Game

The Westport Independent 2016

Simulator, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Indie

"The Westport Independent is a censorship simulator about the last weeks on an independent newspaper which is to be dismantled according to a new government bill. You play an editor in charge of choosing what will be printed in the paper, making sure that the content is nice and proper according to the government guidelines. With rebellions against the government rising slowly amongst the public, whose truth will you print?"

Simulator Turn-based strategy (TBS)Indie management noir steam pixel art steam achievements digital distribution single-player only steam cloud corrupt government pax prime 2015Linux, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, Mac

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Character

Plot-driven, contemplative, grave and raw.

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From the critics

A few lines from each review; the whole review is on the critic's site. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.

EurogamerRich StantonFeb 2016
The Westport Independent is a great concept that has its moments, but is ultimately too slight to deliver.
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GameSpewHolly RobinsonMar 20168/10
Reminiscent of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, it's ideal for hardcore gamers, casual gamers, journalists, writers, editors, and anyone who wants to learn more about real-world political issues
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Gadgets 360Pranay ParabFeb 20168/10
The rich districts will only buy your paper if you publish news about celebrities, while the poor also need to know about the industries they work for. This is the tightrope that you must walk in order to survive in the world of journalism, and a few embarrassing typos aside, The Westport Independent does a pretty good job of simulating it.
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PCWorldHayden DingmanJan 20162.5/5 stars
Add in more than a few grammatical errors, some spelling mistakes, and a few bugs (the ending crawl described how one of my staffers both stayed at and simultaneously left the newspaper), and it's hard to recommend The Westport Independent. Which is a shame because I think it has at least one extremely important learn-by-example thing to say about media bias, and how it can manifest in something as simple as a lie of omission. That's a powerful message, and one it would be useful for more people to understand. To ask questions of the media, people need to understand how the media operates.
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COGconnectedAlex StantonFeb 201655/100
It's not without merit, but it's a bare bones package that is more of a novelty than anything.
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