The Westport Independent 9+

Pontus Lunden

Designed for iPad

    • 3.3 • 143 Ratings
    • Free

Screenshots

Description

A game about Censorship, Corruption and Newspapers

The Westport Independent is a censorship simulator taking place in a post-war country, governed by the recently elected Loyalist Party. As the editor of one of the last independent newspapers in the country, your job is to remove and edit the content of your paper, affecting the people’s opinion of both the rebels and the Loyalist government. With an increase of rebel activity and an ever watching government breathing down your neck, whose truth will you print?

Features
- Change the content and meaning of your articles by censoring them to your liking. While you can’t lie, you don’t have to tell the whole truth either.
- Employees with fleshed out character, who will not only react to your actions, but also discuss them with other colleagues.
- Receive letters and messages from public figures, rebel leaders, employees and other characters affected by your actions.
- Adaptive stories where your actions affect the opinions of the people, which affects what happens in the city, which in turn affects the stories you receive.

Awards and recognition
- Biggest surprise at The MIX GDC 2015, IGN
- Part of "Three Cool Surprises From PAX 2015", from Kotaku
- Part of "The Very Best Indie Games of GDC 2015", from Gameinformer
- The Best of GDC 2015, 148 apps

What’s New

Version 1.0

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

Ratings and Reviews

3.3 out of 5
143 Ratings

143 Ratings

Editors’ Notes

Thought-provoking to the end, The Westport Independent explores the power of the press by putting you in charge of a fictional newspaper. Amid a tense political climate, a propaganda-pushing government wants you to censor articles as they hit your desk—changing headlines and removing incriminating details. After deciding how to handle each story, you assign it to a transcriber, determine the marketing budget and what makes the front page and then observe the impact of your choices. Before long, you’re weighing your moral duty to report the truth with how it’ll affect sales, employee happiness, even potential lawsuits. We found the whole process absolutely riveting.

the great 666 999 ,

Amazing game, crashes on launch

I got a bit nostalgic today about this game. Absolutely loved the idea and execution. I just wanted to pick it up again because I was bored and I have insomnia. Tried launching it and just didn’t go past the loading screen. Doesn’t seem to be a workaround. Judging by the way it launches and how it hasn’t been updated in a very long time, I assume it’s either depreciated or the devs haven’t renewed their server license. Pity because really liked the concept it was like a portable, choice based papers please. There aren’t enough mobile games like this.

WestportGamesReview ,

Great...For a time

I like this game.

It's fairly origional, fun and addictive. The Westport I dependant has a driving story and interesting game play, which turns an already interesting job into a task of diplomatic storytelling. A key point to note when buying this game is its not just blanking out paragraphs, it's also marketing and planning the paper format.

I would say there are 3 main things stopping this game receiving the full 5 stars.

1) length. There are others complaining about this too. The game is great, but it just doesn't last long enough. Be prepared to binge play for 3 hours then close the app and never see it again. Hopefully some new content will appear, as right now it is more of a seed than a full blown story.

2) headlines! Although I love the idea of changing headlines, only two are abilities for each article,this gives very little spread for realism, as you are really just picking, not writing, a paper.

3) Font. Eugh. Anyone have a microscope that works on pixels? I'm on an iPad mini, which may explain this, but a clearer font would help the game flow better.

This is not to say the game isn't great. I'm giving 4 stars after all. But it is true I haven't opened it for a few days, because the idea of replaying a 'campaign' isn't as appealing as some of the other real time apps on the market.

Keep it up.

Long live the rebellion!

App Privacy

The developer, Pontus Lunden, has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple.

No Details Provided

The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.

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