Unusual Findings [Review]

Unusual Findings finds you trying to uncover an alien mystery in the setting of a small town in the 80’s. It’s a love letter to that era and has plenty of hidden and obvious references throughout the game. The background is filled with posters of classic movies and video games, with the foreground often having action figures or statues of famous characters. The music is an homage to the music at the time and even has some actual 80’s songs like “Spin Me Round” for the intro.

As for the gameplay, it’s a classic point-and-click adventure. Like most point-and-clicks, a lot is wandering around figuring out where to go next. The world is big and there are a lot of characters to talk to. To my surprise, the entire game is voice-acted—even just the lines when you're inspecting an item in the world. The lines and some voices are a bit cheesy but it fits with the humor and style of the story. The story is presented similarly to movies that follow a group of kids uncovering some sci-fi mystery.

The references aren’t overbearing or annoying, in my opinion. There are even times in the game that you can play a mini game. When talking to the teens suspicious but kind of cool adult friend, you can play a game based on a real life Atari competition that allowed you to complete for real life prizes.

There are plenty of movies with children or teenagers finding an alien and either befriending and helping it or fighting it. Unusual Findings’ story follows a similar storyline but is slightly darker than I was expecting. The alien they find is not friendly or intriguing, it’s a robotic, lifeless-looking creature that kills people. The teenage protagonist and his friends witness the event and try to stop it. No one believes them, even the park rangers refuse to check the forest for the killer alien. It’s up to you to explore and click on as many things as you’re allowed to. You can talk to every character, each one having multiple dialogue options to go through. Conversing with everyone shows you what the next important thing has to be done, and also holds a lot of funny and entertaining conversations that I don’t mind listening to.

I don’t want to spoil anything for the game, as the game is short (can be beaten in around four hours) and the dialogue and story are what’s really important. All I can do is recommend you play and experience it for yourself. I highly recommend this game and will be giving it a 9/10. The game is now available for PS4/5 and Switch.