After you're done trying this free game, maybe pick out another from my Perpetual Steam Key Giveaway
Sights & Sounds
- There's an unmistakable charm in the pixel art of this game. It evokes old memories of playing stuff like Monkey Island, Loom, and The Dig. If you've ever enjoyed the look of a LucasArts point-and-click, you're bound to find the detailed settings appealing
- At the same time, it feels distinct. It eschews the front-on 2D perspective for more of an isometric one. While this works favorably aesthetically speaking, it hampers the gameplay somewhat (more on that later)
- The music is excellent for the mood. Someone with a more refined palette will probably have a greater appreciation for the synthetically recreated waltzes and other melodies backing the scenery, but even a pleb like me can still appreciate the mood they help set
Story & Vibes
- The narrative is structured as a frame story encompassing three major acts. It's like The Canterbury Tales, but much shorter and stripped of the bawdy humor
- The frame, in this case, is a fancy masquerade aboard a luxury train populated by masked attendees who don't know quite how they wound up there
- Each act is a vignette in which a specific partygoer attempts to explain the events leading to their arrival to a (suspiciously casual) person sitting at one of the tables
- The pacing is excellent, and the ordering of the acts helps ramp up the unease and dread. Without delving into spoilers: the first act features a difficult social situation in a hotel room; the second, a severely depressed woman dealing with her problems using the most irresponsible laudanum that Victorian healthcare could provide; and the final act tells the tale of an oppressed doctor going to great lengths to increase his healing abilities
- The vibes are satisfyingly creepy and haunting. The whole experience has the air of acquaintances telling ghost stories around a campfire
Playability & Replayability
- From a mechanics standpoint, if you've played one point-and-click, you've played them all. You click on everything, you talk to everyone, and you try to crack unintuitive and sometimes frustrating puzzles with solutions that only make sense to the people who made them
- Remember how I said that all the beautiful pixel art had some downsides for the gameplay? Well, by imitating the visuals of a bygone time, a lot of features get lost. It's difficult to identify progression-vital items when most small objects look like various smears of color, and some items blend in so well with the sometimes muddy-looking floors and backgrounds that you'll spend several minutes pouring over the background for things to click on. Combine those negatives with the usual quirkiness of point-and-click puzzle design, and you have a recipe for multiple frustrating moments
- Not sure if I'll replay anytime soon, but part of me does want to revisit this on a chilly October evening sometime in the future to get the last achievement I missed
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It's a little 2-3 hour narrative-focused indie game, so it won't push your hardware too hard. Ran well on the Steam Deck
- I would be remiss to point out that this game is totally free on Steam. Absolutely worth a shot at that price
- Yet another game I've played that's a reference to one of Italo Calvino's works. I played Genesis Noir last year as well, and know it has a sequel coming out soon. Guess I need to start reading some of his stuff if it's this influential on developers
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. An excellent point-and-click that manages to cram a surprising amount of story into a neat little package. The bow on top is the fact that you can experience it on any budget
Sights & Sounds
- There's an unmistakable charm in the pixel art of this game. It evokes old memories of playing stuff like Monkey Island, Loom, and The Dig. If you've ever enjoyed the look of a LucasArts point-and-click, you're bound to find the detailed settings appealing
- At the same time, it feels distinct. It eschews the front-on 2D perspective for more of an isometric one. While this works favorably aesthetically speaking, it hampers the gameplay somewhat (more on that later)
- The music is excellent for the mood. Someone with a more refined palette will probably have a greater appreciation for the synthetically recreated waltzes and other melodies backing the scenery, but even a pleb like me can still appreciate the mood they help set
Story & Vibes
- The narrative is structured as a frame story encompassing three major acts. It's like The Canterbury Tales, but much shorter and stripped of the bawdy humor
- The frame, in this case, is a fancy masquerade aboard a luxury train populated by masked attendees who don't know quite how they wound up there
- Each act is a vignette in which a specific partygoer attempts to explain the events leading to their arrival to a (suspiciously casual) person sitting at one of the tables
- The pacing is excellent, and the ordering of the acts helps ramp up the unease and dread. Without delving into spoilers: the first act features a difficult social situation in a hotel room; the second, a severely depressed woman dealing with her problems using the most irresponsible laudanum that Victorian healthcare could provide; and the final act tells the tale of an oppressed doctor going to great lengths to increase his healing abilities
- The vibes are satisfyingly creepy and haunting. The whole experience has the air of acquaintances telling ghost stories around a campfire
Playability & Replayability
- From a mechanics standpoint, if you've played one point-and-click, you've played them all. You click on everything, you talk to everyone, and you try to crack unintuitive and sometimes frustrating puzzles with solutions that only make sense to the people who made them
- Remember how I said that all the beautiful pixel art had some downsides for the gameplay? Well, by imitating the visuals of a bygone time, a lot of features get lost. It's difficult to identify progression-vital items when most small objects look like various smears of color, and some items blend in so well with the sometimes muddy-looking floors and backgrounds that you'll spend several minutes pouring over the background for things to click on. Combine those negatives with the usual quirkiness of point-and-click puzzle design, and you have a recipe for multiple frustrating moments
- Not sure if I'll replay anytime soon, but part of me does want to revisit this on a chilly October evening sometime in the future to get the last achievement I missed
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It's a little 2-3 hour narrative-focused indie game, so it won't push your hardware too hard. Ran well on the Steam Deck
- I would be remiss to point out that this game is totally free on Steam. Absolutely worth a shot at that price
- Yet another game I've played that's a reference to one of Italo Calvino's works. I played Genesis Noir last year as well, and know it has a sequel coming out soon. Guess I need to start reading some of his stuff if it's this influential on developers
Final Verdict
- 7.5/10. An excellent point-and-click that manages to cram a surprising amount of story into a neat little package. The bow on top is the fact that you can experience it on any budget