Making the intricacies of fine art history enjoyable is an unenviable task that CD-ROM interactive experiences fervently tried to surmount throughout the 1990s. Whereas Mystery of the Orangery and Mission Sunlight opted for narrative adventures that happened to teach art history through immersive paintings as setpieces, Night Cafe takes a drier, safer approach. Wandering the streets of Montmarte with nary a pedestrian in sight. Overcast lighting doing Haussmann's Paris a disservice. Setting off to some select locales, able to wander just enough to question why the option exists when one is intended to beeline to the puzzle objectives.
-
The narration is smooth and deep, but fails to impart knowledge on the why of the Impressionists, opting instead for discussion of relations and painterly methodology. While this is fine for those already familiar with the subject matter, it assuredly would leave the casually interested in the dark as to what the point of it all was. Yes, the Impressionists sought an interplay of light and colour and open compositions, yes they painted en plein aire, yes they were rejected from the Salon de Paris, but why does that matter? Académie des Beaux-Arts is mentioned in passing, but little is said of the wilful rejection of contemporary standards.
-
Of interest must be the methodology herein. Outside those typically solitary narrations, much of the text exists as excerpts from correspondence. This holds true in the 'adventure' part of the game, and in the unlocked galleries of each artist's works. If a painting does have an accompanying document (in both French and English), it establishes some slight context, but leaves the work itself unexplained and unexplored. Perhaps a scholastic explanation of each work would be excessive. But as it stands, one is left wondering why these specific paintings matter. We are told Manet's Olympia was controversial and important, but not how or why. With the dictionary/encyclopedia ever at the ready within the program, it seems a misstep -- the primary sources could be front and centre, with greater detail and sources in that secondary space.
-
The loose gameplay of Night Cafe disappoints as well. Sometimes one wanders through each and every pre-rendered scene in a space, collecting objects or figures. These are then placed blindly onto a painted surface to reconstruct a relevant work, or are arranged into sequence despite the player having no means of knowing the solution. By way of example, in Theo van Gogh's apartment, sepia prints of Vincent's works are gathered, then put into frames labelled with years and locations. Two of these can be solved by comparing the tiny image to sketches on letters nearby. The rest cannot. Except there is no consequence for mismatching frame and picture, so just drag them one by one onto each frame to see what sticks. Absolutely nothing is learned here. The same holds true for when placing figures into a scene. One has no clue who these figures are, nor where they are situated, nor why this even matters. The figures aren't even named. The other puzzles invariably require moving sliders to change 3x3 tiles of paintings, only the sliders affect two tiles rather than just the one selected. It isn't challenging, only frustrating.
-
Despite doing nothing particularly well, Night Cafe nonetheless is a cute enough experience for the weary art history student. It is a short romp where I could smile in recognition of critical artworks, and raise an eyebrow at the inclusion of Post-Impressionists. Outside of that, there is little (if not nothing) to be learned here and not a shred of fun drawn from the adventure and its challenges. It is a testament to misplaced zeal in the heyday of multimedia, a presupposing that anything is implicitly interesting by virtue of being on a poly-carbonate optical disc.

Surprisingly erudite despite initial impressions of being a misinformed edgelord simulator. Pervasive themes of SA, pedophilia, white nationalism cohere into a story that understands how powerful and dangerous obsession can be. Damn funny, consistently shocking.

Certainly one of the better incrementals in recent years. Let's be clear, this is still the gaming equivalent of eating celery with peanut butter, a falsehood of proper gamitude that really exists to tickle the pleasure receptors, but the progression is laid bare and has a definitive end. My play time of 20 hours is more a showing of my own reticence to close the game, rather than an expression of actual time investment. It's cute, it's nice to look at, it ends well before wearing out its welcome. It has builds without feeling like a min-maxxing spreadsheet.

Rather slow, tedious, and ambling in a way I'm less than jazzed about. I suppose that's intentional, to show how the family has continued living their life over a stretch of time, but it means a lot of back and forth scrounging for single interactable items. Touching, nonetheless.

Shocking that it works as well as it does.

Shocking that it works as well as it does. [2]
And these are like, full songs! Bafflingly impressive.

Much less charming than the obvious fetishism of The Police Mystery. Just as bad to play. Its platforming tedium could be forgiven more readily if the stealth functioned and I hadn't needed to climb up the facade of the house 10 times.

Stinky songs, stinky Furby, but like, the audacity alone is commendable. Includes a Furby dictionary because, uhm, uhhhh

Shocking that it works as well as it does. [3]
And these are like, full songs! Bafflingly impressive. [2]

Shocking that it works as well as it does. [4]
And these are like, full songs! Bafflingly impressive. [3]
Oozes style and charm.

A necessarily railroaded experience that begs for you to go off the rails at every turn. Needlessly forces repeated playthroughs from the very start of the game to actually progress. Also it's weirdly misogynistic and sugarbaby-infused. I just feel bad for those fish, man.

Delightful to finally see some resistance to Nicole's bullshit, almost as if we're seeing things slightly more from the perspective of a Jecka-type. Is it better? Yes and no, maybe the shock has worn off a bit, but it remains an enjoyable, jaw-dropping romp through the horrors of a girl you can't fix.

Atmosphere alone cannot save a miserable experience.