Stories Untold (Switch) review "It really puts the 'algia' in 'nostalgia'"

Stories Untold harks back to programming from the '80s, especially the TV shows "Amazing Stories" and "Tales from the Darkside." Its offerings separate into four distinct puzzle/adventure segments presented as episodes of an in-game television series, which also happens to be called "Stories Untold." Upon initiating each episode, the game even plays a title theme segment that feels like it was plucked straight from that decade, complete with campy synth music.

At first, you think this experience will prove to be nothing but a pleasant collection of mini-games, and for a while it is. However, as its title implies, there's something the game isn't telling you right off the bat...

I will admit that the first episode, entitled "The House Abandon," doesn't serve as the best start to this anthology. Typically, any collection of this nature benefits from featuring a more fast-paced, hard-hitting offering as its lead-in. Here, the game automatically jumps into a faux-text adventure title. As with handfuls of other indie games, this is a "meta game" where you actually play a character playing a video game (see also: Pony Island or .hack). You take the role of a man returning home to his parents and sister, only to find the house empty. His father left a surprise for him in his room, which turns out to be an old school, cassette-based home computer similar to TI-99. So he fires up his favorite text affair from way back, The House Abandon.



So yeah, you're controlling a character who happens to be gawking at a text adventure on a screen, and sometimes the lights flicker or spooky stuff happens. It's really not the most exciting way to kick this tetralogy off, but it at least does a fine job of setting the mood...

If you're worried about having to type things out, rest easy. Rather than having to anally spell out your actions, you select commands from a menu, piecing together select verbs with various nouns. Upon doing so, the computer screen describes a scene to you, revolving around someone exploring an empty house. Of course after a clap of thunder and some other phenomena, things go from mundane to bonkers. Suddenly, the once-safe, wholesome narrative shifts into a grisly alternate reality that influences actions in the real world. Eventually, you figure out what's going on and end the story in somewhat predictable fashion, only to have a cryptic ending thrown at you.

You might be inclined to dismiss this episode because of its vague conclusion, not realizing its brilliance and that it actually foreshadows upcoming events. Get used to this, because tells for a big reveal are everywhere.



The second episode, "The Lab Conduct," places you in control of a man named Mr. Aition, who has volunteered to experiment on a mysterious (and potentially dangerous) artifact. As with the previous story, you spend the entirety of this one sitting at a desk, surrounded by technology. People in another room speak to you, giving instructions on which tests to run on the machinery around you while referencing a manual for you to follow. It's all a bit muddling and daunting at first, because there are so many objects with which to interact, and you don't know where to start. However, your objectives should become clear after a little perusal of the aforementioned reading material and some tinkering.

The situation goes screwy--even terrifying--with each examination, and more information regarding the men giving you orders becomes so crystal clear that you only want to rebel. You do so in your own way, eventually ending the affair with some satisfaction and an ominous final line.

With that one in the bag, you fire up the third episode, "The Station Process." This one functions a bit like the sophomore outing, where you have to use various machines to solve puzzles. Here, you play someone stuck at a weather station during a catastrophic storm while hints of the apocalypse dance in and out of conversation. One of your coworkers sends you a radio frequency, which in turn provides you with a code. Sometimes, the code is encrypted and you must decipher it some way. For instance, one broadcast uses Morse code, which you can crack by using an in-game diagram projected on a microfilm. From there, you input one final series of terms into a computer and advance to the next code.

Initially, you expect this tale to unfold in predictable fashion. However, this is the point where the game as a whole flips over and reveals its grim underbelly, and you realize this isn't just a collection of games. A couple of surprise events occur, eventually ushering you into a fourth and final episode that isn't an episode at all...



The finale takes you back through all of the prior segments, but with new context to each of them. It doesn't merely lay down suggestions, but outright tells you what happened and presents all of its earlier content as a total mind trip. At this point, things begin to make so much sense that you realize just how great each of those stories were and that they all served a purpose in a much greater design.

However, you eventually must soldier on against all of this new, crushing information to the grand conclusion. You know what's coming--the game spells it out for you pretty plainly--but you must force yourself down that road and brave the heartbreak.

It's common for a horror story to thrust characters into situations that frighten or unnerve them; into places they'd rather not be. This one does just that, but rather than forcing you to square off against something fantastical or supernatural, you must face a very cold, bleak reality that you absolutely do not want to be true. Folks, it doesn't get more "horror" than this.

Stories Untold begins as a rather straightforward collection of adventure titles, but ends as a memorable, downbeat series of yarns that promises to haunt you for some time after its completion. On top of that, its material drops enough hints that it beckons you to revisit each section to see if you can spot each of them. And then, once you've reached the summit once more, you can experience the outcome one last time, regretful that you put yourself through its poignant revelation again. However, you also end it glad that the title packed enough of a punch to leave an impression on you, even if it left you heavyhearted...

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (October 25, 2025) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.