Hello Stranger review

It’s been a while since I’ve played a good FMV game that truly captivated me. Paul Raschid, under the studio name PRM Games, has set out to change that, with the release of Hello Stranger. Raschid is, unironically, no stranger to FMV games, with titles like Five Dates, Ten Dates and The Complex under his belt. Often, they’ve been published by Wales Interactive, but this time Raschid is self-publishing — and thankfully, it doesn’t seem to have affected the quality of his production one jot.

Hello Stranger is one of his shorter FMV projects, taking roughly 40 minutes to see it through to the end. But with a branching narrative, multiple endings and some seriously impactful choices to make, you’ll undoubtedly want to play it more than once. It tells the story of Cam, someone who lives out their entire life with the aid of technology. His voice assistant controls just about everything in his house for him, and he runs his own business via his home computer.

During some downtime, Cam logs on to an app called Hello Stranger. If you remember Chat Roulette from the 2000s, you’ll know the type of app this is: you’ll be thrown into a random video chat with a stranger and, with the push of a button, you can quickly change to another chat. Who Cam ends up chatting to will depend on choices you make while playing, but there’s a range of weird and wonderful characters to meet, including a woman wanting to perform some sort of psychological analysis on cam, and a teenager trying to act cool while his mum is shouting him down for his dinner.

It doesn’t take long, however, for Cam’s adventures on Hello Stranger to take a very dark turn, and he’ll find himself trapped in a game that promises deadly consequences if he doesn’t play along. Here’s where Hello Stranger gets really interesting: you’ll be tasked with actually playing a range of games. Again, what those games are will depend on your choices, but I’ve played a Flappy Bird-style arcade game, a maths puzzle, answered questions about movie clips (some of which you might recognise if you’re familiar with Paul Raschid’s work), and more.

That’s about as much as I’ll tell you about the story, but the twists and turns along the way will keep you utterly gripped. Just one playthrough will be enough to whet your appetite, but there’s a good chance you’ll want to jump straight back in to see what other outcomes are available. Handily, you can skip through any scenes you’ve already seen on subsequent playthroughs, allowing you just to pay attention to anything that’s new.

As I’ve typically found in all of Paul Raschid’s FMV games, the production quality is seriously high, and the actors here all put in a commendable job. It’s easy to believe the action on screen; the typical hammy acting traditionally associated with FMV games is nowhere to be seen here. There’s an impressive cast list too, with Laura Whitmore and Derek Jabobi both taking roles, along with George Blagden, Danny Griffin, Kulvinder Ghir and more.

Despite it taking place largely within the confines of Cam’s apartment, Hello Stranger manages to remain engaging and thrilling. There are some seriously good ideas here, presenting a narrative that feels unique. Sure, some endings are better than others, but whatever choices you make, you’ll get a cohesive, thought-provoking film that makes you want to jump straight back in.

This review of Hello Stranger has been facilitated with a code provided by the publisher of the game. It’s available on PC.