. Was there more to explore? Definitely. But it was all icing and not required to get the full experience.
The Conclusion
This was a fun weekend experience. I played it with my partner, just like I did with Overboard, and had a great time.
It's bite-sized, doesn't overstay its welcome, and (as Inkle games are) quite clever with such limited mechanics.
For the things that I didn't like, they are nitpicks and very subjective to each player. Even then, I would 100% recommend this game over others in the same genre and am looking forward to seeing what Inkle brings to the table next.
