Review: Hello Stranger
- Guilherme Ribeiro
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
Are you ready to play games for your life?
THE GAME
Hello Stranger is an interactive fiction (FMV) game developed and distributed by PRM Games. We follow the life of Cam, a man whose entire life is automated and virtual. As such, he uses an app called Hello Stranger, where he chats with random people via video. Accustomed to the app and the types of people he meets there, Cam is startled when a masked figure starts chatting with him. Even though he tries to disconnect, it is too late, as the mysterious person has already hacked his entire house and now Cam is forced to play three games in order to be released. And if he loses any of the games? Well, he will receive his punishment.
MY IMPRESSIONS
Hello Stranger is my first experience with FMV games and I was eager to enter this world of cinematic games. Unlike what you might imagine, you won't just be watching and making decisions to advance the story. Paying attention to everything that happens is essential for some decisions and even to understand the game's plot. Furthermore, since everything revolves around winning games, which are mostly very challenging and fun, you feel like you're actively participating in the story. In addition, you'll have different games to play depending on the path you choose, with solo or competitive game mechanics. There are a range of branches in the story and, if you want to understand all the nuances of what's happening, you'll play it several times, taking different paths. Don't worry, the story isn't very long and the game is in Brazilian Portuguese, so it won't be tiring, and it's also a great game to play with friends. The actors, for the most part, act well and don't take you out of the plot, despite the more indie style of filming, which is something I like. I won't go into details about the story, as that would spoil the whole idea of the game, but I can say that every time you finish a branch of the story, you'll want to do another one to find out more about what's going on.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The game doesn't have many achievements, but most of them involve making specific choices, which occasionally, after trying all possible options, you'll end up completing some of them. Still, if something goes unnoticed, it's easy to identify what needs to be done, as the descriptions of the achievements help you figure out what to do. In addition, there is an achievement in which you must complete the entire branching tree of scenes, that is, take all possible paths that the game presents to you. It may take a while, but getting 100% of Hello Stranger's achievements is not that difficult a task.
CONCLUSION
I think that, as a first experience with FMV, I made the right decision to start with Hello Stranger. I've always heard a lot of complaints about this type of game, like they're just interactive movies and not interactive games. Hello Stranger managed to merge the two worlds very well and make the player feel part of the plot. The atmosphere of the game makes you tense, always waiting for something or someone to scare you, while at the same time you try to understand the plot, which leaves loose ends precisely so that you can play more and try other branches. If you want to get to know the world of FMV games, I recommend that, like me, you also start with Hello Stranger.
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