Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins

Genre: Visual Novel / Simulation / Horror

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Doctor Who: Duo Bundle along with Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality)

Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is a Visual Novel presented as a Simulation of a smartphone, with some Horror elements as well. For those who have played the Lost Phone Stories games, this game will present a similar experience, and as such, I’ll be making a lot of comparisons between them. This game was released on mobile devices and PC in 2021 and ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch later that same year.

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Doctor… Wait, What Now?

Firstly, I should address the use of the license here. Given the title of the game and its cover art, fans of the Doctor Who franchise will no doubt realize that this game’s premise is based on the recurring villains, the Weeping Angels, and in fact the plot here directly ties to their introductory episode Blink.

If you are reading this review and you haven’t seen the TV show, do yourself a favor and look up the episode in question – don’t worry, it’s largely self-contained, and in fact is extremely atypical for an episode of the show in that the titular Doctor only plays a small supporting role and you don’t really need to have seen any prior episodes to understand it. It is also generally regarded by fans as one of the greatest episodes in the entire series (which is saying a lot – the series has been running intermittently since 1963).

Here’s the thing, though. This game seems to exist in an odd state in that it both assumes that the player (or the nameless character they represent) knows absolutely nothing about Doctor Who, but also knows quite a lot? Revelations about the existence of aliens and time travel seem to slide off of your character like you’re discussing the obvious, and facets of how the Weeping Angels operate seem to be known by your character, despite him being oblivious to all of this prior to the events of the game.

Similarly, this game explains a lot of stuff to the player that any Whovian would already be very well aware of, yet seems to believe that players will know other things that would be pure leaps of logic… if you hadn’t watched the show. You know, like the fact that this is a game about the Weeping Angels. Should I spoiler tag that? I kinda’ don’t think so, given that everything about the way the game is presented and advertised makes it clear, yet the game acts like it’s some major plot twist. Beyond this, there are a lot of little references you’ll only get if you’re a fan of the show, although these aren’t really important to the plot.

So I’ll return to my original recommendation – before playing this game, if you have not done so already, watch the Doctor Who episode Blink. This game also refers back somewhat to things that happen in the two-part episodes The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone, but those episodes are not self-contained, aren’t quite as good as Blink, and aren’t really necessary to understand what’s going on here. Anyway, if you’ve done that, now be prepared for the game to stupidly assume you haven’t done that half the time, and assume that you have done that the other half. Yeah, frustrating.

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Explain! Explaaaaain!

Frustrations with the question of who this game is for aside, the story presented here is an intriguing take on the Lost Phone Stories games. Where those games attempted to stick close to some semblance of reality, Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is very deliberately aiming for elements of science fiction and horror. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the topic matter, but it does detract from the Simulation elements of the game somewhat. Although as long as I’m talking about that, I should also mention that since this game is simulating a smartphone, it is naturally best played… on a smartphone.

However, while the realism takes a hit here, this game makes up for it somewhat by doing interesting things with its sci-fi and particularly its horror elements. At one point in the game the characters refer to the Angels as Lovecraftian, and the game makes very good use of this element of the characters to create a truly unsettling experience for players in parts of the game.

The plot puts players in the role of an unnamed protagonist who comes into possession of the smartphone of Larry Nightingale, with this game having players unravel events that happened to Nightingale after Blink. Players are immediately contacted by Dr. Osgood of the organization UNIT, who pleads with the player to help her uncover the mystery of what became of Nightingale, at first because she believes it may help her to locate The Doctor, but then when it becomes clear that recent events in Nightingale’s life are far more dire than they initially appeared.

It’s an interesting story with some fun twists and turns, even if it is at times ham-handed in the way it’s told, and even if some of those twists are spoiled by… well, the TV show that most of this game’s players have already watched.

Beyond the simulated smartphone interface (which isn’t extremely convincing, but it conveys the basic idea its’ going tor), players will be looking through various pictures, videos of live-action actors, pre-recorded voiceover “phone calls” (all with decent acting), simulated webpages, and even engaging in simulated text conversations with conversation trees. The visuals here are mostly good, though they’re at their best when the surreal elements of the game’s topic matter come to the forefront.

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Will You Have a Good Timey-Wimey?

And much with the Lost Phone Stories games, gameplay here mostly takes the form of reading through conversations via various mediums (text, E-Mail, website bulletin boards, etc.), and scanning these conversations to find clues to help unlock access to further information. Much as with the other elements of the game, this is less realistic because half of the time you’re “scanning” anomalies in a page to prompt the game to progress the plot, and it still has one of the flaws of the Lost Phone Stories games in that it’s easy to get stuck and be unclear just where the game expects you to go. This is definitely a game you will want to consider playing through with a walkthrough guide.

In terms of controls, playing the game in docked mode unfortunately means controlling a slow on-screen cursor, which is not only further immersion-breaking, but tedious as well. At the very least in handheld mode, the game makes excellent use of the touchscreen, and in fact players can tip the Nintendo Switch sideways to better simulate a real smartphone. This is a wonderful inclusion, although… well, again… it’s yet another reminder that this really is a game best played on a smartphone.

As much as I have some major frustrations with Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins, I have to say that it does some very interesting things within the Doctor Who universe, and makes good use of one of the franchise’s most notorious villains. I’m still irked by the question of just exactly who this game is for, as well as the numerous immersion-breaking elements, and I think by now I’ve made it clear that smartphones are going to be the best way to play this game. However, if you’re a Whovian, this is definitely a game you’ll want to give a try, regardless of where you play it.

tl;dr – Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is a Visual Novel that plays as a Simulation of a smartphone, with players searching through the phone to find information about the phone’s prior owner. This game has some clever ideas and some excellent Horror elements, but it’s unclear whether it wants to be a game for Doctor Who newbies or longtime fans, and there are numerous immersion-breaking elements that detract from the experience, not the least of which is the fact that this game is a natural fit for smartphones, and while the Nintendo Switch version is still good, you’re much better off playing this game on the device it’s trying to simulate.

Grade: C+

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