The Operator is what I would describe as a psychological spy/detective thriller where you investigate crimes. Quite honestly, what you see on the store is what you get. The atmosphere (early-mid 1990s) is fantastic and does a great job immersing you into the world. The story is very good (albeit a bit short) so I won't go into much detail about it. That said, the moment(s) of realization actually did surprise me more than I expected, especially later on in the story (I'm sure fellow players remember their experience realizing the thing about THAT camera feed).

For the game itself, I enjoyed many aspects of it but was somewhat let down by others. The core gameplay loop is quite fun, and it doesn't impede on the storytelling. The largest "disappointment" - also a common theme in fellow reviews - the game is just too darn short. I felt like I went a bit slow, and my playthrough lasted about 3.5 hours. Given the cheap price I felt like it was a good deal, but I think extending it it to maybe 6 hours would make the rising action and climax much more appreciated. The puzzles, while somewhat challenging, varied and engaging, were generally one-trick ponies that I expected to use at least one or two more times during the game.

Would I recommend this game? Yes. Despite it being shorter than I expected, I still feel like I paid a good price for a well-written thriller story that I could tell had a lot of love put into it. I'm hoping the devs make another game like this that's more meaty with the game content and length, I would definitely purchase it.

The Operator is what I would describe as a psychological spy/detective thriller where you investigate crimes. Quite honestly, what you see on the store is what you get. The atmosphere (early-mid 1990s) is fantastic and does a great job immersing you into the world. The story is very good (albeit a bit short) so I won't go into much detail about it. That said, the moment(s) of realization actually did surprise me more than I expected, especially later on in the story (I'm sure fellow players remember their experience realizing the thing about [spoiler]THAT camera feed[/spoiler]). For the game itself, I enjoyed many aspects of it but was somewhat let down by others. The core gameplay loop is quite fun, and it doesn't impede on the storytelling. The largest "disappointment" - also a common theme in fellow reviews - the game is just too darn short. I felt like I went a bit slow, and my playthrough lasted about 3.5 hours. Given the cheap price I felt like it was a good deal, but I think extending it it to maybe 6 hours would make the rising action and climax much more appreciated. The puzzles, while somewhat challenging, varied and engaging, were generally one-trick ponies that I expected to use at least one or two more times during the game. Would I recommend this game? Yes. Despite it being shorter than I expected, I still feel like I paid a good price for a well-written thriller story that I could tell had a lot of love put into it. I'm hoping the devs make another game like this that's more meaty with the game content and length, I would definitely purchase it.