Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins Review - Don’t move a muscle

It’s late at night, the room is pitch dark and I can’t sleep. I scroll through my phone trying to find an interesting mystery game. I come across this game and installed it for fun. As I open the app, the screen changes as if it’s someone else’s phone. It asks for an unlock pattern, I enter mine and it surprisingly rejects. The music starts getting creepier with every passing minute. As I give it the final try and fail, it starts self-destructing with sirens and I almost throw the phone away.

Confused and terrified, I’m trying to figure this out as the phone starts ringing and I get a call from Petronella Osgood. I obviously declined it right away just to get a text message reading “you don’t seem to be a fan of phone calls”. This right here is Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins for you - Mind-Boggling, mysterious, and petrifying. So grab your headphones, we’re off to one legendary mystery-solving spree and oh just remember, you dare not blink.

Taking the plot of the most famous standalone episode “Blink” of the British series Doctor Who forward, the maze theory and Kaigan Games launch the best Doctor Who game to ever exist. The iconic weeping angels are back to unleash terror like never before.

Doctor Who: The lonely Assassins take the lost phone genre, integrate it with engrossing storytelling and release a masterpiece. All Doctor Who fans who wished to be a part of the doctor who universe, you’re at the right place. For those who barely have any knowledge of Doctor Who, the base gameplay and compelling storyline are enjoyable for all. This is a role-playing game that dwells deep into this mysterious universe and you have the responsibility to save a lost one before it’s too late.

You are an unnamed protagonist that got hold of a stranger’s phone. Was it a coincidence? not really. You connect with a UNIT detective Petronella Osgood and help her find Lawrence Nightingale whose phone it is. Turns out Lawrence known as Larry among friends has gone missing and you have to look for clues in his phone to find where he could be.

Osgood assists you throughout with her technical expertise. It starts with you finding a picture of Lawrence in his gallery to hack face recognition on his phone. This unlocks his emails, chats and phone history. You go through all his conversations and contacts to find traces. When the left corner of the phone screen turns yellow, it shows the information is important and must be scanned. You scan all such information and send it to Osgood.

As the game progresses, more of his stuff unlocks. As you stalk a stranger’s phone you find a lot of things encrypted. Dark smokey shadows start to appear on the home screen. You start seeing weeping angels in the windows of some pictures. Weeping angels are statues as long as you don’t turn your back to them. With some horrifying appearances of weeping angels, the game narrates a well-constructed storyline through this new medium.

You go through Larry’s web history finding articles on some conspiracy theories about the Wester Drumlins. You put together pieces of information to get closer to unveiling the truth. A few hours into this you’ve forgotten who you are or what you do. You’re occupied by this enigmatic universe. You are now a focused detective trying to get to the root of this suspicious activity.

It is not a grinding halt that keeps you stressed and stuck at a place but worth having a notepad, particularly for the suspicious encrypted calls. A linear story with a few additional searches. It is not intense gameplay and doesn’t get overwhelming. You go step by step, gradually the severity increases, music gets intense and clues more revealing.

The Lonely Assassin’s role play mode fulfils our secret desire to be an undercover agent. You pretend to be Larry and contact his friend’s to get information. We dig deep into his life unfolding his relationships with neighbours, friends and his love interests. The Lonely Assassins proposes multiple text options to choose from that lets players maintain their individuality as they solve the mystery.

The Strengths of Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

The best part about Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is that it uses live-action footage made especially for the game with the actual series actors. The game embeds all generations of the Doctor Who series with a few teasers of the upcoming series as well. There are voice notes from actual characters that add to the legitimacy. The security footage containing shots of real actors makes you feel like you are in an episode yourself.

The music is commendable throughout. This music sequence is developed for the game only. Playing the game you can say without a doubt it has been developed with love and passion by a true Whovian. It does justice to the series, unlike all the previous doctor who games.

The Weaknesses of Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

Play store offers a free play version of the game but it has its limitations. The real game is in fact paid. A minute amount however that is completely worth the game. It is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox as well but the true experience of the lost phone genre is on the mobile app without any doubt.

The Lonely Assassins seems to be slow-paced at some points. The player can not contact any character themselves, instead, they have to wait to be contacted by Osgood herself. If you’ve figured out the clues already, you have to wait as the story progresses at its own pace. It doesn’t offer speed customization which ends up being lacklustre for some.

Suggested Improvements for Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

It is a strong follow-up story to the episode with fun visuals, puzzles, mystery, a few scares and immersive gameplay. But all the frantic moments can only be enjoyed one time. Once you reach the end unveiling the mystery, however majestic the experience was, it is not a game you’d play again.

In order to make it interesting every time, the developers could introduce a few twists that vary in every game. The scares and weeping angel appearances can vary every time to make it unpredictable giving a new experience every time.

The climax is a long cut scene where the player has almost nothing to do. The angels have a lot of dialogues lessening their fear. Keeping the villain passive-aggressive with only a few surprise appearances would be a better approach. Involving the player throughout will increase the engagement thus keeping the interest intact.