TR-49 review – A challenging and immersive puzzle game like no other

Compelling, intriguing and challenging in all the right ways: TR-49 is a puzzle game like no other. Putting you in front of a World War II-era computer that has been used to compile a database of lost and forgotten books, it’s your job to make sense of the entries within the database. Initially, you’ll be uncovering titles of books, but eventually you’ll find hidden notes from the database’s creators and, if you dig in the right corners, you’ll discover a very dark secret lurking within the machine.

Developer Inkle has delivered a fantastically intelligent game yet again, and after Heaven’s Vault I wasn’t sure anything else could come close. But TR-49 does. Although the two games are very different in their themes and premises, both have you decoding information and working under your own steam to unravel something rather special. TR-49 isn’t the longest game – I’ve clocked just over five hours, according to Steam, and you could finish it much quicker than that if you go down the right wormholes. Equally, you could spend double, triple this time, truly poring over everything it has to offer. There are records I’m yet to find, and I will go back to uncover them; such is the nature of the game that it lures you back in with its mysterious charm.

This is a stunning game, in terms of presentation. Sure, the vast majority of the game has you staring into a 1930s computer. But it’s impeccably designed, works flawlessy with a controller (something you absolutely cannot take for granted with a PC game) and it’s brought to life with excellent voice acting. It all comes together to make for an unforgettable package that is absolutely worth your time.

Of course, it’s the gameplay that’s really going to get its claws into you. Your only interaction with TR-49 is by inputting four-digit codes into the machine. The eponymous TR-49 will bring up a welcome screen for the system, of sorts. Other codes will bring up other system screens and, once you discover them, codes take the form of an author’s initials and the year their book was published (for instance, you’ll find Treasure Island under RS-83; Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883).

Most of the books in TR-49’s computer database are fictional and, given the nature of the game, they have to be. But there are real books scattered amongst them, and finding one will bring a little burst of joy to your literary heart, if you have on. Along with Stevenson, there’s a Jane Austen in there, Oscar Wilde and Alfred Tennyson, amongst others. Do they help you progress the game? Mostly not, but it helps ground the experience in reality – and seeing the compiler’s notes on classic literary works is a joy.

The puzzle of TR-49 – because it really is just one continuous puzzle – isn’t overly difficult. You’re simply inputting different codes and making sense of the information you’re presented with. But it’s highly likely you will come up against a brick wall at least once. If that happens, there’s nowhere to turn; there’s no ‘hint’ button or a prompt to put you on the right path. You’ll simply need to revisit previous information and see if you can glean anything new from it. Chances are, you will. There are some very clever clues hidden in TR-49, and if you remind yourself that every piece of information has been put there with pertinence, you’ll soon find something relevant that will lead you down yet another rabbit hole.

Obviously, TR-49 is entirely a work of fiction, and it’s one that delves a little into the fantastical (that’s all I’ll say on the matter of the overarching narrative). But I love its historical relevance, too. We know that codes and ciphers were used heavily throughout World War II, and the Enigma machine in particular has a prominent place in the history of the time. It’s wholly believable that a machine also existed to gather information on literature, and it’s that possibility that TR-49 builds upon.

If you’re a fan of cracking codes, of deciphering information and taking the lead in an investigation into the unknown, you’re going to love TR-49. This is an immaculately presented curio, a game that I fear will fall into obscurity but one that absolutely deserves to be celebrated. I absolutely love a puzzle game, even more so when they are as beautiful and thoughtful as this one, and if the rest of 2026’s puzzle games are even a fraction as clever as TR-49 is, it’s going to be a great year indeed.