The Stalker (Owner Unknown) // Review

The Stalker is a mystery puzzle game from Owner Unknown. Poring through the contents of a briefcase, you must piece together the identity of Eva’s stalker. Can you discover who it is and thwart their sinister plans before it’s too late?

Players: 2-6 // Age: 14+ // Playtime: 2.5 hours+ // Resettable: Yes; refill kit sold separately

What you need: WhatsApp.

First impressions

There is something very unnerving about stumbling upon a hastily hidden suitcase full of sinister belongings. Especially when, as you retrieve it, it falls open and spits out photographs of you with the eyes scratched out. The Stalker sets the creepy tone from the start, as you are met by all manner of creepy imagery when you open the case. This is the first game I’ve played in the much-anticipated Owner Unknown collection, created in collaboration with Kamer 237. The company’s offerings are all based around finding a suitcase full of secrets and unravelling a mystery. Each is a standalone story, with a new assignment and cast of characters.

My copy of The Stalker was part of a deluxe Kickstarter pledge I made last year. It included all three games from the series (The Stalker, The Drifter and The Vitalogist). A leatherbound notebook and an enamel pin were bonus additions.

Synopsis

“Eva finds an old suitcase. Whose could it be? Curiously, she decides to open the suitcase. And then… she can do nothing but gasp for breath. The suitcase is full of photos. Dozens of photos. All of her. She no longer gets a wink of sleep.

Will you discover together with your friends, family members, or colleagues whose suitcase this is? And what on earth that person is planning? Take on the challenge…”

Presentation

The Owner Unknown games are each housed in a card suitcase that folds open. This concept is well-executed, with the handle making it easy to carry and we liked the little ‘Unknown’ labels. The interior is nicely themed, making good use of the space with scrawled messages and eerie imagery inside the lid. These visual flourishes don’t form part of the puzzles but do help set the tone.

There are lots of photos included in this game, and these felt authentic. I’ve played games where the photographs were either too staged with glamourous models playing ‘ordinary’ characters or poor-quality print-outs. We were happy that this was not the case for The Stalker. Also included in the box is a locked diary, The Gold Room drinks menu and coaster, a newspaper and more.

We were surprised to find some tape, a pencil and scissors inside the box. The tape was clearly put in for a specific puzzle, but we didn’t need to use it to get to the solution. We also used our own scissors as the ones provided were a little too small and fiddly for our big hands. We would have preferred a lower price point instead of providing these, given that most people likely own a pair of scissors and tape. It did make the box feel slightly more premium though and is perfect if you don’t have those items on hand.

Gameplay

Getting started

An information leaflet explains how to get started, including helpful tips and how to access hints. It also guides you to watch the trailer on the website, after which you’ll need to Whatsapp Eva – the game’s protagonist. She quickly informs you that your first objective is to open a padlocked box found inside the suitcase. To do this, you’ll need to work out the three-digit code using the box contents.

Some initial confusion occurred as we opened the envelope marked ‘Start here’. This contained a letter from Eva outlining her predicament and provided a list of potential suspects. It instructs you, again, to send her a message but by this point, we’d already done this. It felt a little messy, but could easily be resolved by having the leaflet direct you to open the letter, not to message Eva.

Chatting with Eva

Throughout the game, you’ll converse with Eva via WhatsApp; this element of gameplay is fairly minimal. Don’t expect to be using a flashy web interface or searching the internet for hidden web pages. You aren’t required to have an internet connection, but as a minimum, you will need access to mobile data. When you first message Eva, you are asked to confirm what language you wish to play the game in. We found that this immediately broke immersion for us, and we would have preferred a specific phone number for English players.

Generally, the chat is fairly basic, but it did include a few short voice notes and a video. These were well executed and made the experience feel more immersive. One issue that occurs if you are unable to complete the game in one sitting is that Eva will send you multiple messages to ask if you are still there. She does stop messaging eventually, so you can just ignore these.

Puzzles

There are some solid puzzles in the box, involving traditional puzzle types such as a crossword, some logic and ciphers. Each of the puzzles was nicely themed within the world of the game and we didn’t experience any huge leaps in logic. We did find a puzzle involving the diary quite tricky, but this was mainly because we struggled to see a difference in colour for some of the text under a certain light. The only other issue we came up against was that one of the items included a website address that didn’t work. We weren’t sure if it was supposed to or not – as a rule of thumb, I prefer website URLs to be left out of games unless you are supposed to visit the site.

We did really enjoy the puzzles on offer, especially the more tactile ones. These were a welcome break from purely paper-based components. One particularly memorable puzzle included a neat reveal, and another involved stringing together a lucky bracelet. You’ll also find some padlocks to open and ransom note-style letters to cut out and correctly assemble into a message. The variety of tasks kept us engaged throughout our gameplay.

Ultimately, we were left feeling confused and a little disappointed by the very abrupt ending to the game. It is just a shame that it didn’t take a little more time to wrap up events in a clearer fashion, but it didn’t detract from our overall enjoyment. Once you have finished the game, you can reset it using a refill kit. These can be purchased with the game, or separately at a later date.

Difficulty & Hints

We didn’t find the game particularly challenging, but it also wasn’t ridiculously easy. I’d say it was a standard difficulty, maybe skewing a little towards the easier side.

If you need a hint, you’ll need to call a chargeable number to obtain the password to the online hints section. I don’t understand who thought this was a good idea! Neither of our phones was set up to dial an international number, so we had to find a way around it by calling through Microsoft Teams. This completely took us out of the game as we had to battle technical issues. Having since looked on the Owner Unknown website, I found the following note at the bottom of the game page: “…calling our Dutch phone number from outside the Netherlands is required to access the hint page and may incur a one-time international charge.” I’d much prefer to solve a very simple puzzle to obtain the password to the hints section, or for it to just be hidden on a website somewhere.

Bonus content

A curated Spotify playlist is available to enhance your experience. It features such bangers as Save Your Tears (The Weeknd), Sweet but Psycho (Ava Max) and Creep (Radiohead). We found the music a little distracting but it definitely fit the vibe of the game well. The playlist is completely optional and you are welcome to play in silence or with a playlist of your own.

If you haven’t already played it, I highly recommend checking out The Cryptographer. It’s a free web-based mini-game from Owner Unknown that acts as a teaser for their experiences. It is worth noting that the sort of online content featured in the demo doesn’t necessarily show up in the main games.

Verdict