CLOSED HANDS is a free simulation video game wherein you explore the deeply-intertwined lives of five fleshed-out characters after they all get involved in a horrifying terrorist attack. Developed by PASSENGER, this 2D indie visual novel is a groundbreaking interactive fiction project that combines non-linear progression on branching storylines and a fragmented and complex narrative of different points of view. This work is proudly supported by the Arts Council England using public funding.

All across the city

In CLOSED HANDS, you can play as five different characters living in the same area: Beth, Mike, Marcus, Haziq, and Farah. They each have their own distinct intertwining story arcs regarding the lead-up and aftermath of the attack—which you can easily play in any order. This means that you can either just follow one arc or jump in-between any of the perspectives using the storyline web interface. There are 9 possible endings.

The gameplay consists of a combination of traditional interactive text and explorable interfaces for computer screens—wherein you can fiddle with online conversations, phone messages, phone calls, and more. Aside from the five character arcs, there are also dozens of additional scenes with their own branching path to help fill in the gaps of the story. All scenes themselves can be unique in that some go forward in time, some go backward, and some do both. 

The storytelling alone is engrossing, with over 130,000 words across almost 150 scenes. The characters themselves are complex but vivid human beings that you can easily empathize with. The addition of a dynamic ambient soundtrack that reacts to events makes it all the more atmospheric. However, there are some user interface issues—like the lack of a New Game+ option to see which choices lead to other arcs for easier replaying.

They’re only human

All in all, CLOSED HANDS is an atmospheric story-rich VN that really portrays excellent writing and storytelling design. It’s easy to play but you will definitely get lost in all of the branching paths that would lead to different endings. It could use some more tweaking to its main user interface, however. The storyline web doesn’t have a New Game+ feature wherein you can see where you might go when you choose a dialogue or action option.