The Occupation Reviews
It's not going to be for everyone, but The Occupation is a great game that deserves to be played by those who love the detective genre.
The Occupation is a game in which you can’t take anything for granted, especially the time you have to wander the halls of the BCG. At its core, it’s a stealth game in which you must avoid detection whilst you gather evidence and incriminating information so you can push your interviewees for more info, but it’s also a nostalgic trip back to the ’80s here in the North West of England. How you go about completing the game is your choice, key events are scripted and unmissable, but what you do outside of those is up to you. Also, regardless of how much you’ve found/uncovered, the show must go on as you’re forced into the next segment with or without the things you need.
The Occupation might not be the first of its kind, yet it manages to provide a distinct experience that delivers on everything it promises. With completion only lasting a few hours, you’ll find yourself craving more, whilst not actually feeling like your time with the game was cut short.
The foundations are present for a really enjoyable, unique game, and given more time, it could be. In OnlySP’s interview with White Paper Games, the team already outlined plans to tweak the game after release. If White Paper Games can fix these initial problems, The Occupation may yet be one of 2019’s best releases, just not upon initial release.
The Occupation is a great experience that will have you breaking a sweat as you attempt to use every last second you have to discover the truth about the Turing Incident.
Despite its issues, The Occupation is thrilling, even with its lack of traditional life threatening situations. Hiding behind chairs to wait for Steve the Security guard to leave after you’ve accidentally set off an alarm, nervously awaiting the full 2 minutes for a safe to open while desperately hoping someone doesn’t walk in on you, hiding under a desk while a file slowly transfers to a disk, waiting just out of view until someone opens a door than attempting to follow them in unseen – The Occupation is full of moment to moment nail biting situations where time is your enemy and your most precious resource.
The Occupation it's an intelligent and ambitious game that could have become one of this year's surprises —and maybe it will, when it's properly finished.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Although imperfect in many ways, I still consider The Occupation to be a totally worthwhile experience and a great display of ambitious game design. The investigative components and political thriller narrative are highly engaging in spite of its clunky packaging.
The Occupation was on the right track. The developers were on the right track. Everything could have been on the right track. It just needed debuggers.
A remarkable political thriller with real-time elements that differentiate it from other games in the same genre. The fairly common and serious technical problems are a deal breaker, sadly.
Review in Greek | Read full review
On the whole though, a very well done game with an outstandingly impressive attention to detail.
The Occupation is an excellent concept for a game, and something I hope to see done more in the future, but it failed in several regards this time around. The story is perfectly functional, but the implied intrigue is nothing more than an implication, and any curiosity I had to learn more was purely in disbelief that it could be as simple as it seemed. The mechanics and systems, particularly those built around stealth, are far from refined, and further still from “fun.” Even fundamental interface components are tremendously flawed, as well as a bunch of other technical issues throughout. I love the premise of The Occupation so much, and I genuinely hope to see more in its ilk, but I simply can’t recommend this game.
The Occupation is a classic example of a concept with great promise but poor execution.
The Occupation is not recommend to those players that care for graphics ou how much time you will pass in front of the TV. Even with some technicals issues, it's recommended for those that appreciate a beautiful investigative story.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Occupation is not recommend to those players that care for graphics ou how much time you will pass in front of the TV. Even with some technicals issues, it's recommended for those that appreciate a beautiful investigative story.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The main problem with The Occupation is that it hides all the good things (i.e. great concept, strong narrative) under a layer of wrong design decision, bugs, glitches and awkward controls. I had high hopes for this one, but in this state I would not recommend The Occupation to just anyone.
Freeform investigation with multiple outcomes is scarcely as good as it is in The Occupation, so it's disappointing to see it paired with clunky stealth and an unwillingness to give players enough time to find the game's best-kept secrets.
The Occupation is one of the most unique games in recent years, and despite some weird issues and shortages, it is still one the best in the Immersive Sim genre. Its solid narrative and smart design will keep you engaged form the start to the very end and even after you beat the game, you'll still want some more.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Occupation merges the political thriller into a video game in a fantastic way, but the slow burn of politics and its drama seeps into the gameplay and makes the title more tedious overall.
A great idea executed in a mediocre way. If you can deal with the lack of polish, there is an interesting game here.