We rarely have the power to become the “guy behind the chair” in a video game. The same thing happens in movies rather than games, where we see actors and actresses in the role of a secret agent or spy, but not in the role of the intelligent and versatile support agent who provides valuable information and solves problems faced by the other. Listener side cannot be solved. Bureau 81 has decided to flip the script in “The Operator,” a mystery game that revolves around an employee of the Federal Intelligence Department, a government agency that investigates unusual and gruesome crimes.
The idea of The Operator is mainly to help agents, the game takes place on a computer terminal, an operating system within your own operating system and with its fully functional system (which includes a very complete operating terminal to play with) in which you must evaluate and unmask evidence to help the agents make the connection, advance their investigation or, above all, save their lives.
This is an admirably put together system with a lot of depth and variety. Bureau 81 constantly keeps you on your toes with unique puzzles, challenges and mechanics, many of which only work once and sadly you’ll never see again, ensuring you’re always engaged despite the limited visual offerings. The puzzles are also carefully balanced so you never feel overwhelmed or confused when solving them. Each of these is designed to be fairly easy to overcome with a little ingenuity. If you get stuck, there’s a hint system to help you find the right direction. In my opinion, Bureau 81 is quite forgiving when it comes to solving puzzles, as you’re never allowed to make a mistake and the game will tell you when you’re messing something up. This makes the experience more bearable, but you’ll come to see why this is the case and that the core of The Operator is a complex and twisted plot/conspiracy.
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The game is designed to be played only once, as there are many plot twists throughout the game. I won’t spoil it for you, but as you continue trying to understand the story, you realize that the connection between the cases you’re involved in becomes stronger and stronger, you discover heartbreaking information about yourself, about the DFI, about the cybercriminal HAL and trusting anyone becomes a difficult and confusing task. Often it feels like you’re in the middle of the Cold War, and Bureau 81 has done a great job of weaving a delicate and constantly unravelling story that never fails to surprise.
All the dialogue voices, various mechanics and software are introduced at every turn to do wonders and enhance the immersive qualities of this game and honestly you won’t want to stop playing it, especially when the plot twists start to do their thing. You never feel like you’re the man behind the chair, the star on duty supporting the protagonist, it’s a real joy. This is probably in part because The Operator lasts as long as it should, around four hours of gameplay that you can get through in one or two sittings. Yes, as I mentioned earlier, it’s not a game with high replay value, but that depends on the consumer’s taste. It’s a coherent and extremely entertaining puzzle project that offers a fairly simple and straightforward system and mechanics and then refines them to an apotheotic level.
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The best thing I can say about The Operator is that at no point in the game do you want to be on the other end of the conversation, on the ground in the heat of battle, dodging bullets and avoiding danger at all costs. Bureau 81 made playing Alfred more exciting than being Batman…
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