Review Discussions are a new initiative to talk past or beyond a review or in place of a written/video review in a more timely manner. They’re an interview-style discussion hoping to discuss specific aspects of the game in question that may or may not be included in the written review. In some cases the discussion will be the only critical conversation we put out for a game, in others it may complement a review.
The games developed by Accidental Queens have always focused on the way we interact with technology. Both of their previous titles, A Normal Lost Phone and Another Lost Phone, explored the interactive storytelling potential that lays present within the smartphones we keep so much of our personal lives in. When I reviewed Another Lost Phone back in 2017, I praised it for telling such an intimate and personal story, while also really executing on the potential of its big idea.
Alt-Frequencies is their newest game, and it’s an audio focused narrative experience that has the player interacting with a radio and it, along with the personalities on air on each radio station, serve as the devices to tell a sci-fi story about time manipulation. By recording snippets from radio stations and then manipulating them when you broadcast them to other stations, you move forward the game’s story as you control the information being spread. You also have the ability to scrub through conversations at any time and when they replay in case you missed a key phrase. When I played a demo build of it at PAX East 2019, I walked away from it very excited by the ambitious pitch and its fully voice acted story, but had concerns that the design could lead to frustrations. It’s unfortunate to discover that those concerns became manifested in its final release.
In this review discussion Quinten Hoffman and I discuss my full thoughts on Alt-Frequencies.
This game was reviewed on a Google Pixel 3a XL with a copy of the game provided by a PR representative of the game.
