Draugen

I'm not usually attracted by those kind of games, but the setting seemed alluring and I gave it a go, thinking it couldn't be worse than Close to the Sun. And as far as exploration goes, though it is very limited, the landscape is a delight : branches moving the wind, proud mountains, rural houses, bucolic paths under a gentle sun, the whispers of the sea... Quite immersive. Not much "findin your own path" though, there's a road to follow, not in a set order, but still. Lissie is a boon to the game : dynamic, malicious, full of life and dreams, she is a good counterpart to our avatar, a feeble and rational scholar who can be quite insensitive at times. There's no real forks in conversation, but the voice actors are good and the dialogues, pleasant. There's two majors problems for me, though. From the store page we are told that Edward is a "an increasingly unreliable narrator ", and if you have a bit of flair for narrative tricks, it becomes far too obvious what the twist will be, and the other big one associated with the previous. Second, and I know it's a matter of point of view, but I didn't find the story, the quintessence of such a game, to be that gripping. Once the first twist is done, you come to realize that there's no real connections between the characters and the tragedy that befell Graavik. It's like going somewhere and stumbling upon a mystery to solve by accident, it lacks meaning. What's more, Lissie criticizes stories with "horrible loose ends and unanswered questions" but... That's exactly what we have here. Edward realizes something important during this trip, but the tragedy itself seems almost an accessory. Considering the game lasts roughly 3 to 4 hours, I wouldn't recommend buying it at this price. I doubt I'll find more meaning by "playing" again, and I'm skeptical about another story with them. Still, if you want to load off, it's quite the contemplative game.

I was quite looking forward to playing Draugen. And hey, it is definitely not bad! Unfortunately, it is not great either. For some reason, it feels quite rushed. The environment is beautiful but quite tiny (it spans something like 3 levels of Life is Strange to give you the idea). In such a beautiful, natural landscape, very obvious repeating patterns in textures are quite visible, the material tiling on the sea surface or stone wall is probably the most in-your-face example. The weather effects are impressive, but unpolished outside of the paths you're expected to tread. We are promised "living, breathing, independent companion", but as much as is Alice fun, she is neither of those promised things. She usually just hangs around the current story location ready for the player to show up, she isn't independent in any sense of the word. Store page also promises you'll "Find your own path", but the experience, albeit nice, is very much linear both from exploration and narrative perspectives. There are dialogue choices, but they have no impact on how the story unfolds (almost like the developer had no time to develop other branches). This is frustrating in parts, where you are acutely aware that even the pretence of control is taken away and you just have to follow the script. What's worst, the story is predictable. That makes the important plot twists lose any impact, which is a great shame. The story is also sort of all over the place. There are multiple storylines but they never really meet, nor conclude into anything. The protagonist somewhat develops, but it feels rushed. Both main characters are quite interesting and well voiced but lack motivation for much of their actions. There is also one character whose presence is a total mystery to me. Overall, Draugen has a great atmosphere and a whiff of greatness but ultimately feels more like a very nice vertical slice. Still I'd recomend giving it a go after some sales, especially to any fan of the genre.

Draugen is a nice game but a little short. The main characters could use some work. Alice, for instance ,is not at all independent, as other reviewers have noted she basically rushes ahead to the next story point and waits for you to meet her. The main character, Edward, is boring and feels a bit two dimensional. In fact he is basically always gloomy and most of the time inconsiderate as well, not to mention obsessive. As for the story, it is basically a generic "are you sane?" concept. As a result the main mystery of finding out what happened to the villagers is sidelined halfway through the game before being dropped altogether. This is made worse by the fact that you can expect to finish it in less than 10 hours. No granted Red Thread games is not a major AAA publisher like Activision. Therefore I should be a little lenient as a result. But these are the same guys who gave us The Longest Journey and Dreamfall before branching off to make there own company. And when they did they created Dreamfall Chapters. And with a portfolio like that behind them we should expect better. Much, much better. So while I would usually give it three stars, I will only give it two. Because after the great games they have made in the past, I hold them to higher standards. In fact if you do not own those games, I highly recommend buying them instead. They are some of the best games ever made, and you'll see what I mean by higher standards.

They've made good use of UE4 with the environments and the voice acting is absolutely superb, as are the dialogues. They are lifelike and characters are well-written. However where I expected some kind of thrilling mystic secret and exploration of relationships between protagonist and Alice, I found a very unsatisying explanation for who Alice is and what the character's motives were. And the mystery was never there, or explained. In fact the game chases you away from it (literally), the moment you feel something interesting is about to happen, and then shorty ends. That's perhaps the main feeling I have from this game - Unsatisfaction. Unsatisfying story, unsatisfying background behind characters. Unsatisfying length. I am sure writers felt they were being clever, but the truth of __reality__ is that clever is not usually what we are looking for.