Please Advise is an indie RPG adventure game built around narrative choices in a card-driven format. Players step into the role of a mute auditor sent to Hart Clinic to review finances while pursuing a personal investigation into a family member's death two years earlier.
Gameplay
The core loop centers on daily shifts at the clinic. Each shift presents a new situation such as a patient's request, a management demand, or a suspicious document. Players respond using either a gesture or a tablet. Gestures feel immediate and human yet risk misinterpretation, while the tablet delivers precision at the cost of leaving a permanent record that others might later examine.
Four metrics track progress: the clinic's finances, patient trust, staff loyalty, and the auditor's own conscience. Choices push these metrics in opposing directions. A single metric dropping too far ends both the audit and the investigation. Evidence collected throughout the story complicates later decisions, forcing players to weigh what to reveal or conceal.
The game uses 150 to 250 cards across three acts. The tone stays dry and cynical, focusing on everyday corruption rather than dramatic villainy. The central theme explores illegal pharmaceutical trials conducted on vulnerable patients.
Game Modes
The experience unfolds as a single narrative campaign divided into three acts. Branching paths emerge from the accumulation of evidence and the state of the four metrics, leading to one of twelve possible endings based on which elements hold steady and which collapse.
No separate multiplayer or competitive modes exist. All play occurs in the first-person perspective of the mute protagonist, with consequences determined by how the four metrics interact over the course of the shifts.
Story and Themes
The protagonist cannot speak, a detail that shapes every interaction. Decisions must account for the limitations of gestures and written notes, adding layers of risk and interpretation to routine clinic business. The uncle's experimental treatment for congenital speech disorders forms the personal stake behind the official audit duties.
Management pressures, staff dynamics, and patient needs create overlapping conflicts. Documents and overheard conversations gradually reveal the clinic's deeper operations, turning routine financial checks into a broader inquiry into ethical boundaries.
Is It Worth Playing?
Please Advise suits players who enjoy choice-driven narratives where outcomes depend on balancing competing priorities rather than following a single moral path. The card-based structure and metric system reward careful attention to long-term consequences across multiple playthroughs.
Those drawn to stories about institutional pressure and personal compromise will find the dry tone and branching endings engaging. The game remains available on PC for those interested in its specific blend of investigation and moral decision-making.
