Posted September 17, 2009
Ragnar Tornquist, the gentleman who designed this game, is owed our thanks. It's not so much for the gameplay, which is simple and intuitive enough for anyone to play, but for the grand adventure he invites us to embark upon. A quick note: This game is a "take-your-time" kind of game. Patience and a joy for puzzle-solving come into play here.
It may be an older game with dated graphics, but fortunately, the story trumps all. You are April Ryan, a brand-new student at an arts school who's been having some very strange, if visceral, dreams lately. As it turns out, those dreams are more than they seem to be as you begin having even stranger experiences occur in the waking world. While getting to know your friends and yourself, you begin to care about the characters, who are as deep and flawed as any human being. Unable to ignore the unusual happenings, you investigate and find yourself plunging ever deeper into a wondrous and mysterious reality. Along the way, you make friends, unforgettable enemies, encounter bizarre sights, learn startling revelations and uncover a dark conspiracy that will shatter the foundation of everything April Ryan ever knew and lived in.
This game is as straightforward as it gets in terms of an adventure game. It's point-and-click and it doesn't really get much more simpler than that. The organization of inventory items is easy to access and utilize, especially since the pointer glows above objects of interests, so that eliminates pixel-hunting. You can skip through non-playable cutscenes, if you wish, but I highly recommend watching through them as some of them are critical to the story. It would be akin to skipping a couple of pages in a novel where a major turning point occurs. Dialog is smart and engaging, and it helps that the voice acting is superb. Subtitles, thankfully, are an option here and are extremely useful for people such as myself who are hard-of-hearing. The music is spectacular. It's evocative, grand, and instantly serves to set the mood.
This game is an interactive novel, but what a novel! This is one adventure that literally lives up to its title. We're talking in excess of month's playing if a leisurely pace is taken. After you have beaten the game, I am certain you will feel a level of satisfaction that you've never felt with any other games. It is heartfelt, memorable, and a treasure to behold. It deserves to rank right up there alongside not only other adventure games (Grim Fandango comes to mind), but in all of gaming, period, if only for Mr. Tornquist's masterstroke as a storyteller.
Now, dear friends, plunk down the money and treat yourself to a rich experience, you won't regret it.
It may be an older game with dated graphics, but fortunately, the story trumps all. You are April Ryan, a brand-new student at an arts school who's been having some very strange, if visceral, dreams lately. As it turns out, those dreams are more than they seem to be as you begin having even stranger experiences occur in the waking world. While getting to know your friends and yourself, you begin to care about the characters, who are as deep and flawed as any human being. Unable to ignore the unusual happenings, you investigate and find yourself plunging ever deeper into a wondrous and mysterious reality. Along the way, you make friends, unforgettable enemies, encounter bizarre sights, learn startling revelations and uncover a dark conspiracy that will shatter the foundation of everything April Ryan ever knew and lived in.
This game is as straightforward as it gets in terms of an adventure game. It's point-and-click and it doesn't really get much more simpler than that. The organization of inventory items is easy to access and utilize, especially since the pointer glows above objects of interests, so that eliminates pixel-hunting. You can skip through non-playable cutscenes, if you wish, but I highly recommend watching through them as some of them are critical to the story. It would be akin to skipping a couple of pages in a novel where a major turning point occurs. Dialog is smart and engaging, and it helps that the voice acting is superb. Subtitles, thankfully, are an option here and are extremely useful for people such as myself who are hard-of-hearing. The music is spectacular. It's evocative, grand, and instantly serves to set the mood.
This game is an interactive novel, but what a novel! This is one adventure that literally lives up to its title. We're talking in excess of month's playing if a leisurely pace is taken. After you have beaten the game, I am certain you will feel a level of satisfaction that you've never felt with any other games. It is heartfelt, memorable, and a treasure to behold. It deserves to rank right up there alongside not only other adventure games (Grim Fandango comes to mind), but in all of gaming, period, if only for Mr. Tornquist's masterstroke as a storyteller.
Now, dear friends, plunk down the money and treat yourself to a rich experience, you won't regret it.