REVIEW | Unusual Findings

LifeisXbox’s Unusual Findings review | Due to their malicious behaviour toward a neighbour, a group of nerds were grounded. That doesn’t stop them from getting back together behind their parents’ backs to attempt to snoop on adult television, though. Instead, they wind up jamming an alien signal, and that’s how our journey starts. There is even a strange lab in this game, just like in the Stranger Things television series, which is to be expected given its inspiration. Epic Llama Games created Unusual Findings, which ESDigital Games then published.

Most Memorable Moment

This is a point-and-click adventure game, therefore there weren’t any really noteworthy gameplay moments. However, there were several amusing story-related incidents. It’s difficult to choose a memorable incident that isn’t directly related to the plot, so I’ll just mention that hearing an iconic song from the 1980s was a pleasant surprise.

ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox One | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.

What we Liked!

• References everywhere | The 80s being the “stage” for Unusual Findings, it’s no surprise it’s full of references, which I did like to see. I found references to Back to the Future, Star Wars, DC, Marvel, Pac-man, Sesame Street, Predator, Conan, Gremlins, Street Fighter, Donkey Kong, and Bon Jovi, among others.

• It has a sense of humour | Unusual Findings has a sense of humour, not the funniest I’ve seen, but also not the worst, as you’ll quickly discover. When your character asks a game developer if being a game developer is as fun as it sounds, the developer responds by asking questions like, “Do you appreciate art? Do you like repetitive tasks?” and another, to which the main character replies “no,” obviously mocking the fantasy of being a game developer. It also makes fun of the numerous side-effects of products, in this case, a soda brand. Other jokes are directed at adults, but I’ll save those for if and when you play the game on your own.

• Cool soundtrack | Unusual Findings, as I’ve already stated, contains at least one iconic 80s song; there may be others at the conclusion, but I can’t be sure since I couldn’t finish the entire game. If you’re a streamer or YouTuber, don’t worry—there is an option to turn off copyrighted music in the pause menu. The song in question is “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” from Dead or Alive. Although it’s not particularly outstanding, the original soundtrack is also not terrible and does its job well enough.

• Detailed pixels | As you can see from the images in this review, the designers of Unusual Findings decided to use pixelated visuals. Although not particularly unique as compared to other pixelated games, they do have a good appearance that goes nicely with the 80s theme.

Mixed Feelings

• Who are you again? | There are quite a few different characters present here, but unfortunately, not all are memorable, or even interesting. I’d say that most of the characters are a satire of a bunch of stereotypes you have seen in other media from the 80s and Stranger Things. Some characters are interesting, like The Bull, which you can see in the image above this section, who probably works for a criminal organization but is nice to the main characters. You’ll probably forget about most of the characters, as some barely show up, and when they do they don’t do/say memorable things, ending up as nothing more than just satirical characters.

What we Disliked

• Lack of content and clearness | Being a point-and-click adventure, it was expected that the game would play in such a manner. That in and of itself is not a problem, but I thought they could have added more dialogue when attempting to use an item with something in the environment, and even made more humorous outcomes. However, it is not the only issue with it because you will often know what you want but will first need to acquire several other things to obtain it. Most of the time, this seemed annoying because doing all of what you just did for something basic didn’t always make sense. It occurred to me several times in Unusual Findings that I should be able to utilise things I already had to progress, but it wouldn’t let me. If you’re like me, you won’t even be aware that you had a chance to make certain decisions that will affect what you’ll have to do in the future.

• Two technical issues | Fortunately, I only encountered two technical problems while playing: reading a note from a vehicle stuck me in the reading screen, and I was unable to leave that screen at all, requiring me to restart the game. Another issue was a visual one, as seen in the image above, where a door had an IV on it, but when you zoomed in, it became a VI. If this was some sort of reference, I’m not sure what it was supposed to be.

• What do I do now? | During my time with the game, I got stuck a few times, and tragically, the last time I got stuck, not even a guide could assist me because I didn’t have the same options available as those in the walkthrough. I had to choose characters on a Street Fighter clone that could defeat my opponents’ selection; they always chose random characters. Since there were 10 characters available, understanding which character could defeat another was excruciatingly agonising.

How long to beat the story | 3+ hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 3+ hours

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