Investigative Journalism
Platform: Javascript
There's a quiet little town in the desert you might like to visit. A place where the dog park allows neither dogs nor humans, not that you should look at or think about it, where the weather is all-seeing and all-knowing (as well as kinda glowy), and a certain radio station helps those lonely, interminable hours we call being awake pass more pleasantly. For a lot of us, Astrid Dalmady's Twine-based text adventure Investigative Journalism is about as close as we'll ever get to visiting Night Vale... but maybe it's better this way. In this fan-game, you play an intern at the local radio station who's gone looking for The News, which has escaped from its bonds. You'll need to explore the station and the surrounding town to track it down, but of course in Night Vale, nothing is ever easy. Or, well. Sane.
To play, just click the links to explore and interact. Light pink links represent exploration of any sort, while the dark pink ones marked by an eye are decisions. For the most part, Investigative Journalism is probably best regarded as a sort of virtual tour of everyone's favourite cheerful, weird, vaguely Lovecraftian community, and since the writing is up to par, it's easy to imagine Cecil Baldwin's comforting, familiar burr narrating it all to you. That can't be easy to achieve, since Night Vale's charm is the way it so matter-of-factly slips the surreal in with the mundane without so much as batting an eye, but Investigative Journalism largely pulls it off... which of course means that you'll mostly be left confused if you don't already listen to the podcast. While there are a few places where you can fail, the game ultimately allows you to just go back and try again with a different choice, and winning comes down to just exhausting all your options everywhere. Despite that, Investigative Journalism is still going to be a lot of fun for Night Vale fans for the short time it will take you to read through. It's funny, incredibly well executed in several parts, and a perfect homage.
Done! Died, like 3 times, and I'm finally done!
To the parents of gamer2332, the intern, we regret to inform you that your son was lost in the line of community radio text adventuring, and that he will be missed, and never forgotten.
Definitely captures the spirit of Night Vale. Usually you can avoid getting dead if you're familiar with the story and the weirdness of the entire series. Nice little bite-sized adventure.
Ok, I love the Night Vale podcasts, and this game captures the spirit of the podcast really well, but either I am missing something, or does the game just end when I leave the station? I see the screen about Night Vale sprawling out in front of me and not all leads will be fruitful, then nothing happens. No links, no choices, nothing...
I really want there to be more. I have gone through it a couple of times now and the outcome is still the same. I event translated the oracles message and that gave me nothing that helped.
Did you look at everything in the station? And then go into all the buildings in Night Vale (except the Dog Park...obviously)? You should be able to capture The News and bring it back.
I hugged my laptop when I saw this. Then I played the weather and began my investigation.
I survived my internship at the radio station! Great game and pretty logical if you've ever listened to the podcast!
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