Presentable Liberty

No one likes being a prisoner, regardless of how little actual living they do when they have all the freedom in the world. Once that is taken away, it becomes a lot more obvious that we are not meant to be locked in a cell for months or even years on end. Hence, prison is still the preferred method of punishment for criminals and dangerous people, because we have yet to think of something worse.

Presentable Liberty is not your typical video game, especially when it comes to gameplay mechanics. In essence, you play the role of a prisoner stuck in a cell, and the whole game has you seeing the same four walls at all times. You might think it gets boring and tedious after a while, but there are other things to distract you, plus an engaging story relayed in a unique way.

Thus, everything is communicated through letters. Although you cannot see any of the characters that write to you, their personality becomes apparent from the letters, and the clues are pretty strong. Some of them are old friends trying to keep you company, while others are just people trying to make new friends. However, the main plot revolves around the world coming to an end because of a virus that wipes out the humankind.

Every now and again you receive a few items to keep you company, the most important of which is a portable game console with a handful of games. These games are actually quite engaging and difficult, although not very original. Hence, one of them is a tougher version of Snake, while another is just Flappy Bird with a few changes. Still, everything is much more fun when it’s the only thing you can do.

The clock on the wall keeps ticking away throughout the day and the letters start coming much more rarely after a while. Speaking of which, you can also receive other items as well, including posters, a bug and a few table legs. You can’t leave your cell or do anything but move around and play the video games, which makes the atmosphere that much more intriguing.

All things considered, Presentable Liberty is quite a serious game, even if it pretends to be funny. Things get pretty sad toward the end, and it’s nice to see developers that still try to come up with original concepts.