As a journalist, even an entertainment journalist, there is an ingrained nostalgia for something like newspaper microfiche. You know, that storage method you've probably seen in movies or TV shows where the plucky protagonists are scrolling through brightly lit images of old newspapers until they suddenly discover the article or photo that blows the case wide open. The puzzle game TR-49 from developer inkle isn't exactly that, but it absolutely scratches the same itch that crops up whenever I see those machines and think, "Boy, that sure would be satisfying."
And it is satisfying to do TR-49's version of the same. As Abbi, a young woman seemingly trapped in a basement with some strange machine largely consisting of dials and a CRT screen, I scroll and read and click and scroll some more. The four-digit dial – two letters, two numbers – allows me to bring up marked records of my choice to peruse and inspect.
