Welcome to this week’s installment of F2P Friday, where we highlight our favorite Free-2-Play games. The video game market is oversaturated and sometimes hidden gems can fall through the cracks. This is where we do all the digging for you and bring you a new F2P game every week that we know you will enjoy. So get ready to dive in!
Left On Read
The Basics
Left On Read is a choice-driven narrative journey mixed with platformer style gameplay. Weston Bell-Geddes, Sheehan Ahmed, and Natalia Godoy released it on PC through Steam on May 19, 2020. The story focuses on two college students who are sent home in the wake of the Coronavirus. Players take control of the unnamed male protagonist who has regrets for not sharing his true feelings before their separation. He tries to keep their connection strong through the most modern means of talking these days, texting.
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The way the player makes their choices in Left On Read makes it unique. Instead of a point and click story, the player controls a little white square. The player moves the square from text box to text box to move the story forward. Some response trees have multiple options that players can choose from. The choices in how to respond to each text can drastically change the direction of the relationship. Can’t hold an interesting conversation or come off as not caring about her feelings and you might just be left on read.
Why Should You Play
Left On Read ties together choice-driven gameplay with a topic that is affecting everyone, the Coronavirus. The conversations between the two start off as easy going as they settle into what has become their new normal. Then as the days progress their texts touch on how life has become during quarantine and being alone without physical human interaction. Their messages hit close to home as we have spent our time these last few months learning to navigate these new waters as well.
Aside from the main topic of life during the Coronavirus, the game leans on ideas of communicating effectively through digital means as well. Like in real life, emotions are very hard to read and share over simple text messages. We all understand the feeling of not knowing exactly how to interpret a message’s meaning or what the best response would be. Navigating through their story can really open our eyes on how to effectively communicate through digital means.
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Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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