Stonewall Penitentiary Reviews

I enjoyed this escape room-style mystery game. In comparison with the other games in the Storycentric Worlds series. This one wasn't as "fun" as the previous one where you were exploring a theater, but it had something none of the previous ones had, which was a villain you could understand. All the others were Good vs. Evil, which is just never interesting. In particular I liked the little ARG bit that you get to do after the game is over which allows you to hear a little bit more about the killer from his own lips. It was good and made sense. I do wish the killer had had the chance to discuss these thoughts with the main character, however. The plot is nothing remotely original, but it is well-executed and the characters are interesting to learn about, especially the ones who survive longer and the protagonist. The puzzles are all logical, but on the easy side (though I've seen worse in this type of game, definitely.) I only got stuck once because of pixel hunting, but fortunately it was when I was confined to a single room with three screens. I think a fun idea would be to remake this game from the killer's perspective as a stealth game. How do you constantly get all your murders set up with out running into any of the several people walking through and searching the same corridors you have to navigate. :-P I only say because after I finished the game, I was trying to figure out how was possible for the killer to be in front of the protagonist in certain scenes.

Another winner from Storycentric Worlds! Stonewall Penitentiary has a graphic novel look to it with very good voiceover talent. The story is well-written and engrossing. While, yes, I was getting the Agatha Christie And Then There Were None feel to it, knowing that did not take away from the mystery and intrigue of this horrific prison's history and its less than desirable current inmates. I love the detail that go into these games and I always think I have looked at everything, but still find that there are things I missed. I will just have to replay the game again! There are some serious choices in this game that will determine how you proceed at certain points (maybe how I missed some of the things I missed). There are lots of letters and journals to find, and clicking to get info on everything you see is vital to the game experience and solving the mystery. If those kinds of things appeal to you, this game will likely make you very happy.

So I've Just finished the game and don't know where to start to give you folk just an idea on how good this game is for now I will start with the premise of the game: You're William Thane a man oppressed by alcoholism and depression who recently lost his work and divorced from his wife.This gruff young dude show in his voice (thanks to an appropriate voice over of his dialog lines) all the grief of a man who had to find a new reason to live but also a man that keep for himself a Horrible secret that taunt him and from wich William desperately try to escape by losing his senses in drinking. As the luck he had until now wasn't enough poor William is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken unconscious is thrown (tied up and naked) by his captor inside a dark cell of an abandoned prison specifically the infamous "Stonewall Penitentiary" an old structure who got behind it a dark story for holding in it some of the most dangerous & devious criminals of the California state (The author give you a good immersion in the game by showing you creepy hand-drawn scenes, a fit ambient soundtrack that will make you feel the anxiety of a closed claustrophobic space, and letting you find journals and evidence left by past residents of the building, Inmates and guards alike. Useful for help you discover, aside a way to escape, how the building come to his decline) Soon after He wake up (and you complete the tutorial) Williams is joined by a set of shady characters each with their own quirks and a distinctive voice but with obvious diffidence for each other, they all will be William new companions in this disgrace. Some will clash for their different ways to see the situation but had soon to come to terms with each other presence for they have seen revealed on a old TV screen the reason why you were reunited: you all got the unwanted attention of a serial killer know only as "The Judge". A smart but dangerous individual wanted by the police and with a long hit list of victims. For unknown reasons this masked freak is obsessed with the concept of "justice" and want to make sure to punish each and everyone of his captured "criminals" as payment for the sins they all have committed. To make it fair or just make more frustrating the prisoners fate He/She would give only one chance to his inmates for escape. they will have to survive until 6 AM as by that time the sealed main door of the prison will unlock itself and any of the survivors will be left to escape. But for each hour that passes starting from 12:00 PM to 6:00 AM The Judge will try to find and kill ONE of his SIX prisoners. The problem that become quikly obvious is: there is 7 of you It become evident after asserting the building is sealed that only one among them can be the real Killer but who could it be the man or woman behind the mask? The sweet teenager with addiction problems? The tall muscled Black Man with repressed anger ?, The Charismatic but self-centered Businessman ?, The nervous kid in search of others approval?, or is it maybe The lascivious Hollywood Star who likes to "fuck around?" or is the greedy Lawyer and "Femme Fatale"? could it be she is behind this? or maybe there is just a darker side we didn't see behind William sad apathetic apparence? suspence and doubts about yourself and other fellow prisoners will be an ever present situation. Good luck in trying to figure out WHO is the one behind all this as each and everyone of your companions plead innocence and feign ignorance about the surreal and horrific situation, you will have choices in this games and some of them will allow you to see their Good or Bad sides and find out not all of them deserve to escape this place, you will know them more by making them join your party at some point (An innovative choice by the Author as it is implied this mad killer is amoung you and each time you have someone in the party it could be that you picked the wrong company, don't expect choices in all the dialogues as not all of this guys are willing to trust you). Keep in mind that at the End you're given the opportunity to point the finger on "Whodunit?" only one choice on 7 is correct so for those who like Detective's work keep your eyes open for every clues and you will not regret it. Now about gameplay after what I've written you probably would think a Night's at Freddy scenario but the truth is this is a first-person adventure (You can navigate by clicking on the screen where you want to go. Unfortunately this new way to navigate that changed itself from the past interactive fiction titles: Lifestream, Shady Brook, The Filmmaker so it can be a little strange to use for first-timers as the direction isn't very intuitive and you player will have to "surf" the screen a lot. But luckily provided to you is the ever useful map that automatically will show the directions in the area where you are and where you can go. As this is a story driven game All the events are scripted in a logical order of the events that will advance not by time but by discovering and resolving puzzles (This title got some really hard ones) but don't let your guard down for this Killer would appear in more than one chase and you would be in need to think fast on your feet. Aside few bugs. A really good experience that I reccomend to everyone who love a good mystery and dark stories (this is on the level with Shady Brook for chills it given me a true psychological horror feeling, I didn't see the finale coming!). [spoiler] PS. the cathartic feeling and satisfaction when you can still "bat" the culprit at the end while holding a cellphone in hand (if is a bug please don't change it, in a bad way it was fun =). Also loved that PREVIEW for the next title (Some Fantasy theme this time? X) [spoiler]

Will wakes up in an abandoned prison for the criminally insane. He is locked in a cell with his hands tied. A female voice reaches out and Will must work together with this mysterious woman to escape from his cell. We soon find out that the two of us are definitely not alone and more victims were also kidnapped, put in the same prison and worked together just like us to escape from their own locked cells. Shortly after meeting each other we learn why we are put in this prison, what we must to do survive and what would happen to us if we were to not carry out the instructions of our captor. There is only limited time to escape and every hour one of us has to die. The door will open when the clock hits a specific hour but who will make it out alive when that time comes? Our captor surely follows up on their word and bodies start dropping like flies shortly after. The killer is among us in the prison. Who is he or she among the 7 suspects including our character? Who can we trust? Can we even trust ourselves? This whole theme is a constant and most welcome reminder of the many Saw movies I enjoyed watching as well as the awesome concept of Agatha Christie's masterpiece and my most favourite murder mystery novel of all time, Then There Were None. Stonewall Penitentiary doesn't have moon logic puzzles. There are clues and hints for every one of them. There are also just enough hints to determine who the killer is at the end without making it too obvious. Guessing the killer correctly will also reward you with an achievement called "Elementary" which is a nice little nod at Sherlock. While I truly appreciate the game not having pixel hunting or moon logic puzzles, there is ample amount of backtracking. When you do a certain puzzle or trigger a specific event, something will happen in some room. For example an item you need to progress will be strategically placed there by the killer. Therefore I found myself constantly checking every room far more frequently than I should in my opinion just to avoid getting stuck. There could have been vague hints for this but maybe there were and I missed them. I also would have truly appreciated having the option to "read" journals or notes instead of trying to directly read characters' handwriting. Certain journals were hard for me to decipher due to their fonts. Speaking of missing hints or clues, the game has a point system. In order to get the perfect score which is 675, you need to have triggered every possible dialogue with every character, found every clue and discovered every secret. My final score at the end was 634 so I missed 41 points worth of secrets. Who knows what I missed because sadly there is no guide for it either. I'm actually quite curious because the prison is filled with so many secrets giving the player a lot of insight about its background, management, guards, patients as well as the experiments and "treatments" that took place there. This horrifying prison becomes even grimmer than it was before with each of these revelations. Unfortunately there is only one save slot and it gets deleted after finishing the game. After making a certain decision I proceeded with completing the game. I backed up my save prior to making that decision because I wanted to choose the other option only to realise that I can't use that save file again. If you like murder mystery "whodunit" type of stories and/or enjoy point and click let's escape puzzle games do yourself a favour and make sure to try this little gem out.

I'm only about 2 hours in but I'm loving this game so far! It's a murder mystery and reminiscent of the Saw movies. You're trapped inside a prison with a bunch of strangers, and you don't know who to trust. The gameplay is similar to first person graphic adventures from the 1990s and early 2000s, kind of like the Nancy Drew games. The voice acting and music are good, and the graphics have a hand-drawn look that fits the tone of the game. I recommend it for anyone looking for a good adventure game or a fun mystery!

I've been waiting for this game for a long time and I am not disappointed. This game is so creepy. You're locked in an abandoned prison with six other people, one of whom you suspect is a murderous madman.... but which one of the others is it? The dialogue is excellent and the style of the graphics really adds to the experience. Also, you are presented with several choices as the story unfolds and your decisions make a difference, especially in the final outcome of the game. A big thumbs up!

Stonewall Penitentiary is a very well written thriller and plays like a good interactive book that should provide about 7-8 hours of fun. As the game description says, it's a "whodunnit" but a really good one - kept me intrigued till the end. The gameplay is mainly point n' click with puzzles, all in beautifully made 2D scenes, although the setting itself can be a bit claustrophobic at times. The characters are pretty generic but varied and believable, the voice acting is not bad either. Scene navigation is easy, the UI and its interactions are very intuitive - point n' click lovers should feel right at home here.

[b]stonewall penitentiary[/b] is a 1st-person point & click murder mystery. you wake up naked and tied up in a prison cell after somebody brought you and a few others there to confess your sins, and they will probably resort to more convincing methods than saying 'please'. once you and the girl next door get out of your cells, you're invited to meet some new friends in the prison cafeteria, because the villain is one of those playful ones, like jigsaw from the [b]saw[/b] movies. 6 people who all killed somebody, whether they acknowledge it or not, 6 hours to find a way out, but after each hour somebody will die. luckily, [b]it's not a timed game[/b], and after a 7th person shows up, it's clear that one of them is the captor. this is mentioned on the store page, not much of a spoiler, and there's clearly more to the story, to be found out at your convenience. simple point & click controls with optional hotkeys, left click on an item to look at it or take it, but [b]no hotspot indicator and right click doesn't zoom out of a close-up[/b]. besides the inventory there's a map, shows all possible exits for the rooms, but no fast travel and only the current area is visible, can't switch to others. the character window shows your current goals and score, like in the good old days, and journal entries scattered all around fill story gaps. companions will occasionally follow your around, commenting on stuff and [b]some dialog choices affect the story[/b], handily marked before making a decision. there aren't many of them and they didn't seem to do much, except near the end. windowed mode available, separate volume settings (low/medium/high only, not the best) and text size settings, which is always nice, should be a more common feature. since it's a very dark game, brightness settings would've been nice, but there's in-game representation of achievements and a tutorial to familiarize yourself with the interface. [b]manual saving only before quitting[/b] (no prompts or confirmation, straight back to desktop, very elegant), a single slot per game, but [b]progress is logged continuously[/b]. still, no proper manual saving anytime over multiple slots is not good game design, especially coupled with emptying the inventory after certain sections even though some of the items could've been used later as well, like in an instance that locked me out of an entire room unnecessarily. [b]there are quick-time events[/b], have to click at the right time for a certain action to succeed, but it isn't too bad. what's horrible is [b]the captor occasionally showing up, forcing you to do something quickly[/b]. I hate it when they add things like this to a point & click clearly made for a different kind of audience. [b]no progress is lost if you die[/b], you can keep trying, it's just incredibly annoying. and of course, there's a maze, but it's very binary and over fast. the presentation is like a comic book, but somehow weirder, still fine, and while it's fully voiced, [b]I wasn't a fan of the main guy's voice and the performance of some of the others[/b]. beating the game unlocks a codex with character infos and stuff, it's online-only, not part of the game, but covers all the developer's games, as they're part of the same universe. and getting all the achievements reveals a bonus post-ending scene in the main menu, but I obviously didn't bother with that, just looked at the relevant files in the game's folder. it was a really enjoyable adventure despite the few issues I had, [b]took about 7 hours and it's definitely recommended[/b].

I really have enjoyed this game. Brilliant albeit creepy story with great voice acting and immersive sets. Although it is an interactive novel, it isn't a static, page by page experience, but rather more a point and click adventure with plenty of objects to look at, interact with, plus loads of journals and pages with hints to find..( I loved that part as one really felt like a detective) The few quick action required sequences were manageable . I am a bit clueless sometimes...lol. Plus the game didn't make one go back a LONG way to try again; much like Nancy Drew games, in which one can die but is placed right at the same point to try again. Very appreciated...Interestingly enough, I actually did guess the murderer correctly , but for some reason decided against this choice so I guess always trust your instincts is very true! This developer is very talented and I look forward to more games from him... Totally recommended.... Oh and I WILL be re playing it with the view to achieving all the achievements...

If someone asks me now to choose the best game I've played in 2018, it will easily be this one! Stonewall Penitentiary is another wonderful tale by Storycentric Worlds. The level of suspense is really high. This murder mystery story starts with William Thane (The man you control) He is an unemployed artist who suffers from depression and alcoholism. That night he was lying down, dreaming of his son who was playing basketball inside the house- despite the warning he already gave him many times of not playing inside the house- the little boy accidentally knocked down the painting William been working on for hours. Yelling at his son was the worst thing he did and regret doing before he opened his eyes and found himself in a dark cell, tied up and naked - Who kidnapped him? That for us to find out. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1385692027 Later when he was able to free himself and meet the others who were gathering in the cafeteria where a message from a captor called 'the judge' can be seen on the TV screen, telling them that the six of them having something in common which is killing someone, the problem is, there are 7 people there which means one of them is the kidnapper. The captor gave them 6 hours from 12 PM to 6 PM to find a way out, but each hour passing, one of them will die. Exploring the prison to find a way out and learn more about its sad and creepy history is one of the great things in this game. Choices matters in this game, who to trust and side with, and who to keep an eye on. At some point, I suspected everyone including William Thane the alcoholic man I'm controlling! The story will make you wonder, is it one person behind this? Two people? or perhaps the whole group! I loved how each and every character has a different background and different personality. Some of them were mentioned in the previous game (Something I love from Unimatrix Productions games, it doesn't matter which game you play first but they are all connected somehow) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1388369452 As much as I enjoyed how the previous games were (text-based) I loved this new style of the game! And the voice actors did a great job! Each and every one of them showed real emotions in their voice. The puzzles vary from easy to difficult, nothing is unsolvable though, just take your time and you'll figure it out (The developer provided a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1387471364]guide[/url] free of spoilers in case you stuck anywhere) Pros: +Great artwork, good characters design, and personalities. +Dark, creepy and disturbing story. +Fitting music and atmosphere. +Very well-done voice overs (Game is fully voiced) +Verywell-written story. +Huge and useful map (no fast travel feature). +Interesting characters. +Points system. +Great challenging puzzles. +Steam achievements. Cons: -Some backtracking is required. (It isn't really bad, but sometimes you don't know what to do and roam aimlessly, but the game is all about exploration, would have been easier to have a fast traveling map) This game has two endings and your choices do have huge consequences, I've already played it twice and enjoyed every part of it. The twists and turns of this game are just too amazing and keep you on the edge of your seat! I highly recommend it to everyone, even people who get scared easily (I'm one of those, and can't tell you how many times I've gasped and closed my eyes during this gameplay yet I've enjoyed it thanks to my friend and sister for being around) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1388551406 [i]Other Reviews: [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071375554/recommended/527820]Lifestream Review[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071375554/recommended/545850]Shady Brook Review[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071375554/recommended/597120]The Filmmaker Review[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071375554/recommended/1092800?snr=1_5_9__402]Summit of the Wolf[/url] [/i] [quote]𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32399565/]𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒[/url][/quote]