Big shout out to Chris Goodwin for bringing this game to my attention.
Lifeline is really something else, impressively so but it doesn’t sound like it. A text based adventure, told through the character communicating directly with you with dialogue options and choices for you to make. As I said, it doesn’t sound like much.
Meet Taylor; his ship crash landed on a moon out in the furthest reaches of charted space. Alone in the arse end of nowhere hardly does justice to the predicament he finds himself in. He needs help, he needs rescued and that’s where you come in. You are the only person he can communicate with and so it falls to you to try and help as best you can.
The story is told in real time via notifications, so you can fit it into your own life without much hassle. Don’t worry if you can’t respond it “pauses” when there is a choice to make so the story won’t move all that far ahead without you. This would probably be a good time to point out that I’m talking about a Mobile game on IOS and Android.
Taylor is an interesting character, you get to know him well and build a connection which is the masterstroke of this games design. I started to care about Taylor early on and wanted to make sure I did my best to keep him safe. Without that relationship this game wouldn’t be half as good as it is.
It costs less than £1 and I’d highly recommend everyone plays it. It’s not intrusive and perfect for that 5 minute break we all take from the work we are meant to be doing throughout the day.
That’s the spoiler free post above; if you have played it or just don’t care, you can keep reading. If not, check back next week for another exciting blog!
SPOILERS FOLLOW BELOW!!!
Well now, the story took some interesting turns indeed. I love the banter you can have with Taylor; the sarcastic, self-deprecating humour is fantastic. We love that over in the UK. To be able to look the nightmare scenario in the eye and crack a joke at its expense makes him the sort of little hero we all appreciate.
The game manages to hold its suspense really well, it builds it up and carries it forward along with the mysteries of what is really going on. The little green aliens were quite a surprise twist in the story, I didn’t shrug them off or think “oh no, not some daft aliens” I really was surprised about what the hell was happening, intrigued to say the least.
Let me know what you thought of Lifeline if you played it @adamthomas1994 on Twitter, in the comments or email in.
Thanks for reading!
