Investigators, The time is upon us! The highly suspicious software "Closer the Distance" is now available on Steam and is being distributed worldwide. Since we have information that there are hidden messages contained within it, this must not happen without proper scrutiny exercised by our agents - such as you. Watch the following briefing video for reference. [previewyoutube=AbXWJx905B0;full][/previewyoutube] You are hereby ordered to obtain said software from Steam, play through it at length, and post your honest report as a review on the very same platform. Details on your mission follow belo Hey everyone! We just wanted to say thank your ongoing support! You're awesome! Over the last years, we've poured our hears and souls into our new game Closer the Distance. While it's a very different game, we believe if you liked Orwell Closer the Distance might also be for you. We'd be supper happy if you gave it a try. There's also a free demo available if you're unsure. That's all we wanted to say. Thank you <3 The Osmotics The software can be obtained here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991300/Closer_the_Distance/ Stay viligant!

Investigators, We are pleased to announce a new initiative in collaboration with the brilliant minds behind Cyber Manhunt 2: New World. Introducing the Dystopian Detectives Double Feature Bundle, an exclusive offering designed to enhance your investigative expertise. Take advantage of a 15% discount on this unique bundle today. This package includes groundbreaking software to enhance your investigative skills within [strike]dystopian[/strike] stable and prosperous environments. Engage in intricate narratives and rigorous investigative tasks, offering hours of immersive and intellectually stimulating scenarios to hone your expertise.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Cyber Manhunt 2: New World

Investigators, Through unwavering dedication and the steadfast commitment of our intelligence operatives, we have garnered additional intelligence regarding the dubious activities surrounding the software codenamed Closer the Distance. In accordance with directive 42B, it is imperative that all agents and investigators meticulously review the following video footage and promptly relay any irregularities or notable features to their designated supervisor for comprehensive analysis and identification: [previewyoutube=NJbaxcVOis0;full][/previewyoutube] Maintaining close surveillance of this application and monitoring all associated undertakings remains of paramount importance. A procedural protocol known as 'wishlisting' has been identified as a means to gain further insight into its inner workings. Access all pertinent briefings and available information via the following link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991300/Closer_the_Distance/ Remain vigilant! The Orwell Administration

Investigators, This is an obligatory announcement: The Orwell software is now available at a generously reduced (-75%) price for the event codenamed Steam Visual Novel Fest. We strongly advise you to get your hands on it immediately if you have not acquired it yet. We would also like to announce that information about a new software has been leaked to The Administration. This not yet released application, codenamed Closer the Distance, has now been cleared for security level A and flagged for immediate preliminary inspection. We urge all agents and investigators to add this software to their wishlist in order to track and closely examine all related activities as well as to uncover possible hidden messages or instructions immediately after its publication. Find the briefing and all the information that is known so far here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991300/Closer_the_Distance/ As always, we thank you for your attention and remind you of your obligation to report any incidents and inconsistencies to The Administration. Stay alert and remain vigilant! The Orwell Administration

Investigators, We once again ask for your attention: The Orwell software (both Keeping an Eye on You and Ignorance is Strength) is available at a steeply reduced price (-75% and -60%) for the event codenamed LudoNarraCon!
But this is hardly all. You are hereby strongly advised to check on the highly suspicious software as well as the presentations outlined and displayed at the following page: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ludonarracon Remain vigilant! The Orwell Administration

Our publisher, Fellow Traveller is an indie games label publishing innovative story-driven games. Their newest game, Suzerain is out today! Suzerain is a text based, political strategy game, where you play as the newly elected President of Sordland, following 20 year dictatorship. Its 1954 and its your job to lead the country into an uncertain future. [previewyoutube=q8F6zS9I8PM;full][/previewyoutube] Navigate your first term through conversations with your cabinet members, colleagues and family. Its up to you to decide who you will trust, what you will sacrifice and where your priorities lie. Will you reform the constitution, transforming the Republic into a brutal dictatorship or true democracy? Align yourself with the capitalist of communist superpowers? Prepare for potential military threats on the horizon? Address racial minorities, womens rights, the ongoing recession, immigration and all the other challenges and opportunities presented to a world leader.
If you love narrative games as much as we do, check out Suzerain on Steam!

Our publisher, Fellow Traveller is an indie games label publishing innovative story-driven games. Their newest game, Paradise Killer launches today! Paradise Killer is an open world, murder mystery. Welcome to a whodunit tale where you get to decide who did the deedyou just have to PROVE it. [previewyoutube=C5-uBBg2Ct4;full][/previewyoutube] On the eve of rebirthing a new Paradise Island, the Council of leaders is murdered and Paradise is killed. This is the crime to end all crimes. You play as Lady Love Dies, an investigation freak who is summoned from exile to decide who the murderer is. Search for clues and find the evidence needed to accuse whoever you find guilty. Multiple suspects means multiple possible outcomes based on the evidence you discover and the choices you make. What are the facts? What are the truths? Are they the same? Who killed Paradise? If you love narrative games as much as we do, check out Paradise Killer on Steam!

Investigators, With the help of our loyal community of international agents we were finally able to make the Orwell system available in three more languages: From today you will be able to utilize Orwell in Italian, Japanese, as well as Indonesian. You are hereby encouraged to appreciate their effort. As always, you can find detailed update instructions below. Stay vigilant The Orwell administration

Patchnotes Version 1.4.7424

Content

• added community localizations for Italian, Japanese and Indonesian

Fixes

• fixed a bug where the Insider tool wasn't unlocked correctly in Episode 3 on an OS with Turkish language setting

LudoNarraCon is here! Explore exhibitor streams, play a demo (...or 20! ), learn something new with 14 hours of panels, or snag one of the 50+ games that's on sale. This free digital festival celebrates indie narrative games like our's: with over 40 exhibitors, there's something for everyone.
Start the next chapter of your next favorite game. There are over 20 demos for you to download and play during LudoNarraCon.,, all from the comfort of your own home. Begin your work to protect The Nation: play our demo today!

Keep an eye on this Surveillance Stories bundle featuring four amazing games: Unheard, Do Not Feed the Monkeys, Beholder 2, and Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You. These limited time bundles are only available during LudoNarraCon! Our exhibitors, panelists, and partners have all pitched into the LudoNarraCon sale. Snag one of the fifty games on sale throughout the weekend.

Investigators, We are constantly scouting for new recruits for the Orwell Project. But, as many of you have legtimately voiced, our surveillance effort would never be able not realize its full potential as long as it didn't include more languages. This changes today! The Government of The Nation has spared no expense to present you official localizations of the Orwell software in

• German
• French
• Spanish
• Russian
• Chinese

Changelog Version 1.3

• added official localizations for German, French, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese (change language from settings menu)
• added community localization for Portuguese (Brazil) [THANKS TO OUR COMMUNITY ON TRANSLATE.ORWELL-GAME.COM!!]
• added a slider for text speed in phone calls
• slightly reworked timing of events such as comments by Symes
• all documents now dynamically adapt to content
• completely reworked the layout of some websites
• completely reworked some pictures
• slightly changed writing in places
• Spoiler episodes 2 & 5: [spoiler]completely reworked the hacking/glitch effect on Thought and in the Orwell system[/spoiler]
• Spoiler episodes 5: [spoiler]the ending sequence now features a dark overlay to make it clearer what can be clicked and what cannot[/spoiler]

• greatly reduced loading times for savegames
• reduced memory footprint
• improved document loading, now loads contents element by element

• phone calls will now correctly maintain their vertical scroll position if the call is still running
• overlays no longer freeze after uploading a Datachunk
• fixed a sound bug when music was muted during the closing cutscene
• fixed tons of typos in the English original text

Investigators, Were stoked to invite you to the Public Beta of the localizations of Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You! These last months we put a ton of work into the project and it has proven to be much more effort than we thought initially thought: To make it happen, we had to rebuild large portions of the game from the ground up. Thank you so much for your patience sending positive feedback our way! :) Since a lot of rework comes with many things that might go wrong, wed like to put the current game state to a public test, for which we need YOU. As you know, many vigilant eyes will spot much more than only a few! For instructions how to join please read on.

Languages included

• German (Deutsch)
• Spain (Espaol)
• French (Franais)
• Russian ()
• Simplified Chinese ()

How to join the Beta

• YOUR EXISTING SAVEGAMES (PROFILES) MAY BECOME CORRUPTED!! Please make backup copies of those (look for them in Documents\My Games\Orwell folder). We do not kid.
• There are unfinished, not proofread, and missing translations.
• There may be bugs and technical issues preventing game progress, possibly permanently.

Reporting issues

THANK YOU for coming the to first #LudoNarraCon!
This was a great experience for our team, and we were thrilled to share it with you. We hope you enjoyed it -- we did! And if you didn't get to see any of the panels from the main stage, you can now view them all on YouTube!

LudoNarraCon panels are now live on ludonarracon.com
Topics include: Games as Storytelling Patrick Ewing (creative director of Chance Agency) Cassandra Khaw (scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal) Whitney Strix Beltran (narrative director at Hidden Path Entertainment) Romance in Games Tanya X. Short (Captain of Kitfox Games) Kate Gray (narrative designer at KO_OP) Nina Freeman (game designer at Fullbright) Writing for Short Games Ben Wander (founder of A Wandering Band) Bruno Dias (writer and narrative designer) Ryan Green (developer, co-founder of Numinous Games) Amy Green (writer, co-founder of Numinous Games) Death in Games Lottie Bevan (co-founder & COO of Weather Factory) Alexis Kennedy (co-founder of Weather Factory) Coyan Cardenas (director of Lambic Studios) Will O'Neill (founder of WZO Games) and more! Tune in when the fun starts, at 10am PDT on Friday May 10!

Well be attending LudoNarraCon this weekend, a digital convention for narrative games hosted right here on Steam from 10 - 13 May. We will be exhibiting at the event and streaming right here on the Orwell Steam store page. Its being put on by indie games label, Fellow Traveller, and were really excited to be taking part alongside so many great games like Neo Cab, Cultist Simulator and Sunless Skies! Wed be thrilled if you can join us this weekend, and be sure to check out the rest of the event for more behind-the-scenes content, demos and really cool panels. More info here: LudoNarraCon

A whole bunch more games are exhibiting during LudoNarraCon!

Overland

Night Call

Not Tonight

Hiveswap: Act 1

Whispers of a Machine

and Hypnospace Outlaw

Fellow Traveller presents #LudoNarraCon, hosted right here on Steam on May 10-13. Come celebrate narrative video games from around the world with us! Weve announced 16 of the exhibiting games to be featured: Neo Cab, Boyfriend Dungeon, Mutazione, Heavens Vault, The Church in the Darkness, Sunless Skies, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Beholder, Genesis Noir, and more! Check out the full lineup on ludonarracon.com.
An initiative of indie label Fellow Traveller, LudoNarraCon is digital convention that aims to create a platform to showcase and celebrate interesting and innovative narrative games, replicating as many of the aspects and benefits of the physical convention experience as possible within a digital format. Learn more at ludonarracon.com!

We are beyond thrilled to announce LudoNarraCon
a new online-only convention coming this May, right here on Steam, celebrating narrative video games the people who make them, and the folks who love them. Join us for panels and other fun content with your favorite developers and influencers from the industry, as well as downloadable game demos that will be available ONLY during LudoNarraCon. Want to come? ITS FREE. Visit ludonarracon.com to sign up and let us know if youll attend, and to get updates on whos gonna be there & what games you can play!

Hello all! Weve got really cool news for Orwell fans! Ever since Orwell Seasons One and Two released, weve constantly been asked whether wed localize the game in other languages. Osmotic has always been interested in doing this, particularly since the game has such a strong narrative focus. What better way to ensure that players around the world can enjoy the game than to translate it into their language? So whats been stopping us? Well, Orwell is specifically designed and coded in such a way that we had to build out a unique method of implementing translations, from scratchwhich added time and other challenges to this goal. Butheres the exciting bit! Were now working through those challenges in a bunch of ways, one of which is hiring a professional localization service. Soon well be able to release Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You to multiple new languages, including German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Simplified Chinese. Wau! C'est gnial! Hurra! !
However, we know this doesnt cover every language spoken by our fans. So we wanted to offer all of you the opportunity to help us bring the game to YOUR language and to achieve that, weve created a Crowdin project for Orwell, at translate.orwell-game.com. If youre a fan of the game, and youd like to participate in translating the game into Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, or other languages, let us know! Were really thrilled at the opportunity to bring Orwell to new players all over the globe, and we wanted to thank the community for their continued supportespecially those who choose to dedicate their time to helping us localize more widely. Since there is a lot of development work to implement localization, right now we are focusing on Season One but, once complete, we will investigate localizing Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. This project is one of our top priorities right now. You can expect to hear more updates on continued development and timing, as soon as possible. Thank you!! Merci! Danke! ! Join the Crowdin project: translate.orwell-game.com/ We look forward to bringing you more news soon. Keep travelling! The Fellow Traveller team & Osmotic Studios

(Prospective) Investigators, If you or your friends haven’t played Orwell: Keeping and Eye on You, you can get it free on Steam for the next 24 hours! To add the game to your library, click on the Orwell steam page. For this week only, Orwell: Ignorance is Strength, season 2 of the series, is available at 40% off.
As always, we want to hear your feedback. Please share your thoughts or questions in the steam community forum where we, the dev team, will be there to answer your questions. Team Osmotic

Add Orwell to your account and play for FREE starting now until October 5th at 10AM Pacific Time!
Once you add the game it will remain in your account after the free period, so don't miss out on this opportunity to play this thrilling, detective simulation!

Today our publisher, Surprise Attack Games, is relaunching as Fellow Traveller. To celebrate, Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You, is on sale along with the rest of their catalogue. Check out their publisher sale page for all the details - https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/fellowtraveller. Here’s some more from the team at Fellow Traveller on what the change is all about: For the past seven years, our journey as a small indie publisher from the shores of Australia has been quite momentous. Today marks the biggest stop on that journey so far. A new name. A new vision. A chance for us to stand up and declare our love for games with something important, something special, something weird to say. Welcome to Fellow Traveller. From the dystopian worlds of Hacknet and Orwell, to our upcoming releases including Neo Cab, Genesis Noir and In Other Waters, Fellow Traveller is here to support developers that take a unique approach to narrative in games. If this sounds like your kind of jam, you can follow us on our Steam publisher page, join us in The Traveller's Tavern on Discord or sign up to our newsletter

Hi Orwell fans. Season Two of Orwell: Ignorance is Strength is available to buy RIGHT NOW! Fans who own the original Orwell will receive an additional 10% off Ignorance is Strength, which will be applied automatically. It's valid for one week only, so make sure you redeem it during launch week. For any new players who have not yet played Orwell, the Seasons Complete bundle is highly recommended as it includes Season One and Season Two, allowing you to pick up both games during launch week at an incredible price. Purchasing Orwell: Ignorance is Strength will give you access to all three bi-weekly episodes as they unlock, with Episode One: Thesis available to play now! Here's the release schedule for when each episode of Season Two will go live: Episode One: Thesis - Out now! Episode Two: Antithesis - March 8 @ 8am PST/5pmCET Episode Three: Synthesis - March 22 @ 8am PST/5pm CET Be sure to let your friends and followers know about the discounts while these great deals exist. And we look forward to hearing what you think about Episode One in the Season Two Community Hub on Steam and via social media. As always, we really appreciate your amazing support! -Team Osmotic

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Thursday at 10AM Pacific Time

Today marks the one year anniversary of the full release of Orwell. As developers Osmotic Studios have written, it’s been an incredible year, and one full of profound changes as they diligently work on Season Two – Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. (Read more here). But one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s the wonderful support the game has received from you, the fans. Thank you! Thank you for every recommendation you’ve made to a friend, for every tweet you’ve sent to Surprise Attack Games (@supattack), Osmotic Studios (@osmoticstudios) or the official Orwell account (@orwell_game), and for getting right into the lore and your role as an agent. This one year anniversary is for you. We hope you look forward to continuing the journey with Orwell: Ignorance is Strength (store link), a whole new story, set chronologically concurrent with the original. Taking up a position within The Office, a secret department of Orwell with greater security access and more tools, you’re given the task of discovering the truth behind the disappearance of an agent in a world where truth and power are easily manipulated. Once again, on behalf of both Surprise Attack Games and Osmotic Studios, thanks for being such awesome fans. Stay watchful! AS AN ANNIVERSARY BONUS… The first five people to tweet to the @supattack account with an Orwell fan art or meme (created by you) will be sent a limited edition Orwell sticker and Orwell: Ignorance is Strength Pinny Arcade pin. (We will DM you via Twitter on Monday 20 November). P.S. To celebrate the anniversary, Orwell is on sale today only at 50% off. Tell your friends!

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time

In the first of a series of blog posts on Orwell: Ignorance is Strength, Osmotic Studios takes a look at how things have changed since the release of Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You, and the impact of those changes on the game, their studio, and the world. - - - On October 20, 2016, we released Orwell. After almost three years of development, and an unswerving belief in a game concept that had always been perceived as risky, our ‘baby’ was out the door, released as five weekly episodes. But, risky or not, from day one, we knew we had succeeded, attracting players who were looking for a new gaming experience, with a story to match. A lot has happened since the release of Orwell. We’ve continually received many positive responses from both players and game critics, which has been wonderful. Especially since we felt like we’d been carrying around a huge responsibility: we were not only trying to entertain players, but also spark thoughts about highly topical issues that people may agree or disagree with. We always made a point about not wanting to impose opinions on people but instead give them the freedom to choose their side. Creating a gaming system where this was possible was certainly not easy. So, the messages we got from players about how Orwell had moved them emotionally (no matter which side they were on) were perhaps what fulfilled us most after the release of Season One. But things not only changed for us as a studio; the world changed, too. The original inspiration for Orwell were the Snowden revelations, leaking facts about how the US government is collecting personal online data on a huge scale. In late 2016 through to early 2017, the US election campaign showed us that social media and the internet in general is not only an important tool to gain data, but also one of the most important forces to drive public opinion. With that in mind, we felt that since Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You shows how powerful your online data can be, within an investigative context, it’s a logical next step to address what could be done with this data aside from deciding who is innocent or guilty. What if, as a player, you were able to reuse it and even spread new ideas through it? The discussion about fake news, alternative facts and the power of media manipulation inspired this and was the reason why we came up with the first concept for Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. The central theme of Ignorance is Strength is the power of influence over the masses and the fight over this power. Compared to Season One, Season Two is more an open confrontation over this fight over influence and less about uncovering things. It asks the question, ‘How far can the power of fabricating stories and spreading them via the internet be used as a weapon?’. And, further, whether the ends justify the means. In addition, it questions truth itself and shows how easily it can be bent towards a certain direction, especially in the current digital information age.
Early screenshot of Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. The story revolves mainly around the character Raban Vhart, who is an immigrant of the Nation's neighbouring country Parges. He owns a blog called The People's Voice that is very anti-government and also criticizes the Pargesian president. Raban does not hesitate to bend the truth towards his own opinion and his main goal is to free his beloved home land from the establishment that caused civil unrest and even war in the shattered country. The player is once again recruited by the government in order to let justice prevail and ensure the stability of The Nation. After passing an aptitude test, they join ‘The Office’, a top secret government agency within Orwell. The player's job is to fight back against Raban, using the government's own ways of influencing the masses. Since the player is part of a more secretive government agency than in Season One, they also have more extensive tools that not only allow them to submit information to the profiler, but also reuse this information to search websites, enter passwords, break into a wider range of digital devices, and more. We made these changes because players would then have options for interaction and it fit perfectly into the general concept as well. These additional options make the gameplay a bit more complex, but since our basic game mechanic is rather minimalist, we felt it would be great to build on this and increase the challenge. Orwell: Ignorance is Strength is set chronologically parallel with events in the first game. Players who have experienced Keeping an Eye On You will know that its story is self-contained and pretty much comes full circle. It would have felt artificial to simply attach a new storyline to that. Additionally, the game had a few quite different outcomes at its end. If we had wanted to continue from there we would have needed to declare one of the specific endings canon, which we felt would have undermined the players’ previous choices. The choice to make the new story play out simultaneously with the previous one opens up the very interesting possibility to give some of the old choices new meanings from a different perspective, while at the same time giving background to some of the events in Parges that were only briefly mentioned in the previous game. Once again, with Ignorance is Strength, we hope to spark thoughts and move players emotionally. Perhaps it will even make players more sensitive in terms of how they look at the authenticity of online news and data in general. But we still do not want to tell players what to think. The game is certainly a reflection on what is currently going on in the world and how the tensions of public debates are increasing. Ignorance is Strength has a generally darker tone , which is more confrontational and more intense. The characters all have their own battles to fight with themselves as well. We hope that players will be able to reflect on the central themes outside of the real world and dwell on these ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbrsck9Ag2I

Investigators, as you may know, over the recent months we have been very busy working on season two of Orwell, Orwell: Ignorance is Strength, which you can wishlist here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/633060/Orwell_Ignorance_is_Strength/ During the development we have solved a lot of issues with the game's technical base which we also want to apply to the original Orwell game. We're releasing these improvements with Orwell 1.2 today! Most notably we increased the game's performance in terms of image loading times and memory usage, but also fixed a nasty bug that sometimes caused already discovered conflicted datachunks to be displayed as not being discovered, causing some confusion (this mainly occurred during Episode 2). Note: Your saved profiles are NOT backwards compatible, which means a 1.2 profile won't necessarily load on a version 1.1 game client. Please update the game on any devices to version 1.2 to avoid running into this issue. As always you can find the full changelog below. Stay vigilant, the Osmotic Studios team

Changelog Version 1.2

• added a wishlist screen for Orwell: Ignorance is Strength when quitting the game; this can be disabled in said screen
• fixed a variety of inconsistencies in expressions (like "government"/"Government")
• fixed a variety of typos
• SPOILER EPISODE 1: [SPOILER]changed an adviser commentary in regard to Cassandra being depressive that could be out of context if the player didn't add a datachunk on her attitude before[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 2: [SPOILER]prevented that the player could solve the objective on Abraham's profession before having added the datachunk on his students and the number of protests, which would then result in a logical inconsistency[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 3: [SPOILER]fixed wrong titles of various people on the defaced Party people website[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]added a new commentary in which Catherine warns the player when opening her PC's desktop that further investigating her will have consequences[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]harrison.txt will now be displayed on initiate's PC in Episode 5 (it had never been visible before)[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]Catherine will now comment every datachunk the player uploads on himself/herself (provided she didn't switch off her PC before)[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]Catherine will no longer comment on anything after she switches off her PC[/SPOILER]

• decreased overall memory usage
• improved overall performance and loading times
• implemented a skip label to the intro cut scene being displayed when the player presses any key
• main menu logo animation now plays more fluidly
• added a loading cursor while booting up the game
• added a warning if a savegame originates from a newer version than the current client; this only works for future versions of the game though
• added different layouts of lines underneath tool icons that get switched according to the currently opened tool
• category buttons in the Profiler where there aren't any updates are now disabled
• mails can now be scrolled correctly if their content exceeds the Listener window
• fixed a bug where the game started with a big cursor for a brief moment on some platforms
• fixed a bug where the breadcrumb navigation (Insider) didn't show the whole document path after loading savegames multiple times
• fixed a bug that prevented already discovered conflicted datachunks to be shown as discovered in the datachunk information window of their counterparts if those datachunks were on a website that was updated several times (this could occur mainly on the Thought website in Episode 2)
• fixed a bug that some characters had their names displayed as "Unknown Person" in the corresponding Listener bookmarks when they were actually known
• fixed a bug of wrong spacing between insider bookmarks
• fixed a bug that led to too much space at the bottom of some websites
• fixed an issue where a text box or image outline of a chunk was highlighted on hover, before hovering the actual chunk itself (the box is always a bit larger than the chunk)
• fixed a bug where images on Insider devices were not displayed correctly when opening documents for the first time
• fixed a savegame bug which could occur when the day was completed while an adviser commentary was still waiting to be displayed
• fixed a bug that sometimes led to datachunk boxes not fitting their text in Listener calls after loading a savegame
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]fixed a bug where the number of remaining datachunk uploads weren't correct when loading a savegame at a certain point in the game[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]fixed a bug where the "uploads remaining" label was displayed after loading a game even though there weren't any uploads left[/SPOILER]
• SPOILER EPISODE 5: [SPOILER]fixed a display bug of the datachunks on the Player Evaluation website[/SPOILER]

• savegames are NOT backwards compatible (1.2 savegames do not run on 1.1 or lower clients); there are no warnings being displayed in version 1.1 or lower
• Linux: blur shaders have been disabled throughout the game

Agents, Many apologies for the wait on the Orwell: Ignorance is Strength store page. We thank you for your patience. It is now live for your perusal. However, our work is only just at its start... Your outstanding tasks: > Wishlist Orwell: Ignorance is Strength on Steam > Read and subscribe to the FAQ > Relay propaganda video across relevant peers on Twitter > Facebook too > Most importantly, stay vigilant.
orwell-ignorance.com @Orwell_Game

https://youtu.be/Bbrsck9Ag2I Osmotic Studios and Surprise Attack Games are thrilled to announce the second season of Orwell, titled Orwell: Ignorance is Strength. Inspired by the rise of fake news, the social media echo chamber and the death of truth - Season 2, Orwell: Ignorance is Strength will place you in the shoes of a government official in a top-secret department of the Orwell program. The Nation and Parges threatens to plunge into violent civil unrest, as a political crisis arises across borders. As the agent, you're given the power to both uncover and fabricate the truth - and you must decide for yourself whether truth is sacred or ignorance is strength. Season 2 brings a darker tone and introduces new tools, providing you with more control over how the investigation unfolds and even the ability to influence public opinion directly. Coming soon, the game will be available on PC, Mac and Linux at launch, and we look forward to bringing you more details. Don't forget to wishlist on Steam! orwell-ignorance.com @Orwell_Game
PLEASE NOTE: THE STEAM STORE PAGE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE, WE'RE WORKING TO GET IT ONLINE SOON. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE! P.S Osmotic Studios will be attending Gamescom and PAX West - so please say hello if you're at the event!

[url=twitter.com/Orwell_Game/status/894634280978132993]Image intercepted from propaganda video. Intel suggests distribution 08/08 0800 PDT.

Today's Deal: Save 40% on Orwell!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Tuesday at 10AM Pacific Time

Investigators and potential recruits, in our game, Orwell takes up service on April 13, 2017, one day after the first Bonton Bombing hit the Freedom Memorial. If you take a good look at your calendar you'll notice: That day is today!
Because we think it's the perfect time to pick up the game we have discounted it at 33% off for the rest of the week. If that still doesn't convince you, give the first episode - which is set today - a try with the free demo. In other news, please keep your fingers crossed for us as Orwell is nominated for two more awards: The German Computer Game Awards as Best Serious Game and The A MAZE. Awards. Both are to be awarded in Berlin at the end of April. Stay vigilant! Your Osmotic Studios Team

Hello investigators, Today we are excited to release a brand new update for Orwell, an update that introduces one of the most requested features we've had from you all! The Rewind Update will allow all players who have completed the game to "rewind" their save to the beginning of any chosen day, erasing all choices and allowing them to continue and explore other paths. Want to see how things pan out in day three if you made some other choices? Simply select day 3 from the menu and it's almost as if Symes has accidentally deleted all the Datachunks you submitted in days three, four and five! To access the Episode Selection feature, you will need to access the Profile Options area. The Episode selection button will be locked until you have completed the game at least once, however after completion, it will be available for all new and existing profiles. Any unlocked episode is colored while the rest is grayed out. Click on the episode you want to revert your progress to, then click "Load Episode" and confirm. Be aware that loading a previous episode PERMANENTLY reverts your progress to the beginning of that episode. This cannot be undone, so make sure you are willing to revert your save before doing so! We know that the update has taken quite some time. Messing around with save games is never an easy task for developers, so the team at Osmotic has been taking their time to ensure it is done correctly. Initial testing shows that everything is operational, however they may be some fringe cases with some problems. Please report those cases in the Steam forums, so we can make sure that they don't slip through the cracks.
In other news, Osmotic and Surprise Attack Games will be attending GDC 2017, where Osmotic will be hosting an Orwell booth in the IGF Finalist area. We are honoured to be up for the Excellence in Narrative Award, and we can't wait to meet all the devs that will be attending! If you are going to the show, make sure you stop on by and meet the team! During next week, DRM-free fans can pick up a copy of Orwell on on other stroes! The build will be on parity with the Steam build, so if you have some friends who want to hide from the prying eyes of DRM, make sure you let them know. Finally, Surprise Attack Games will be heading along to PAX East, and will be showcasing Orwell alongside their other titles. You can find them in the PAX Aus Roadshow area, marked clearly in the show guide, and a giant sign above the booth on the show floor. Make sure you head along and show your support if you're making it out to Boston this year!

Investigators, Orwell is nominated for the Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award at SXSW 2017 alongside That Dragon, Cancer and 1979 Revolution: Black Friday and others, which is a big honor for us! Thanks so much for making this possible!
Also we have just updated the game to Version 1.0.6236 across all platforms, which is mainly intended to add free window resizing and fix various crashes and instabilities. You can find patchnotes below. Please note that this patch doesn't include the Episode Selection feature yet. The feature will most likely be released with a February update. Stay vigilant! Your Osmotic Studios Team

Patchnotes Version 1.0.6236

• Catherine no longer shows up as "Unknown person" in the Profiler.
• Added an additional datachunk to clarify who the "Unknown person" related to Josef Langley is.
• Fixed some typos.

• The game window can now be resized freely in windowed mode.
• Fixed various startup crashes.
• Fixed a crash that could occur right after 100% of savegame loading.
• Fixed various stalls (that also could crash the application) while loading or playing.
• Fixed brief CPU stall when starting to load a profile, just before the loading circle switches to the grey 0% state.
• Fixed a bug that stopped the loading of a savegame, which was created after starting a new chat / call and before the first message was displayed.
• Fixed wrong cursor scaling behavior.
• Fixed a bug where profile updates were skipped.
• Fixed a bug which led to blurry outlines for chunk boxes when using ultra wide resolutions.
• Fixed a bug where parts of the UI (top and bottom) were outside the game window when using certain aspect ratios.
• Fixed a bug which led to big chunk icons at the cursor when using ultra wide screen setups.
• Can no longer open the ingame menu while the episode label is still being displayed.
• Mac: No longer stretches the UI incorrectly when maximizing the window.
• Win: Is now a x86/64-bit universal application.

Hello investigators, Earlier this week we received some fantastic news! Orwell has been named as a finalist in the IGF Narrative Excellence category, alongside some of our favourite indie games of last year, which is a huge honor for us. The story of Orwell was always the major point of focus, to create something with twists and turns that would keep you guessing. That became even more apparent when we decided to go for the episodic route at release, and it's a fantastic achievement to be named a finalist. That's not all though! We also gained an honorable mention for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the most prestigious award from the IGF. An award that has been won by some of my personal favourite games such as Monaco, Minecraft, Fez and Papers, Please. To be named as an honorable mention is humbling, especially when you look at the list of people who were named finalists! You can view all of the finalists and the honorable mentions via the IGF website. It's important to celebrate our achievements, but it doesn't mean we're done yet. We are working away on a nice update that is going to bring some improvements, and include an episode selector among other cool things. We'll reveal more on that update over the next few weeks. As always, stay vigilant! Steve - Surprise Attack Games

Investigators, as the year comes to a close there's the traditional Winter Sale on Steam, and Orwell is a part of it with 20% off of the game and the OST. There's also more good news for Mac and Linux users: The demo including the entire Episode One is now available for both operating systems as well. For us from Osmotic, 2016 has been a pretty wild ride, but ultimately a successful one, thanks to every last one of you! We wish you all the best for the rest of the year and a good start into 2017! Happy Holidays (whether you celebrate or not), Mel, Micha and Daniel from Osmotic

Hello investigators, Hope you are all doing well as we lead up to the holiday season. Just a small update today - Orwell is now available for Mac and Linux users. We have done some limited testing with OS X and Ubuntu, and so far all of our results have been great. That doesn't mean you will not find issues at home; with such a varying landscape of operating systems and hardware configurations, we are expecting some of you to have issues. We have opened up sticky threads for both Mac and Linux - please put any issues you find in there with as much information as possible, and we will aim to help you as quickly as we can. Hope you enjoy the break, and we will see you all in the new year! Steve - Community Manager

Changelog Version 1.0.6194

• The relationship window now dynamically adjusts size to fit the graph. This should prevent portraits from being placed where they cannot be clicked.
• Fixed a bug where the datachunk information window appeared partially outside of the screen, causing the disable / enable button to be unclickable.
• Fixed a bug that led to massively increased loading times to enter the main menu after loading savegames and entering main menu repeatedly.
• Now uses application icons in different resolutions, fixes grainy taskbar icons.

Investigators, once again we pushed an update to fix some issues with Orwell. Please find the detailed patch notes below. Be diligent, The Osmotic Studios Team

Changelog Version 1.0.6180.31751

• Added two missing portraits, which were shown as "anonymous" in the profiler after the corresponding datachunk had been uploaded.
• A wrong date in the epilogue has been corrected.

Investigators, we just updated Orwell for you. This patch fixes a lot of the issues you have reported us, most importantly a game crash that could occur for some players in Episode 5, as well a bug that prevented images from loading correctly. You can find the the full patchnotes below. Stay vigilant! The Osmotic Studios Team

Changelog Version 1.0.6174.29260

Hello investigators, After the release of Episode 5 we took a much needed break, but now we're back on deck refining the game with some small updates to squash those bugs, fix up some typos that got through, and overall improving the stability of the game. Once the build is stable, we will then begin the process of making Orwell available for Mac and Linux systems, before looking at some other possible updates in the future. But today, we need your help.
Steam has launched community voting for The Steam Awards, allowing players everywhere to vote on their favourite games of the year! We're humbly asking that if you enjoy Orwell, that you cast a vote for the game in The "Whoooaaaaaaa, dude!" Award. Described as "Some games melt your face. Maybe it was a crazy plot twist. Maybe you just got your wisdom teeth removed. Either way, this game BLOWS YOUR MIND", we feel that with the twists and turns that Orwell brought on a weekly basis, that maybe we fit into that category. If enough of us cast a vote in the same category, we might even get the nomination!
Also, don't foget that December 1st The Game Awards will be announced, and Orwell has been nominated in the Games For Impact category. Tickets, and viewing information can be found on the official website. Until next time, stay vigilant! Steve - Community Manager

Investigators, You need to return to service! You may now play Episode Five of Orwell, titled "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree". If you already own the game your Steam client should update the game automatically. If it doesn't, check the game's properties whether auto-updates are enabled.
In the wake of the drastic events of last week, you will need to confront the remaining members of Thought directly. This concluding chapter will reveal the answers you have been looking for, while raising one more important question. This is the final episode, and thus concludes our weekly release schedule! We want to thank you all so much for joining us on this wild ride. Reading all of your comments, theories and questions has been utterly amazing, and filled us with so much joy! Now anyone who plays Orwell will be able to binge just like a new release on Netflix, but together we experienced something truly special. What's next? We're all going to be in here answering your questions and responding to any issues that may arise, and then we're going to take a few well deserved days off. After that we'll be working away on a Mac version of the game! On behalf of everyone at Osmotic Studios, and Surprise Attack Games, I would personally like to thank each and every one of you who has played the game, talked to us on Steam or Discord, joined us at PAX or Gamescom, and recommended our game to friends and family. You guys have been an awesome community, and I look forward to talking about Orwell, and all of its twists and turns. Have fun, and as always, stay vigilant! Steve - Surprise Attack Games & The Osmotic Team!

We got a pleasant surprise today to hear that Orwell has been nominated for The Game Awards 2016 in the category of Games For Impact. This nomination is very special to us as the jury is made up of 29 of the most important game media outlets and the awards are televised around the world. Even more exciting, Orwell is in fantastic company alongside some amazing games that have also been nominated such as That Dragon Cancer. It was a great way to start the final 24 hours before the last episode of Orwell releases. Check out more info on the awards and see all the nominees here: http://thegameawards.com/nominees/

Investigators, You need to return to service! You may now play Episode Four of Orwell, titled "Memory Hole"! If you already own the game your Steam client should update the game automatically. If it doesn't, check the game's properties whether auto-updates are enabled.
After the harsh outcome of last time, "Memory Hole" will let you dig deeper into the backgrounds of Thought's members whilst they begin to make plans of their own. In this version we also fixed the issue of not being able to continue the game or the game not saving after switching between systems that some players reported.

WEEKLY EPISODIC RELEASE SCHEDULE

Investigators, The time has come to return to your job! The third episode of Orwell - "Unperson" - is now available! If you already own the game your Steam client should update the game automatically. If it doesn't, check the game's properties whether auto-updates are enabled.
Episode Three follows the revelations about Goldfels, Juliet and Harrison, but the focus of the investigation shifts to a new suspect. With pressure mounting on the player and their handler, Symes, the stakes have never been higher.

WEEKLY EPISODIC RELEASE SCHEDULE

Investigators, the time has come to return to your job! The third episode of Orwell - "Unperson", us now available! If you already own the game your Steam client should update the game automatically. If it doesn't, check the game's properties whether auto-updates are enabled.
Episode Three follows the revelations about Goldfels, Juliet and Harrison, but the focus of the investigation shifts to a new suspect. With pressure mounting on the player and their handler, Symes, the stakes have never been higher.

WEEKLY EPISODIC RELEASE SCHEDULE

Investigators, Once again we call upon you! Today we release the second episode of Orwell - "A Place where there is No Darkness". This also marks the official release! If you played through the demo, your save game will carry over, and you will be able to continue right whener you left off. Of course you can still continue to play the demo of Episode One before buying the game.
Episode Two directly follows the events of the opening. You are given authorisation to cast the net wider and pry into the lives of several of Cassandra’s connections in a bid to discover more about the mysterious organisation, Thought. The pressure is on to find the location of the next terrorist attack before it happens.

WEEKLY EPISODIC RELEASE SCHEDULE

Investigators, We have some great news! Today we are proud to announce that Orwell will be released as a five-part series on a weekly schedule! The first episode "The Clocks were Striking Thirteen" is available right now as a free demo via Steam! In this episode, the player is recruited into the Orwell program and, following a terrorist attack, is given their first target to investigate. Cassandra Watergate is a young woman with a criminal record who was spotted by surveillance cameras at the site of the bombing. Digging into her social media, chat messages and online presence, the player starts to uncover a web of connections and a mysterious group who might be involved in the attack.
If you enjoy the first episode (and we hope you do), you can pre-order the game directly on Steam to ensure that you gain access to the next episode as soon as it drops. The best news - your save game from the demo will work with the full version of the game!

WEEKLY EPISODIC RELEASE SCHEDULE

• Oct 20: Episode One - The Clocks were Striking Thirteen
• Oct 27: Episode Two - A Place where there is No Darkness
• Nov 03: Episode Three - Unperson
• Nov 10: Episode Four - Memory Hole
• Nov 17: Episode Five - Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

Hey there! We're happy to announce that Orwell will be publicly playable for the first time ever at PAX West in Seattle from September 2 to 5, 2016. Come and say hi at Booth 6312 and try out Orwell for yourself! Get more infos on the event: http://west.paxsite.com/ Keeping an eye on you there, The Osmotic Team

Hey there! Our three person studio has been working for over two years now on our first game ever, Orwell. Most of this time we have kept quiet, but fortunately this ends now and we can talk a bit about the game. Orwell puts you in the shoes of an impartial outsider, an operative of The Nation's new secret security system, Orwell. As a terrorist attack rocks The Nation, you will be going through personal files, listening in on conversations and researching the web as you determine who is a suspect. Reporting your findings could have dramatic consequences however, which means you need to really pay attention to the circumstances around the events, and sometimes, be forced to make some really tough decisions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up-yaDbqH2k Our narrative thriller explores themes we all deal with everyday in a modern society: balancing the connections we have on social media against the privacy of information and the security of a nation. Orwell will be invading your privacy later this year on Windows PC. You can follow the development progress right here on Steam or orwell_game on Twitter. If you're interested in the game and have questions, feel free to ask away (though we might not be able to answer anything). We will be monitoring the boards regularly, with some help from the folks at Surprise Attack Games. Cheers Your Osmotic Team