TR-49 Review
TR-49 is a new narrative deduction game from inkle, true masters of digital storytelling.
TR-49. Credit: inkle
Best known for Heaven’s Vault, Expelled!, and 80 Days, inkle’s latest interactive fiction experiment is TR-49. I haven’t fully unraveled its mysteries yet, but even in progress, the game is utterly captivating. Blending narrative deduction with the feel of an audio drama, TR-49 casts you as an investigator probing a WWII-era code-breaking machine that turns out to be far more than it initially appears.
TR-49. Credit: inkle
You awaken beneath a church in Manchester, surrounded by rubble and an enigmatic machine left over from World War II. Over a crackling radio, a man asks for your help recovering a stolen book that has somehow been archived inside this ancient computer. You remember nothing about how you got there, but the urgency in his voice leaves little room for hesitation. He insists the book is critical to the future, as a war rages above ground and soldiers close in on his location.
The machine itself functions like a digital microfiche system, operated by entering four-character codes—always two letters and two numbers—through a chunky, analog interface. When you input a valid code, documents flash past the screen as the machine searches for the correct entry. Your goal is to locate a specific missing book by uncovering a trail to it by matching codes to book titles you find. Until you find the correct book and code combination, entries remain garbled and difficult to read.
TR-49. Credit: inkle
As you discover working codes and titles, the game automatically records them in a notebook, allowing you to cross-reference information and make new deductions. Separate notebook pages track authors in the archive, gradually revealing connections between books, people, and events. The story unfolds organically as you map these relationships, transforming what is essentially a glorified card catalog into a surprisingly compelling investigative tool.
TR-49 manages to make the act of browsing an archive feel genuinely irresistible. That appeal isn’t driven by mystery alone; the physicality of the interface matters. The analog controls feel weighty and deliberate, working equally well with mouse and keyboard or a controller, and the feeling of discovering when a code clicks and the archive pages whiz by on the screen is fantastic. My only frustration is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to skip the text animation when loading entries, even ones you’ve already seen, as lines crawl onto the screen one by one.
TR-49. Credit: inkle
I’m stuck at the moment, but I wanted to write about it now since it’s already been released. The developers cite The Roottrees are Dead, The Return of the Obra Dinn, Type Help, and Her Story as influences; if you enjoyed any of those, you’re bound to love TR-49. I’ll be diving back into the game’s unsettling, fascinating world tonight. Wish me luck.
TR-49 is available now on Steam and iOS.
Overall Score (in progress): 8/10
Played on: Steam Deck and PC
