Digital is an adventure game that puts you back into a time, where a public internet did not exist, and where you'd make your first newbie steps into the world of BBS's - trying to make contacts, figuring out how stuff works in this fresh new world, getting access to new more "elite" boards, and of course reducing astronomical phone bills in a not so legal way, by making long distance calls via calling cards.
But "Digital" isn't a "techie" game about hacking, cracking and trading warez. What it is about, is the emotional and personal aspect about it. How it felt like back then, and being among the first people to discover something which back then "lamers" couldn't even imagine: online relationships.
Technically, "Digital" is in principle interactive fiction (what some call "text adventures"). Except of here, you don't enter text into some commandline which is then parsed by an annoying parser. Actually, besides of phonenumbers, you almost never enter any text. Instead, the GUI of the game is the amiga workbench (basically retro-"windows"), and you interact with the world by launching applications and clicking buttons to send or receive email, etc.
What worked well for me:
Where Digital shines the most is at recreating the mentioned atmosphere. Not just because of the GUI, but also because of the structure of the "world": BBSes as "island worlds", with small village-like communities where everyone knows each other. The way how people discuss on the boards, with you as the outsider trying to learn from them. The way how you slowly gain access to more and more BBS's... it took just a few minutes and i was "there". I honestly doubt that this could - considering the limited dev-ressources - have been done much better.
What also worked very well for me was the interface. It has a handful of quirks, but mostly it did not get in the way at all, and i was able to exclusively focus on the content instead. This is something highly unusual for interactive fiction.
Another thing that is interesting, is how "authentic" the game is, without attempting to "show-off". There is almost nothing factually wrong in the game - down to fine details that only people who compile and debug C-sourcecode will notice.
And yet, all this is not done for the sake of creating a simulation. These items and messages are not there just for the sake of adding geek content. In fact, you don't even need to understand those details to understand the story. The game IS about personal stories - its just that the author made sure that the setting is authentic.
This too is highly unusual. Typically, gamedesigners either "stupidify" settings and even make up fantasy stuff.... or they are obsessive about simulating stuff "realistically", adding lots of geek-content that does not add to the story and gameplay at all, but is just there for showing off and simulating for the sake of simulation. Digital on the other hand does stick to the story - it just ALSO ensures, that what is there in content, is authentic, without adding irrelevant bloat.
As for the overall story - while the "type" of plot isn't anything new, the way it was executed here, and injected into history to create a kind of alternate timeline, is unique.
What didn't work so well for me:
The "A love story"-bit. Me being a mutualist, i just do not get the popular concept, of love being about "I'm sooo low, you're sooo high". This "masochism == love"-mantra is not just overdone in culture, it also IMO doesn't do the rest of the game justice: Creating the impression of love by going all emo, is about as cheap, as making something "artsy" by going emo: it doesn't require much effort. I understand that the author probably wanted to portray the main-NPC as unexperienced and uncertain, but "shy" doesn't require a selfdestructive "emo"-character.
The other aspect that disappointed me a bit, was a minor one because it is understandable: It is short, linear, feels a bit rushed from midgame onwards, and from what i've seen allows no significant choice. So, even though it is "interactive", technically what the player does is just figuring the right buttons to turn current page in the book.
But as i said, it being a freeware game by a single developer, this is understandable - when ones own dev-ressources are highly limited, one has to compromise somewhere - and i'll take a short but well done game any day, over a long lowquality game.
Bottom line:
I just checked to make sure, and it seems that "Digital" indeed is - besides of "Feign" - the only game from 2010 that impressed me. If the described setting and online relationships interests you, or you're just in the mood for something refreshingly different, i totally recommend giving it a try. The game is freeware and can be downloaded for windows/linux/mac here:
http://www.scoutshonour.com/digital/