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Home / Reviews / Apps and Games / iPhone & iPad / App of the Week: Lifeline… review

App of the Week: Lifeline… review

Swap texts with a stranded astronaut, just try not to get him/her killed

“Help me.” These two words kick off Lifeline…, propelling you headlong into one of the most engaging pieces of interactive fiction in modern gaming.

A second message appears — “Hello? Is this thing working? Can anyone read me?” — and buttons for two simple replies. Tap one and your answer is sent into the ether. You discover you’re communicating with Taylor, an astronaut of unknown gender, and Taylor is in a bit of a pickle.

There’s been a spacecraft crash of monumental proportions. Taylor’s survived, but is marooned on a distant world, surrounded by twisted metal and broken bodies. Despite being armed with a vivacious sense of humour, Taylor’s not armed with anything else, and you soon feel even the bubbly replies are little more than a shield, attempting to block out the horrific predicament that’s presented itself.

Taylor’s also not great at making decisions, and so absolves that responsibility to you. Try the galley or stick with rat food? Camp by a heat source emitting possibly lethal radiation, or risk the planet’s sub-zero night? Search for strange glowing scuttling things in the dark, or stay put and hope they were a figment of the imagination? You press buttons and Taylor responds accordingly.

This is hardly cutting-edge game structure. In the late 1970s, similar stories played out in print, by way of Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks. On mobile, the excellent 80 Days recently took such branching narratives to their logical conclusion, with pacey, fluid dialogue threaded through a race around the globe at the service of a drunken gambler with a penchant for making stupid promises.

By contrast, Lifeline… might be brutally simple, but a day or so in, it seems more sleek and elegant than pared back. In part, this is down to excellent writing, Dave Justus (Fables: The Wolf Among Us) providing a compelling, emotionally charged script that makes you care what happens to Taylor; you feel like you’re communicating with a real person rather than receiving a series of canned responses from an app. Additionally, the game cleverly plays with time. Conversations happen quickly, but when Taylor needs to sleep or hike across a crater, it might be hours before the next reply.

It’s a curious device, especially in a gaming ecosystem that typically prizes immediacy. But the sense of anticipation transforms a simple text adventure into an exciting and sometimes oddly stressful experience, enabling your imagination to run away with you regarding decisions you’ve made on Taylor’s behalf. (After a couple of playthroughs, a ‘fast mode’ option appears, for the impatient. The game also sensibly ‘pauses’ Taylor’s actions until you access the app, but this doesn’t detract from the effect.)

The masterstroke, however, might be Apple Watch support. Lifeline… is fine on an iPad or an iPhone, boasting a moody background soundtrack. But on Apple’s wearable, silent though that version is, there’s a sense of intimacy that’s lost when tapping out replies on a larger device. Given that it’s currently surrounded by a universe of mediocrity, it’s perhaps not saying much to call Lifeline… the best Apple Watch game so far; but it says a lot that you’ll frequently return to it regardless of other gaming systems you own, because sessions are short but rewarding, the story is compelling, and Taylor’s life is in your hands (or at least on your wrist).

Download Lifeline… for iOS here

Stuff Says…

Score: 4/5

An engaging CYOA on your wrist (or phone) that’s elevated beyond its peers by smart writing and clever game mechanics

Good Stuff

Great script

Easy to get into

Works nicely on Apple Watch or iPhone

Bad Stuff

Lacking in replay value

The odd bug on Apple Watch

Profile image of Craig Grannell Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.