Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist AND Postmortem: One Must Die

This week you get two games for the price of free.

I’ve got a nice juicy two-in-one for you today, gang! These two games were both thought-provoking enough to write about, but too short to merit a post each, so I’ve smushed them together into one acceptably long post.

Image credit: Unbound Creations / Crows Crows Crows

Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist

This was a very short game indeed. I spent approximately 20 minutes playing it and while I could have gone back in for some achievements I missed, they didn’t involve extra content, and the one I did try and do bugged out and didn’t trigger, so I didn’t bother.

When you load up a new game of Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist, you might think the game has crashed, but just look around and it will become apparent that you are, in fact, in-game. It might just not be what you expected.

DLTT&TTCE:AWH is best entered into completely unspoiled because the reveal happens very quickly and is a fun realisation. There aren’t many ‘gamey’ elements to it, it’s more like a short interactive narrative experience than a game, but that’s okay. It does make it quite hard to write about though!

Image credit: Crows Crows Crows

It’s quirky and funny, a thought-provoking yarn with an amusing ending. If I had to draw a comparison, it would be to The Stanley Parable, which is unsurprising because it was made by the same developer. It’s narrated by Simon Amstell, which was a surprise. He naturally does a great job of it, stealing the show.

I think the game is essentially a tongue-in-cheek examination of the processes of making and playing games, and the push and pull between those things. It also has an undercurrent of workers’ rights which is sadly still extremely relevant now in 2024 as it was when it was released in 2015.

Given that the game is free and can be completed in less than half an hour, I’d definitely recommend it. If you do play it, I’d love to know what you think about the concepts explored.

• Game: Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist

• Developer: Crows Crows Crows

• Publisher: Crows Crows Crows

• Platforms: PC

Postmortem: One Must Die

This game took me a little longer, about 45 minutes, but it has huge amounts of replayability. You play as an agent of Death, and someone at the Gala must die.

The gameplay is almost entirely made up of walking around and talking to characters. You can ask them questions, about a huge variety of things and influence their thinking in certain ways by what you say to them.

Image credit: Unbound Creations

Galicia is a region in deep political strife and every conversation you have and naturally whichever character you choose to kill has an impact on the outcome of that strife. After you choose a target for death, the game presents you with an epilogue in the form of newspaper articles that describe the effect you have had on the world.

The things the characters do after the gala will even have an effect on what comes next, a kind of snowball effect. I convinced a boss to care more about his workers’ welfare, but that led to rising costs which led to unrest which led to… you get the picture.

It’s less of a game and more of a massive, branching novel. I was really surprised at how many of the things I discussed with the characters impacted the final outcome. It was very impressive and made it feel like there would be a lot of possible outcomes to the game.

It is also freely available and if you’re interested in a game that asks a lot of philosophical questions about conflict, protest, culture and what progress means and what it costs, I definitely recommend it. Just wait until you’re in the mood for a lot of reading, because that’s all there is in Postmortem: One Must Die.

• Game: Post Mortem: One Must Die

• Developer: Unbound Creations

• Publisher: Unbound Creations

• Platforms: PC