The Occupation Reviews
The Occupation is a game of intriguing ideas and sublime atmosphere; the tension of its real-time thrills gives way to a romance with journalistic sleuthing.
A tense, imaginative thriller that buckles under the weight of its own ambition.
The Occupation's fierce commitment to immersing the player in its credible world is also the game's undoing.
The Occupation is a taut investigative simulation and stealth thriller. It's infused with a realistic and multidimensional approach to mechanics, systems, and level design. This is a must-play for fans of Deus Ex and Dishonored.
There's a lot to love with The Occupation. It's got humanity, tension, and plenty of little touches that make finding that extra bit of information exciting without the usual violence you've come to expect from stealth games. However, its focus on no manual saving and real-time gameplay will be a dealbreaker. It's not for everyone, but anyone craving consequence and narrative in their stealth game will find a challenge worth facing.
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 structures itself in an interesting way, sets a unique tone, and toys with some potent topics, but lacks the depth or polish needed to live up to its potential. Like a disappointing newspaper article, you're left with more questions than answers and wishing somebody would do the subject proper justice. The Occupation is, unfortunately, pretty vacant.
Despite that, if you enjoy uncovering the truth of a mysterious story, and don't mind replaying a game to uncover the full story, you'll want to pick up a copy of The Occupation when it launches on March 5th for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.
Would I recommend The Occupation? Yes. If you like real stealth and a kind of nostalgia and have a good gaming session you can dedicate to the game. It will reward you well. If you are a gamer with not much time, I am not too sure. But I certainly wouldn’t let that put you off giving it a go.
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 bold, ambitious, and a bit of a mess. Its bugs and occasionally obtuse storytelling severely detract from the overall experience, and yet it will live longer in the memory than the average game. There's something fascinating here: a real-time thriller that puts genuine political power in the palm of your hands. But it's strangled by its own ambition, and that's as inevitable as it is unfortunate.
If you're willing to push past a large number of technical issues and poor stealth gameplay, there's a fantastic story buried deep in The Occupation's heart
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 is a charismatic mystery game, full of interesting game mechanics and writing that thrusts players into the midst of political turmoil.
The Occupation has a premise that is really intriguing in theory. Trying to spy on a powerful entity and taking them to task with your questioning is the kind of experience that can be great in the game, and taking inspiration from current affairs makes it feel much more authentic. It's a shame that various bugs, even when updated to the most recent build, can make the experience feel lacklustre, and at times a frustration to play.
The Occupation tries to present itself as a political thriller emphasizing stealth. Sadly, it has neither the thrills nor the mechanics for both.
An occasionally brilliant immersive sim blighted by bugs and a restrictive save system.
The Occupation is a unique and intriguing investigative thriller, that is sadly ruined by a multitude of performance issues that see it never reach its full potential
The Occupation is an inventive political thriller that does something new, but is let down by poor AI and some frustrating bugs.
Playing The Occupation is like puzzling over a dense little knot of tangled priorities, information, and pressures. It’s tense to play through, and even more fun to go back and try the process again, armed with information from previous runs.