A Place for the Unwilling

7.6IGN Logo Bueno 21 días se nos quedan cortos para poder descubrir todos los misterios que esconde esta ciudad y sus habitantes, de la cual nos ha enamorado su estilo gráfico y su historia. Cuando solucionen un par de errores, será un imprescindible en el mundo indie... si tienes paciencia para descubrirlo. Por Inés Barriocanal

70%Game Brain Score

story, graphics

gameplay, stability

67% User Score Based on 51 reviews

Critic Score 80%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

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About

A Place for the Unwilling is a single player role playing game. It was developed by ALPixel Games and was released on July 25, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

“A Place for the Unwilling” is a narrative adventure game where the city is the actual protagonist. No puzzles or “game over” screens, just you, the city and the dozens of stories which are taking place in there. Days pass and the fate of the city is yet to be decided.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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67%

Audience ScoreBased on 51 reviews

story17 positive mentions

stability7 negative mentions

Unique and immersive Lovecraftian atmosphere with existential dread and rich storytelling.
Beautiful hand-drawn art style and captivating soundtrack that enhance the setting.
Deep, branching narrative with meaningful player choices affecting the world and multiple endings.

Game suffers from numerous bugs including quest-breaking issues, freezing, and save corruption.
Clunky, unintuitive control scheme lacking keyboard remapping and mouse support, leading to player frustration.
Slow-paced gameplay with vague quest directions, limited guidance, and repetitive time constraints, making progression confusing.

story
94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
79%
3%
The story is ambitious and rich with Lovecraftian and cosmic horror themes, offering deep character interactions and multiple branching paths that impact the narrative. However, many players find the progression slow, fragmented, and sometimes obscure due to vague quests, bugs, and poorly motivated side tasks, which can undermine immersion and emotional investment. Despite these flaws, the intricate setting, atmosphere, and choice-driven storytelling provide a compelling experience for those willing to engage deeply with its challenges.
- “It takes some time (and a bit of knowledge about Lovecraft’s works and cosmic horror in general) to fully grasp certain plot points, but that just adds to the depth.”
- “The story is compelling to track from start to finish, but there are also missing pieces in the story.”
- “You have time in those 21 days to befriend only a few of the game's many characters, and from each character you gain a different perspective on the main story. So in that regard, the game is very prismatic, a seemingly simple story that changes depending on what angle you view it from.”
- “Due to the rushed pacing and extremely fragmented storytelling, the narrative feels disjointed most of the time.”
- “Probably the worst aspect of the game is the absolute incredibility of the characters' behavior and the way the story is told here, which is a pretty big stumbling block in a game based on characters and story.”
- “The quests that the NPCs ask you to do are irrelevant to the main plot, so it mostly feels pointless. Personally, this is why I never felt attached or motivated to move forward.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
25%
19%
The game features a stunning, hand-drawn art style with charming, cartoonish visuals that evoke a unique, Lovecraft-inspired atmosphere. While graphics are praised for their beauty and immersive design, some users note a lack of polish in cutscenes and minor issues like missing graphic quality settings and unclear UI prompts. Overall, the artwork strongly enhances the game's dark, atmospheric setting despite occasional technical and design shortcomings.
- “The artwork in the game looks amazing and hand drawn!”
- “Super charming game, it has an interesting and very organic world, and a lovely art style with fantastic animations.”
- “Very unique experience so far, the art style is beautiful and the story, while still a bit scattered around at this stage of the game, has already lots of interesting little details that make the world very immersive and alive.”
- “From the first moment you will probably notice that although the graphic stylization, which could be described as 'cartoon Lovecraft,' is really good, the game radiates strong amateurism. For example, the dubbed intro sounds like it was written by a teenager and recorded extremely close to the microphone, making it sound like you're listening in a coffin.”
- “There is only one minor issue I have with this: why are there no graphic quality settings?”
- “I feel like this could be fixed by adding more button graphics/prompts because I still don't even know how to flip pages in the newspaper and thought the newspaper was one page until I saw the developer flip the page.”
gameplay
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
The gameplay is centered on time management, exploration, and social interactions within a decaying city, with a strong narrative focus but limited combat or traditional RPG elements. Many find the experience slow and occasionally frustrating, with fetch-quests and trading mechanics feeling tacked on or unengaging. However, the game's emphasis on player choice and story-driven exploration offers a unique, if sometimes tedious, roguelike-like experience.
- “While the gameplay consists largely of fetch-quests, the challenge is how to manage your finite time (and to a lesser extent, money) as you set out each day into this 'dying' city, juggling relationships with a cast of flawed, quirky, and mostly corrupt citizens.”
- “The most impressive thing about A Place for the Unwilling is its central mechanic: choice.”
- “The gameplay largely consists of exploration of the city, with lots of socializing trying to understand what is going on while the relentless clock is ticking away.”
- “Incredibly slow story and no engaging gameplay to help with the slowness.”
- “Walking around is a chore as you seem to snag on every available piece of scenery, and the game's secondary mechanic after the exploration, buying and selling goods between the handful of shops, seems totally tacked on.”
- “Oddly enough this game reminds me of Elder Scrolls if you remove all combat and RPG elements, leaving just the dialogue-based gameplay where you have to utilize the clock to visit certain locations, not to mention the lack of fast-travel.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
43%
14%
The music in the game is generally well-crafted, featuring varied and fitting themes that complement each area and the industrial England setting. While not especially original, the soundtrack effectively enhances the atmosphere without overpowering ambient sounds. However, the lack of voice acting and occasional desire for more menacing tunes are noted drawbacks.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack is captivating, and the plot is intriguing.”
- “There is enough variety in the music too, that each area has its own well-fitting theme, and is balanced so as to never over-power the evocative ambient sounds.”
- “The art, the music, the writing, the atmosphere in general, even the cute newspaper that you can actually read are nicely put together.”
- “There is no voice acting (unfortunately – it would have been especially awesome in a game with so many quirky personalities), just occasional music and plenty of sound effects, both are very decent, but I’d prefer much more of some menacing tunes to build up the mood.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including missing quest markers and quest carryovers, making it feel unfinished and frustrating at times. While some players find it engaging despite these issues, others consider it too buggy to recommend. The developers are actively working on fixes, but patience is required to enjoy the experience.
- “The game is riddled with bugs: missing quest markers, visual glitches, and even quests from previous save files carrying over into new playthroughs.”
- “It's also buggy, incredibly buggy, to be honest it looks like a polished unfinished beta - a really cool one, but a beta nonetheless.”
- “However from actually playing the game and investing around 6 hours in it, I had to request a refund; not only because the game itself was disappointing, but because it feels buggy and unfinished in almost every aspect.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
43%
14%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its rich, Lovecraftian cosmic horror vibe and immersive Victorian city setting, enhanced by beautiful art, music, and thoughtful details. However, some find the unsettling, slow-dread tone underdeveloped, making players feel more like observers than participants. Overall, the atmosphere is compelling but occasionally inconsistent due to varying writing quality.
- “The atmosphere, storytelling, and sheer despair it evokes are worth the jank.”
- “The gorgeous and cartoonish art style should not distract you from the fact that this game is a love letter to the works of Lovecraft and his cosmic-horror atmosphere.”
- “The art, the music, the writing, the atmosphere in general, even the cute newspaper that you can actually read are nicely put together (also try talking to the shadow kids, they are hilarious).”
- “Atmosphere has the right tone, but it never quite gives you that unsettling sensation. The underlying sinister feeling that is barely scratching the surface here could have been greatly expanded and gone full-blown slow dread, but it never gets there. You end up an observer instead of a participant.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a powerful emotional experience through its dark humor and exploration of themes like mortality and class struggle, creating an engaging and sometimes unsettling atmosphere. Despite its modest price, it offers a depth of emotional impact rarely found in big-budget titles.
- “The writing drips with bleak humor, deftly touching upon themes of mortality, class struggle, and the supernatural.”
- “They are emotional and sometimes frightful if you are already engaged with the drama between these two.”
- “We have all played $60 big studio games that had the emotional appeal of a wet napkin, so for $15 I implore you to experience this wonderful game.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some characters like the local mayor feeling more annoying than funny due to awkward dialogue. However, the superb character design and quirky personalities, along with humorous elements like the "shadow kids," provide memorable and genuinely amusing moments throughout the game.
- “The character design is superb, and brings a hilarious and memorable face to each and every weird personality you encounter during your stay in the city.”
- “The art, the music, the writing, the atmosphere in general, even the cute newspaper that you can actually read are nicely put together (also try to talk to the shadow kids—they are hilarious).”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a high replay value with extensive content, appealing to dedicated RPG fans, though it may be challenging for newcomers.
- “+ A lot of content, high replay value”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is praised for its superb design, delivering hilarious and memorable personalities that enhance the unique atmosphere of the city.
- “The character design is superb, and brings a hilarious and memorable face to each and every weird personality you encounter during your stay in the city.”

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80%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews

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12h Median play time

12h Average play time

12-12h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

A Place for the Unwilling is a role playing game.

A Place for the Unwilling is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 12 hours playing A Place for the Unwilling.

A Place for the Unwilling was released on July 25, 2019.

A Place for the Unwilling was developed by ALPixel Games.

A Place for the Unwilling has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked A Place for the Unwilling for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

A Place for the Unwilling is a single player game.

Similar games include Blacksad: Under the Skin, Sunless Skies, Paradise Lost, Ether One, CONSORTIUM and others.

A Place for the Unwilling

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