The Occupation Reviews
Brilliantly conceived but sloppily executed, The Occupation's potential as an immersive detective sim suffers from too many technical problems to recommend it.
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
A great idea executed in a mediocre way. If you can deal with the lack of polish, there is an interesting game here.
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
The Occupation is a classic example of a concept with great promise but poor execution.
The Occupation doesn't live up to its promises. After one hour of investigation, the player won't even try to understand what's going on anymore, as the narration feels way too elusive. Not to mention all the technical issues (framerate drops, glitches) and the bland art direction. It's a shame, given the interesting themes mentioned in the game.
Review in French | Read full review
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 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 tense, imaginative thriller that buckles under the weight of its own ambition.
The Occupation is so many things I have wanted to see in a game, but I can't give it the love and adoration I want to.
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
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.
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.
The best bit of The Occupation is creeping around and scrabbling through paperwork, and that bit is bloody brilliant.
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.