Lost for 26 Years: Game Based on George Orwell's 1984 Found and Early Build Available on PC
A demo of the long-lost game Big Brother, based on George Orwell's novel 1984, has unexpectedly become available to the public. It can now be played on PC. For Windows 11 users, the game needs to be installed manually by copying the Brother and BRENDER folders to the C drive.
Big Brother was first showcased at E3 1998, but the project was subsequently shelved.
The game was developed by MediaX, known for Queensrÿche's Promised Land. It was last showcased in 1999. The creators aimed to release the project by the end of that year, but eventually, development was halted, and the license to create a product based on 1984 expired. In the 2020s, there were attempts to gather more details about the game from those who worked on it. However, until recently, nothing was reported about the project.
Its story didn't follow the book directly but served as a kind of spin-off sequel. The main character, Eric Blair (a nod to Orwell's real name), returns to his homeland to find his fiancée missing and the world under the control of Big Brother and the Thought Police.
Big Brother was approximately 70% complete. It was described as an interactive adventure game with RPG elements, combining features of Riven and the world of Quake.
Throughout the game, players were required to explore various locations, solve puzzles, and interact with rebels to aid them in their fight against tyranny.
For a long time, it was believed that all copies of Big Brother were lost without a trace, but recently, a user named Shed_Troll discovered a disk with the demo and uploaded it to Archive.org.
