Orwell: Ignorance is Strength will have fewer, more complex episodes than the original

Orwell: Ignorance is Strength, the second season of the surveillance-themed adventure, is going to feel quite different to the original, if a new blog post from the developers is anything to go by. Season one (which was pretty good), contained five episodes—the new season will only have three, but they will be more "complex" and hand the player more control over the game's story.

The first series was about spying on activists and uncovering secrets. The second will have elements of that, but you'll spend most of your time manipulating the public and changing the way events are reported. Because of that, you have a very real influence over which way the story branches, leading to a broader narrative filled with more options, developer Osmotic Studios said.

A new 'time of day' mechanic means that other characters have routines and will advance the story independently of the player, which could be interesting. And the story will be more "personal" than the first because it will "focus on three individuals and the complicated relationships they have with each other", the developer said.

The team had hoped to have the new season out by the end of this year, but it's taking more time to make final adjustments, it said. "Because of all this extra content—the story, the ideas, the narrative branches, the new tools—and the way that episodic content comes together, we’ve focused on getting it all just the way we want it and delivering the very best game we can."

It also promised "big updates" next month: I'm betting we'll get a release date fairly soon. Like the first, Osmotic Studios will release weekly episodes when it's ready to go. How would you like to see it differ from the original?

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.