The car glass shatters again and again and the contents of Junon's bag spill in all directions all over the car. The deer is always there waiting for her, to cause the deadly impact that, each time, leaves her breathless, with her heartbeat slower and her vital functions reduced to a blink. the shipwreck it doesn't become subtle and moving very difficult topics: the physical trauma of a traffic accident, and everything that follows on a psychological level; divorce; illness and death of loved ones.
pixel hunting He does it, as always, with a grace of his own. We really appreciated Bury Me, My Love, a text adventure that tells the story of Syrian migrant Nour, in search of a better life with the remote help of her husband Majd. The team retells the story of a woman, or rather, of four generations of women, struggling with family ties that sometimes threaten to strangle them, exposing the fragile material that human life is made of. But The Wreck also teaches that out of disaster can come rebirth and that it is possible to invent a way to fill the holes in the fabric of life.
We tell you about this extraordinary visual adventure in ours. review of The Shipwreck.
daughter of art
A sudden call from the emergency room of a French hospital brings Junon to his mother's bedside. Marie Demange, famous artist affected by a ruptured brain aneurysm. For reasons unknown to Junon, her mother has designated her as the sole person responsible for the difficult medical decisions that will have to be made should she lose consciousness: this causes friction with her half-sister, whom she affectionately nicknames " Dididou." together they question the reason for this choice by Marie. As the story progresses, a strange event continues to occur: every time Junon drives his car auto When leaving the hospital, a deer prevents him and a dramatic car accident occurs. This brings up memories of Junon's past who, on the threshold of death, returns to the most important moments of her life to reflect on herself and her loved ones, in search of a terrible secret that governs the entire narrative. from The Shipwreck.
The result is a lush narrative flow, with a notable amount of text on screen and a truly excellent overall writing quality. Junon's stream of consciousness is overwhelming, and you can often follow various paths to his thoughts by clicking on highlighted words within sentences; This will lead to various developments in the young woman's reasoning. The Wreck is a visual adventure, of course, but the weight of the lyrics is notable, although it does not reach the considerable length of the script of Bury Me, My Love; That the written word is central is immediately clear, as the home screen and pause menu are formed by writing software, and we are greeted by the words "Welcome, writer!". Coralie Maurin and Florent Maurin want to tell a story that focuses on the importance of the author as the inventor of a reality: the protagonist herself, Junon, is a screenwriter, and her story covers the most notable moments of her life, those that led her, for better or worse, to discover that she could be her own author.
En five hours duration of The Wreck (which has great margins of replayability, to explore other sides of the story and make other decisions in Junon's paths of thought and dialogue, beyond the decisive choice present in the ending) the rhythm loses strength only on rare occasions and generally appreciate The Pixel Hunt's invitation to stay in memory, going through the most important memories of Junon's life several times: it is a very precise design choice, intended to make us pay maximum attention to even the smallest detail, with mechanisms that remind us of what Sam Barlow recently did with his Immortality.
Exploring memories
Beyond the selection of thought and dialogue options, the main gameplay mechanic of The Wreck is that ofexploring Junon's memories. By selecting the objects that fly inside her car in her recurring traffic accident - which will have a significant impact on the woman's events - we can delve into Junon's past and, guided by some key words that appear on the screen, invite her to It will delve into particular aspects of his life, with special attention to his complex family relationships.
Exactly as seen in Immortality, this process involves the need to play scenes over and over again, slowing down time when necessary to identify the writings to select. We were surprised by several directorial choices made by The Pixel Hunt, which were decidedly shocking, particularly in the final flashbacks that Junon travels through; Even seemingly boring situations (on one occasion we found ourselves following a lobster on its sad journey from the ocean to the fish market) serve as a source of profound reflections on the meaning of life and the importance of our ties with others, but also on the danger that too great affections can represent for our mental well-being and our balance. On some occasions, the images are used frame by frame, one after another, in an emotionally charged sequence that manages to tell the development of the feelings and stories of the different characters involved. Junon is a wounded but indomitable woman, and we were surprised by The Pixel Hunt's ability to outline a powerful character, outlining it through apparently banal events: the breaking of a simple glass, inserted in a particular context, acquires an explosive power, amplified - and not degraded - by the need to relive the scenes more than once.
The devil is in the details
The Wreck is strong with a graphic style that, thanks to a skillful use of colors and cel shading, manages to be remembered, even without particular flashes on a technical level. The team didn't focus on realism; hence the choice to only partially animate the characters' lips, making them open when they speak and close only when they conclude the sentence. The result is a sometimes alienating effect and, in our opinion, the best moments of The Wreck are those in which Junon gets lost in his thoughts, with his lips closed or slightly parted, leaving room for the excellent lyrics. Additionally, adequate attention is not always paid to the characters' facial expressions, which we sometimes found inappropriate in relation to the context, but this is not something that affected our overall experience.
In this sense, it is a shame that The Wreck did not have a Spanish translation: those who do not know English will surely not be able to enjoy the latest work of The Pixel Hunt, given that, as previously specified, Junon and his supporting actors are an irrepressible source of dialogues and thoughts. The English dubbing is magnificent., which keeps faith with the product's French origins (which, among other things, was co-financed by the Région Île-de-France and the Center National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée) by giving Junon a clearly recognizable accent.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 19 € Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (1) 8.2 your vote"Il est mort le soleil" is the writing that stands out on Junon's t-shirt. In The Wreck the sun is dead, it is true: the young woman's life has taken dramatic turns, but the protagonist of the new video game The Pixel Hunt teaches that every human being can try to write their own destiny, because it is never too late to create a good story. The objects that catalyze memories inside the car transport us to a very dense past, made of a material that can only be partially explored, always open to interpretation and reflection by the players, who will be encouraged to reflect for themselves. . experiences and, in particular, about their family ties. Coralie and Florent Maurin's writing is exceptional; The team has focused less on certain technical subtleties, but we are willing to forgive some minor lapses in the face of the absolute narrative excellence of The Wreck, capable of expressing all the majestic, and often terrible, power of our lives and our destiny.
PRO
- Compelling and well-written story.
- Interesting mechanics of objects that catalyze memories
- Original solutions at management level.
- A protagonist of great humanity.
AGAINST
- Facial expressions and lip movements are sometimes alienating.
- Occasional dips in narrative pacing.
