The Occupation

The Occupation is a first-person investigative simulation video game developed by White Paper Games and released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on 5 March 2019. The game takes place in a single government building, in real-time over four hours. The game advances with or without input from the player, but almost all in-game actions can affect the game's story.

Plot
The game is set in Turing City, North West England, 1987. A terrorist attack has killed 23 people and led the British Government to create the controversial Union Act, which protestors believe threatens the civil liberties of the British population.

The player character is a journalist named Harvey Miller who is researching The Union Act. Players have freedom of choice on how to act; become a whistle-blowing journalist fighting against the act, or do nothing as the game progresses on its own.

Gameplay
The role of the player is to uncover evidence by accessing restricted areas and questioning people on their actions through one-on-one interviews. This all takes place in a detailed, systems-driven world where people will react to the player’s  actions and where time is an important factor.

There a multiple ways to achieve objectives,  such as breaking into an office through a window, finding an ID card or switching off the power to a  room. The game’s world was designed to accommodate the player’s choice, approach and need to interact with objects they  may or may not need for their  research.

The Occupation is played over four hours in real-time. To help keep track of important objectives, the player character’s watch can be used to set alarms and timers. For example, some locked safes may be time-delayed, so the player can avoid loitering nearby and evade potential discovery by patrolling security staff.

The game does not have a health bar or energy system, with the game instead punishing the player by using up their time. For example if the player character is caught trespassing, they are taken to a security office and lose 15 minutes of game time, which shortens the time available to achieve their main objective.

Development
A team of nine staff at White Paper Games created The Occupation over 4 years of development. The game was developed on the Unreal 4 engine and uses dynamic artificial intelligence, which combines scripted activities for the in-game characters, along with deviations to their normal routine based on their in-game requirements or interactions.

White Paper Games focussed on creating a lived-in world through non-linear spaces and objectives that could be solved with multiple approaches. They aimed to give the game a strong narrative drive that tackled important social issues, while also providing plenty of rule-breaking opportunities for players more interested in the game’s stealth mechanics.

Concerning the narrative, White Paper Games tapped into the various mindsets regarding government decisions over changes in the law, including mistrust, ambivalence and activism. This choice in how to act informed their approach to The Occupation’s gameplay design. The world is open for exploration and it is the player who decides what threads they find interesting and wish to follow in the world.

System requirements

 * Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Processor: 2.2+ Ghz Dual-Core

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560 or equivalent

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 7 GB available space

Sound Card: Yes

Additional Notes: For foreign languages, please set Windows Keyboard language to UK / US English to type passwords inside the game.


 * Recommended:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Processor: 2.6+ Ghz Quad-Core

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 970 or equivalent

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 7 GB available space

Sound Card: Yes

Additional Notes: For foreign languages, please set Windows Keyboard language to UK / US English to type passwords inside the game.