I am not usually one who plays story based-choice games. But since I was bored to death, I randomly scrolled through the Steam linuxOS section to find something to play. There’s not that many games I can play on Linux. Even if I can with proton, the quality is rather poor. At the same time, I can’t be arsed to switch to windows. So, I am going to have to live with it.

To be fair, I don’t know what draws me to Martial Law. It was just there under the free play section. I initially wanted to play unturned but after reading the reviews I changed my mind. So, I chose this game.

My first impression after watching the trailer on steam was that this game is going to be a bit depressing and filled with interesting 2D adventures. However, upon playing, it wasn't that depressive nor has too many adventures.

The game is only less than 200mb on steam, so it’s not that big and you can play this game when you have nothing else to play. Though it didn't match my expectations, this game sort of helps me get out of my bad mood and boredom.

Apparently according to the game review section, many mentioned that this game is reliving their nightmare of living in the communism poland. And if you are from Poland, leave me in the comment section on how close this game is to depict the situation in Poland back in 1981.

Now, I am going to show you some aspects of this game with the choices I made. In this game, your initial choices determine the rest of the story. So, here’s the snippets narrative that I choose in the game.

As you press New Game you will be taken to the loading screen then a black screen containing the setting of the story, 1981 in Polish People’s Republic in December. Then, a man called Stanislaw, inside his small apartment, is talking about getting his daughter some christmas presents. He already got the doll but apparently missing candies and tangerines. In this story, the man is divorced with the wife and the wife has custody of their child. The wife is cheating with some higher up from the communist party.

Attempting to look for the ration card, he goes out of his apartment. Throughout the game there will be small texts mentioning the significance of the subject mentioned. See example below, the ration card.

The first time the man leaves the apartment, he will meet with an idle NPC that asks two questions. This question determines the length of the game. In this game, you can also fight, or amicably ask things.

Here are some of the keys that you will need in this game. Mostly you walk around straight and press E as that will be the key that you need to ace this game. Unless you choose to fight your way, press F to punch other people.

Throughout the gameplay, the music sounds melancholic and depressive. However, in my opinion, I can’t quite get the immersive feeling of it. It was just nice and pleasant to listen to while finishing the objectives of the game.

The art of the game is pretty simple but it’s done nicely. I think it sort of captures the bleak situation during the communist era in poland. There are little details here and there that attempt to portray the situation and the people around that time. One of the thing I notice is that in the Janina's house is decorated with a cross whilst Stanislaw house was more torn down. It could also mean that they both are from different social statuses.

And when it comes to the gameplay story, it’s an interesting one. When the man reaches out to a stranger for the tangerine card, the stranger mentioned about his mother who is alone at home.

And then it leads to a conversation where Stanislaw is given a task to visit the stranger’s mother. It’s pretty understandable that they might be guarded with strangers but that game made it seem like talking to strangers or having a stranger over is something scary. Maybe, the party member will knock on the door and then you’ll be sent to the gulag? Who knows.

In the game, it’s also shown about the curfew in the apartments. So, it seems like the people aren’t free to roam around.

You can not speed up the pace of the game. It’s pretty slow but I think that’s what makes it quite wholesome. You can sort of stop for a moment and just patiently play the game. And another part that I find interesting is the existence of a store called Pewex. This store is like one of those stores in a dystopian novel that talks about socialism and communism.

Not just Pewex, there's also some display of polish tradition in this game. For example, Stanislaw object is to get carp from the fish headquarters. Apparently according to the game, carp is the traditional polish Christmas dish.

Another one telling about interesting term during that era.

This one below, it's pretty sad situation. This woman fainted just because she is queuing for fish. Thankfully, Stanislaw is willing to help, this is by default of the game.

Overall, the game is worth trying if you want to kill time. And for those who are not used to playing games with this genre, it’s a fresh change. Though I spent only less than 30 minutes playing this game, it was just something I needed to refresh my mind without having too much commitment or being excessively addicted to the gameplay.

Anyhow, that's all from me today. Maybe next time, I am going to talk about graveyard keeper in which I will be talking about how I bought the game and couldn't get pass through certain level.

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