The Westport Independent

Freedom of The press and Censorship have occupied people and, above all, those In power for Centuries. Accordingly, The Westport Independent is tackling an issue as old as it is now (just this Week, the NGO "Reporters Without Borders" published the current Report on global Press freedom, for example). The Game sets in in a fictional Dictatorship, twelve Weeks before a new Law abolishing press freedom comes into Force. As Editor-in-chief Of the namesake Newspaper, the Westport Independent, The Player, with his four Editors Phil, Frank, Anne and Julie, is left with just Weeks to influence popular Sympathy to support or overthrow the Regime. Each Week, you select a maximum of four Articles consisting of a Headline and three To four headlines. You can choose between two different Headings and swipe the Headlines at Will, which allows you to miss several Statements from a Message. These influence the Opinion of the City, which is divided into the four Directions, and depending on the Paragraph, the Newspaper can influence the Inhabitants and push their Opinion to either the ruling "Loyalists" or the Rebels. After each Week, one gets a Balance sheet on how strong the current issue was, what political Direction the Tide has taken and how suspiciously the Editorial board is judged by the Regime. As long as one reports sympathetically about the unnamed President and his Entourage there is little potential For conflict, but one too obviously sides on the side of the Rebels one must soon with unfriendly Letters, the Loss of Editors or even the Early Licence Withdrawal. At the End of the twelve Weeks, a Text board informs about how the New Law will enter into force in the four Neighbourhoods, from unconditional Acceptance to bloody Uprisings, everything is conceivable, and what became of our Editors. Otherwise, apart from a short Profile and unset Dialogues, you will learn about them, but unfortunately quite little. The pixelated and not very colorful Graphic Style is reminiscent of the thematically related Paper Please, but fits the Content, is spoken only in the Intro, otherwise the Everyday Editorial routine is backed by restrained Music. The entire Game is only available in English, good English Skills should be available to penetrate all messages. Unfortunately, the Potential in terms of Headings and Variation of the Headlines is somewhat manageable, the Replay value is unfortunately rather low and even with careful Reading, a Game passage should not last more than an Hour. A timeless Classic is not The Westport Independent, yet it quite makes it clear what Power the Press can wield, in positive and negative Terms. Something that definitely can't hurt in today's turbulent Times.