Dordogne is a nice indie game talking about the children of the people who left the countryside to join big cities. It has a peculiar appeal to me as I live in France and, as a child, spent lots of holidays in my family's region of birth.
In the game, Mimi comes back to her grandmother's home to find out about the origin of a fracture in her family.

If the gameplay isn't really interesting (and, let's say it, can even be unpleasant), the awesome watercolor art direction is a reason to play in itself. The game manages well to depict what living in a french rural space can be and makes it look stuningly beautiful. The sound direction also achieves very well this goal.

If the coming of age story is conventional and the third character under-exploited, the strengh of the narration lies, to me, in the writing of the grandmother. Dordogne, indeed, is really good to create a well written old woman (which is pretty rare in video games) who has to deal with her own struggles while taking care of a child and keeping up the front.

This character was a breath of fresh air and a good reason to play the game, as well as its artstyle (of course, it's overall a slow wholesome game and doesn't rely at all on the gameplay; don't play if you're looking for this kind of experience).

Reviewed on Aug 30, 2023


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