Game: Flat Eye
Genre: Indie, Simulation
System: Steam (Windows, & macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Monkey Moon studios | Raw Fury
Controller Support: No, Keyboard & Mouse
Price: US $15.93 | UK £14.49 | EU € 15,93
Release Date: November 14th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to Johnny Atom PR.
Flat Eye is a resource management sim emphasising story and narrative choices. The storyline is set in the future and plays with the personal stories of your returning customers. So let us become an employee of Flat Eye and see what it is about.
Mega-corporation
Like most simulation games, Flat Eye starts out simple enough. It’s your job to ensure the clerk takes care of the customers by providing them with the latest and greatest convenience tech.
The clerk starts with building clean energy generation and simple shelving units or modules. You’ll also tell your clerk what to build and when to restock the shelves or modules. In addtion, your clerk will have to connect every module to the power and Flat Eye. Connecting each module to the power plays out like a puzzle, but one you don’t have any help with. I did struggle to connect everything up at times, a little help from the game would have been appreciated.
Build Vending Machines and Modules
Then, you’ll gradually add self-check-out aisles and nicer restrooms. In addtion, you’ll open new tech on the tech tree, allowing you to place such items as Smart toilets, which can harvest personal data from their users, an Organ vending Machine (I’ll leave that explanation to your imagination), or even a Cloning Booth. The simulation gameplay is interesting, especially running the gas station. The game mechanics work well, encouraging the player to achieve a high rating at the end of each day.
The gas station is always busy, with customers coming and going; looking after their needs will keep you on your toes. Customers you can’t interact with within the station are shown as faceless silhouettes. However, premium customers often arrive in your store, and this is where the game’s narrative comes into play.
Premium Customers
The premium customers present you with conversations and crucial decisions to make. During these discussions, you can choose what decision to make from the list supplied or have your clerk take the reins and answer the customer. Flat Eye’s unsettling story unfolds through these interactions.
Warning
At the beginning of the game, a warning about unsuitable content pops up; the gameplay deals with heavy topics, such as suicide, and physical and verbal violence. You can choose not to see any upsetting topics, and as you speak to each premium customer, you get that choice again. Being an adult and well over the age of 18, I chose to see the cut scene with the premium customer.
The chats with the premium customers form the backbone of the game experience for the player. They also allow the narration to delve into the moral implications of tech that is all around us in daily life.
You see, Flat Eye is about the way new technology enters our lives. But, it is also about digital privacy and corporate control, as the Flat Eye Corporation is an ominous presence lurking in the background. The Flat Eye sends you memos and is an everpresent entity pushing you onwards to achieve its goal.
Visuals and Controls
Graphically the game looks fantastic; the cut scenes when the Flat Eye is communicating with you look like a combination of hand-drawn and computer graphics and are pretty unique. The music adds to the atmosphere of the gameplay.
Controls are keyboard and mouse, with the usual WASD to move around or you can use the mouse. The controls perform as they should.
Conclusion
I found Flat Eye to be an unsettling game, leaving me with plenty of thoughts on the subjects in the narrative during my nine hours or so with it. In addition, I like the game’s overall premise, and it plays well. However, if the developer intended to leave the player with thoughts about how the future with technology can pan out, they have succeeded.
Final Verdict: I Like It 