Inkle Unveils TR-49: World War 2 Code-Breaking Mystery

Inkle has taken an unexpected turn with TR-49, a project that moves away from its familiar mix of folklore, myth, and interactive narrative. This time, the studio focuses on a found-footage concept built around 50 mysterious World War 2-era books discovered in an attic, and the work of decoding their scrambled pages. The game blends audiobook delivery with deduction mechanics, drawing on historical detail and the atmosphere of lost archives.

The idea traces back to co-founder Jon Ingold, whose great-uncle served at Bletchley Park during its most decisive period. While clearing the attic, Ingold found unfamiliar electronics alongside books he could not source or verify. These objects set the tone for TR-49, which takes the player into the task of deciphering their content and following whatever story may be embedded within the pages. Inkle positions the project with clear confidence, aligning it with the structural precision of The Return of the Obra Dinn, a comparison that signals the studio’s ambitions without leaning on spectacle.

TR-49 (Steam page) uses actors Rebekah McLoughlin, Paul Warren, and Phillipe Bosher to give voice to the material, strengthening its audiobook framing and grounding the narrative in performance. The books themselves carry an aesthetic presence: stark covers, close-up textures, and an archival mood that fits the found-footage premise. Their strange print and fragmented language create the core of the deduction work.

Inkle’s previous release, A Highland Song, carried a very different rhythm. Its movement across the Highlands unfolded through hiking sequences set against music, oral tradition, and weathered landscapes. Chris Donlan captured its tone precisely in his review.

"A Highland Song is about what it feels like to be lost in the mountains. Not even lost, in fact. Just to be in the mountains, to have the privilege to exist there just for a bit, to experience them directly and extensively and know them as a process of living." — Chris Donlan

By contrast, TR-49 changes the studio’s focus toward the charged atmosphere of wartime secrecy and the tangible labor of breaking codes. Instead of open ridges and wind patterns, the player studies parchment, ink, and the residue of forgotten machinery. The approach still reflects Inkle’s interest in narrative structure, but the setting and tone mark a clear break from its most recent projects.

TR-49 is scheduled for release in January, with the studio leaning into the clarity of its archival concept rather than a broader reinvention of its identity. Whether the books carry a single story or a web of overlapping threads remains to be seen, but the project’s foundation stands on concrete, tactile elements: lost texts, wartime craft, and the slow unraveling of something that once sat unnoticed in an attic.