Despite her father’s objections, Mimi is determined to travel to the beautiful French countryside of Dordogne to find a missing piece of her own. Awaiting her are the quaint home of her recently deceased grandmother, about to be sold, as well as precious childhood memories of a summer that Mimi inexplicably cannot explain. How could she forget such a precious thing, as well as the circumstances behind the fractured relationship between her father and grandparents? These are the hooks that got me through this fun and beautifully animated adventure game. While not packed with machines or anywhere close to the challenge, I enjoyed this relaxing French getaway.
As Mimi inspected Grandma Nora’s house and surrounding grounds for clues, I engaged in quirky interactions that added mischief to otherwise ordinary actions. Instead of pointing and clicking objects, I turn and turn keys to open doors, tilt boxes to pour cereal into bowls (and all over the kitchen table), and move my puppet-like hands over utensils with silver to collect them from the riverbed. One of the most creative sequences involved slingshot a letter balloon greeting over a cliff to convey a shout out to a friend far away. I love the fact that Dordogne regularly finds small but new angles on how you interact with its world. Using the tiny mouse-style pointer to perform these actions is naturally more awkward with the controller, and it’s easy to get lost in the busy, colorful backdrop, but it gets the job done.
Nearly all of these unique interactions are performed by 12-year-old Mimi, who the player controls in several flashbacks that weave the story of her summer vacation with Nora. She documents her stay by taking pictures, recording sound effects with a tape recorder, and collecting stickers, cassettes, and dreamlike giant words scattered across the levels. The end game for doing these tasks is to fill the scrapbook pages by forming simple poems from collected words and arranging photos and stickers. In addition to satisfying the innate desire to clean up chapters in their allocated collection (and unfortunately you can’t replay chapters to find any missed chapters), creating This scrap page offers no tangible reward other than the small pleasure of expressing yourself for a limited time. road.
Playing Dordogne was good, but it looked even better. Thanks to the beautiful watercolor art direction, every scene feels like an interactive tour of an artist’s gallery; you can actually see the strokes. The framing of certain scenes makes them look great as still images, but the odd angles sometimes make it difficult to discern walkable paths; hope to bump into some bushes and stairs until you find the path ahead. The character models exhibit a similar visual appeal, and combined with the lovely soundtrack, Dordogne is like a charming French indie art film coming to life.
As a coming-of-age story primarily set in the early ’80s (the adult Mimi sequences take place in 2002), Dordogne hits the mark as being bizarre enough for children but also has enough dark undertones and mature discussions to give it a bit of meaning. grow up. I felt warm and fuzzy as I watched Mimi and Nora bond over simple pleasures like fixing a broken kayak or having a picnic by the river. Darker plot angles involving the Mimi family add to the appeal that ultimately feels rewarding. However, more clarification on vague topics, such as the cause of Mimi’s father’s lifelong resentment towards his parents, would be nice. The story also relies heavily on players locating easy-to-miss collectible letters that provide important context and plot to key events.
As someone who takes real pleasure in admiring beautiful paintings, Dordogne raised the bar by allowing me to creatively interact with its beautiful art. Even better, it puts a largely interesting story on top of it. Like Mimi and Nora’s relationship, there are some obstacles to overcome, but good times await those willing to overcome them.
