Gemini Rue

Gemini Rue really comes up with a great story that makes you think about what makes us who we are ... experience? The soul? The story relly got me and I enjoyed every minute playing this game. You might think that the graphic might be a point on the negative side because of its fake low resolution. I think in this specific context it adds to the dark athmosphere and get your fantasy up to create what cannot be shown. The standard point&click gameplay is extended by some shooting minigame, but there's no deep strategy in this, like so save ammo or something. This game is absolutely no shooter and this minigame is just raising the tesion of the athmosphere quite nicely. So why no 5 stars? As point&click game it has to compare against Simon the Socerer, Monkey Island and those 5 star games. For that I think the game is rather short and the riddles are easy e.g. compared to Monkey Island. But it is definitely a great game and worht every penny.

Probably the first thing that will draw you in to even check this game out is the sci-fi aesthetic which many great adventure games have used before. In that respect, the game does not disappoint. However as you play the game, you will notice that most of the polish of the game (puzzle quality, availability of dialog choices and descriptive text, freedom of movement, lack of bugs) is concentrated near the start of the story and then slowly begins to fade, so that after the midgame you will get the feeling that this was meant to be a demo that was extended too much, with the final sequences being quite buggy and linear. I must say that I did stick with it until the end, because after playing the excellent first part I was already invested, and the game is quite short in any case.

I got Gemini Rue as a bundle package with the Blackwell series. Having played the Blackwell's through, this got left to the side and I only visited it a year or so later. Storywise it holds up. The twist completely caught me by surprise and rates as one of the best I've known. Other reviewers seem to disagree, but maybe they've read more Sci-fi or books than me. In any case, the story had me hooked from about midway to finish. There's a few corny lines, and the monologues at the end are a bit too philosophical, but overall it was an enjoyable experience. I'm not much of a Sci-fi or dystopia fan in general, but I thought the atmosphere and settings were excellent. Gameplaywiise is where it loses a star. It's a clunky game. The shooting sequences didn't bother me as much as it clearly did others--I thought it pretty fun and a nice addition to an adventure game--but the inventory and interaction system leave a lot to be desired. But all told a solid little adventure. Short as many are these days, but for something I didn't even want to begin with I'm very pleased to have played through it.

Remember seeing this game back on a spanish web called Pixfans back in the day and purchasing directly from the dev store, fun times and a great game too, recommended for the point and click adventure lovers, has that mysterious vibe and some nice pixel art too.

Overall it's a great game, but some stuff could be improved for future game/s: 1) Sound loops were off, and had clicks in them 2) Game glitched at the elevators (rarely but still required to exit the game) 3) Gameplay controls are too clunky (for example to open the door you have to click on multiple menus to achieve this simple action) There wasn't many puzzles but the story did carry, so if you go into the game just for the 'book-like' experience I think it would be an excellent choice. Regardless of all negative aspects mentioned game was fun and easy to finish, wish developers and publishers future great releases ahead!