14 DAY TRIAL // 
The Occupation is an adventure-investigative thriller where you play a journalist and his mysterious source of leaks. The game is set in North West England in 1987, but the location and time are less important than the premise.
On the verge of civil unrest following a bombing that took the live of 23 citizens, for which an immigrant is being suspected, your task is to prove who or what is behind the terrorist attack and the reasons why anyone would resort to such a terrible act.
You'll be explained right from the start that it's not a coincidence that the terrorist attack happened around the same time that a shadowy part of the British government is trying to convince the other to adopt the Union Act, an anti-immigrant and anti-civil liberty bill.
The premise of the game reminds me of George Orwell's 1984 dystopian novel, which is set three years earlier. Story-wise, I'm thinking The Occupation would be the perfect prequel to Orwell's book, since you have the chance to stop the country from becoming a bureaucratic-authoritarian state.
The Occupation requires stealth above all else, but since it's a story-driven adventure game, you'll have to solve “puzzles” and discover hidden areas to obtain a better outcome at the end of each level. The game is structured into several levels that are smartly blend in the story. Because you play as investigative journalist Harvey Miller, you'll have to interview someone at the end of each level.
Your objective is to find as much information about that person's relation with the Union Act the terrorist attack (or the party behind it) as possible in a given time. Did I say that the game requires you to be stealthy? Well, that's not the only thing you'll be doing while gathering clues about the conspiracy behind the Union Act.
To make things more interesting and frantic, developer White Paper Game has introduced a very important factor: time. In the modern world, time is probably the most precious resource, and that applies for The Occupation as well. You'll have a limited time to gather all the information you and try to uncover as much as you can from the game's plot.
The game drops you 30 or 60 minutes earlier than the time of your meeting, so you must set your alarm watch and start explore various locations to find critical information about the person you're going to interview at the end of the level. Think of it as the final boss that you can only kill with your questions.
As an investigative journalists, you'll have to access restricted areas without being seen by the two security guards patrolling The Bowman Carson Group's building: Daniel Hillben and Steven Crow. If you get caught, you'll be warned and escorted off the premise, but make sure that doesn't happens three times.
Although you're given some general objectives at the beginning of each level, you;'ll find a lot more information that doesn't seem related at first glance. It's your job to connect the dots between the clues you discover and know what piece of information to follow and which one is of less importance. When the time is up, no matter what you do at that moment, the interview will start automatically. Make no mistake, you'll not be able to find all the clues necessary to uncover all the truth from the person you're interviewing, at least not on your first playthrough.
Your main task is to find as much information as possible during the time you have without being caught. You can restart the level if you find the interview unsatisfactory, but I would recommend at least one playthrough before trying to find more clues.
Now, The Occupation benefits from a very interesting concept, although the social/politics leitmotif might not be everyone's cup of tea. Even so, you can definitely play it purely as a stealth game where you break into people's offices to steal much needed objects or hack their computers for information on how to break into other people's offices.
The problem with The Occupation is that while the concept is almost great, the execution is mediocre at most. Besides the bugs and glitches that the game throws at you on a regular basis, the controls are quite awkward and there are major issues with the AI. Don't get me wrong, the game is playable, but it certainly needs more polish and a much better tutorial.
The Good
- Strong, deep narrative
- Great concept
- Compelling story
- Unique approach to investigative journalism
- Solid voice acting
The Bad
- Some bad design choices
- Awkward movement controls
- Technical issues (bugs, glitches)
- Requires multiple playthroughs for the “good” ending more often than not
Conclusion
Also, some design choices artificially increase the game's difficulty, such as the fact that you can only carry one critical item at a time. It feels more like an unfair punishment rather than a gameplay feature.
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.
