![]() ![]()
Despite the linear progression through each episode, only the thread of Poe and Munro’s relationship and a handful of plot points are carried through. The outcome of all them will change, to varying degrees, depending on what you chose but only a few episodes will really hook you in and make you care. Some episodes are more involved than others with some offering very few chances to influence proceedings. This could be a case for Muld… sorry Poe (right) and Munro (left)įollowing the adventures, of sorts, of two radio hosts in a nondescript town called August, you’re tasked with picking from occasional choices that direct the narrative. Released last year on PC, Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is D’Avekki’s latest entry into its FMV portfolio. To put that into context, that’s roughly the combined run-time of the first two extended versions of The Lord of the Rings movies and puts the Snyder Cut of Justice League to shame. FMV titles were always a bit niche but at least now their visual quality is much better as they’re not hampered by extreme compression so as to fit on Nineties media formats.ĭ’Avekki Studios have put out several FMV titles including the Guinness world record holding The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker which has a frankly staggering 7 hours, 11 minutes and 58 seconds of full-motion video. The genre never really went away but has seen a resurgence of sorts over the last decade or so with releases such as Telling Lies, Her Story and Late Shift. DARK NIGHTS WITH POE AND MUNRO REVIEW FULLBack in the 1990’s full FMV games like Night Trap, Black Dahlia and The 7th Guest were pretty common and the ill-fated CD-i from Philips often springs to mind when this type of game is mentioned. One of the chapters is a complete departure with regards to structure and perspective, and the change is a welcome one.I suppose, like fashion, gaming is not exempt from phases. ![]() Each episode is always engaging and well-paced, even if the pay-off doesn’t always feel satisfying. There are meaningful deviations in the narrative based on your decisions, which encourages multiple play-throughs, but the stakes for our main characters ultimately feel low. The UI does try to remain unobtrusive, but at the cost of clarity in what decision you’re actually choosing. These decision points are a bit glitchy, and given the urgency of making a decision before the timer expires, the cursor is sometimes unresponsive. These “decision points” as I’ve dubbed them, can affect what actions our heroes take, how the characters interact with each other, and even their fate. When it comes time to make a possible narrative-altering choice, the game goes into a split-screen view of your possible decisions, reminiscent of the television show “24”. DARK NIGHTS WITH POE AND MUNRO REVIEW FREEThere’s also some meta humor about the age-old philosophical debate of free will versus destiny, which feels appropriate, if a bit too on-the nose, given the mechanics and narrative branches of the game. The humor mostly lands, and there’s innuendo to spare, with Poe and Munro often having cheeky dialogue exchanges. Solid production values with some noticeable inconsistencies. One could argue the semantics of calling “Dark Nights” a video game, given how little “gameplay” there is, but I’m reviewing this title on my Xbox, so a video game, it is. It’s very similar to Netflix’s choose-your-own-adventure film, BANDERSNATCH, where you choose the actions of the main character at key points in the narrative. DARK NIGHTS WITH POE AND MUNRO REVIEW TVThe word “episodes” is intentional, as the studio describes the game as an interactive TV series, comparing itself to David Lynch’s TWIN PEAKS, and “THE X-FILES with humor and chemistry”. 3rd-Person Cinematic Action Gameĭeveloped by D’Avekki Studios, “Dark Nights” is an FMV, or full-motion video game, with 6 episodes in total. However, after being exasperated by the gaming industries bloated AAA offerings, getting an opportunity to play through and review “Dark Nights”, a game outside of my normal taste, seemed like a welcome one. Due to my child-like attention span, these games just weren’t really my bag. Two games which touted many narrative choices and outcomes. Full Throttle had a linear narrative with only one possible outcome for the story and its characters, which is a contrast from the branching narratives of Telltale’s “The Walking Dead” or “Tales from the Borderlands”. ![]() The closest I think I’ve gotten to said genre is Full Throttle, a point-and-click adventure game, developed by LucasArts and released back in 1995. Full Disclosure: I’ve never played a Telltale Games-style adventure game before. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |