Quick Review: A Normal Lost Phone

God knows I’ve seen all kinds of things in video games, but none have made me feel as much like a voyeur as this one. Not in the sexual sense, but in the “this is private and none of my business”/"I shouldn't be doing this" sense… which is the entire point. That unease creates an experience that felt unique to me, as it’s the first time I play a game like this, though I know this isn’t the only one of its kind.

It's certainly less messy than my
 own phone.

I must remember to wish Sam
a happy birthday.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? A Normal Lost Phone is a game by Accidental Queens, published by Dear Villagers and released on January 26th, 2017. It involves you, the player, shuffling through a smartphone found on the side of the road, piercing its secrets, the secrets of the person who owned it, and piecing together the mystery of that person. Which is something you shouldn’t do, let’s be honest.

At first, all you seem able to access is pieces of conversations the phone’s original owner, Sam, had with various people; family, friends, other students, so on. Timestamps, longer discussions on some days, photos sent to or by these acquaintances and an image gallery. These texts eventually reveal the Wi-Fi password, allowing the voyeur – I mean, the viewer, or rather, the player, to access a number of sites. Picking up on clues allows you to figure out more passwords in order to open that person’s accounts on the available apps or websites. Relevant dates on the calendar; inconsistencies between what the phone’s user has told to different people; and so on. Soon, a dating app is unlocked. Online forums, too. It even gets to the point where the player can interact under the guise of Sam’s accounts on those apps and websites… which is taking things too far, in case shuffling through a person’s secret belongings wasn’t already going too far.

(Spoilers follow from this point on.)

But this isn’t why this game is well-known; rather, it's famous for exploring the life of someone going through the process of learning their trans identity. It’s a game focused around a social issue many of us have no idea of. We can assume that it’s difficult for someone to suddenly realize they’re trans, but we can’t usually imagine how difficult it may have been for them. That is, unless you happen to know a trans person and are aware of the struggles they faced towards discovering this identity.

So we have Sam, studious young man who grew up in a fairly conservative family with clear ideas on gender roles, in a similarly conservative town where difference is heavily frowned upon, hated even; Sam, the guy with a girlfriend, a lot of buddies from school… Sam, attending board game nights under a female alter ego and slowly realizing that he feels more comfortable being that person, rather than who he is at the moment. The fallout that ensues with friends, the discovery of similar people, the other discovery of just how hateful the people around him actually are to this new identity of his… This game really gives a detailed feel of the hardships a trans person goes through.

I guess the game did appeal to me in part because I’ve known a few trans people, though the example that sticks out is a co-worker, a trans man who was still in the process of transitioning; I’ve first known him at an advanced stage, to the point I only found out later that he was trans. How did I find out? His new identity still wasn’t recorded in governmental papers, so the printed schedule at work had to have his original name on it, crossed off with a pen and replaced with his current one; I even did it myself once when I noticed it had been forgotten, sometime after I got confirmation by a colleague that this co-worker was a trans man. So yes, I knew it was an arduous, long process (bureaucracy-wise, especially); but that particular realization on my part still didn’t take into account any personal social backdraft that may result from this life-changing realization and decision.

I really like what this game does. It’s a very clever puzzle/investigation game with an interesting story that touches on topics still not discussed enough in media today. It’s very good. You can collect music to listen to while you play, collect images and get clues from them, read through all the messages in order to pick up inconsistencies. On one hand, you’re doing the work of an investigator or reconstitution expert (those people whose job is to build a timeline of events based off the data they collect in phones taken from suspects, as an example). On the other, in-universe, you’re just a random person that finds a phone on the grounds minutes after it was tossed away, and let loose their most extreme sense of voyeurism building, piece by piece, a puzzle that the phone’s owner didn’t want anyone to have access to.

Might be why it feels so right to completely erase the phone’s data at the very end.

So, yes – great game, do get it if you’re interested in the puzzle aspect or in the engaging story. Or if the themes appeal to you.The game is out there, available for 3$.