14 DAY TRIAL // 
There’s a rumor that something big is happening in the coffee market. Some sources are talking about it, some insiders are even naming a clear hour when big news will hit. I know even more than they do and I massively short one company that will be affected negatively. I then pop out to get the strongest coffee blend I can from the machine and return to my comfy chair, picking up a few long positions based on less clear info.
At the appointed hour the market moves, I make a ton of money and wait for the day to end. I splurge my bonus on some luxury furniture and a condo I rent out immediately. Welcome to the charmed life of a stock trader in The Invisible Hand. The game is developed by Power Struggle Games and published by Fellow Traveller. The experience can only be played on the PC, via Steam, Humble, or GOG, and aims to deliver both interesting stock market-based gameplay and a narrative that packs a punch.
The concept is easy to grasp: the player starts off as an intern in a major financial services firm. He quickly gets an education on how trading works and access to a bank of screens that allows him to use the company’s money to play the stock market. There are feeds offering information about the various companies and commodities listed. A simple interface allows him to get basic information about their past performance and their competitors. There’s even an illegal insider info application that gamers can use to gain an unfair advantage, getting early details about events that can move the market.
The Invisible Hand first tasks the player to simply perform better than another potential employee and the entire concept reads like a video game massively inspired by recent show Industry. After a few days, the game adds a lobby option, allowing a gamer to directly influence events and to drive stocks up or down. When a day of trading ends (each in-game minute is a real-world second and beverages are used to increase or decrease the speed) an evaluation screen pops up.
Reaching objectives and making money allows players to defeat rival traders and advance. And dollars can also be used to buy properties, acquire luxury items and throw parties. The player character also interacts with other people at the firm, with writing that varies in quality quite a bit, aiming for funny or ironic and sometimes failing to deliver on either.
The gameplay is decent on its own but the fun of simply playing the market is undermined by the fact that The Invisible Hand is designed to have a message. The game amplifies the real world to critique it. The markets move very quickly based mostly on rumors or on very fast lobbying. Traders are shallow individuals who have too much money and fail to do anything good with it. Big firms only act selfishly and will make everyone suffer to get their precious profits.
There are kernels of truth to everything in the game. But the story is so heavy-handed that it actively discouraged me from engaging with the critique that Power Struggle Games is attempting. And the narrative is so big that it detracts from having some fun with the stock trading mechanics.
The Invisible Hand aims for a partially stylized look to offset the lack of resources for presentation. The trading screens and other financial interactions are well-organized and easy to use, which is a good thing even if the actual trading is mostly for show. The world and characters look bad, more like sketches (which might serve as another comment on the emptiness of the finance industry), and the game would have benefited from even more abstraction and even less personal interactions.
The biggest disappointment in the presentation department is the soundtrack. Music, well-chosen and stirring, would have added a lot to the emotional element of the experience but the development team clearly lacked the resources for it. Instead, they used a rather generic take on Muzak.
The Good
- Stock trading elements
- Some satirical elements
- Hot beverage action
The Bad
- Disjointed gameplay and story
- Satire focus
- Limited appeal presentation
Conclusion
The problem is that the development team wants to deliver on both concepts and fails to reach the potential of either of them. The limited appeal of the presentation does not help with either of them. Even worse, the narrative side feels too arch, too designed to show off the evil of a system rather than portray somewhat believable people. As it stands, The Invisible Hand is an ambitious but shallow video game that fails to deliver on its solid initial pitch.
Review code provided by the publisher.
