We had to look up a walkthrough for Delete After Reading in a matter of minutes. Yes, we’re ashamed of ourselves.
But we’re not saying that to throw shade on the game. Delete After Reading is very, very clever: it’s a puzzle game like nothing else we’ve played before. It’s text-heavy, but it’s not a visual novel in the traditional sense. Instead, you’ll scroll down walls of text, interspersed with interactive images and video, brought to life with a pleasant audio design. Some of the text will be interactive and clicking on certain words will progress you through the experience. Other times, you’ll need to interact with the more visual elements of the game.
This is a puzzle adventure that absolutely doesn’t hold your hand. There’s a built-in hint system, but we found it to occasionally be a little vague – hence needing to look up a walkthrough. We were absolutely outsmarted by Delete After Reading, but that only made us want to play more of it. Developers Patrones & Escondites and TLR Games have done an excellent job in creating something unique and intelligent – and if you’re up for a mental challenge, we don’t hesitate to recommend it.
In Delete After Reading, you’ll take on the role of a school student who comes across a strange device. On that device is the titular file: Delete After Reading. And, upon discovering it, you’ll quickly find yourself embroiled in a weird and wonderful mystery, accompanied by three other kids. While it’s the puzzles that really grabbed us in Delete After Reading, this is a narrative adventure. Its story is just as important – and as bizarre as it is, it’s very well-written and will keep you interested.
The puzzles come in a variety of forms, and this is absolutely the type of game you’ll need a notepad for – as well as keeping your wits about you. Solutions are often right under your nose, but you’ll need to look for them: perhaps certain words or letters in the text will be highlighted in a different colour, but you’ll need to pay attention – and figure out their importance. Other times, you’ll need to pay attention to the images and more visual elements of Delete After Reading. After all, everything has been placed in front of you for a reason, and so you never know what might be important.
We won’t tell you too much about Delete After Reading, because the joy of this game is discovering it as you go along. But if you thrive when solving puzzles, like a challenge, and enjoy reading well-written fiction, this absolutely deserves to be on your radar. Oh, and it’s only £4.29/$4.99 too. No excuses, then.
