|
|
Genre: Adventure Develor & Publisher: Common Colors/Application Systems Heidleberg Released: October 24, 2024 Requirements: OS: Minimum, Windows 7 (SP1): Recommended, Windows 10 Processor: X86, X64 architecture with SSE2 instruction set support Memory: Minimum 4 GB RAM; Recommended, 8 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 10, DX 11, DX 12 capable Storage: 2860 MB available space
|
|
|
By flotsam PRIM Common Colors/Application Systems Heidleberg It took a while to get to here after the release of the demo, but the several years in between have clearly been well spent. PRIM is a black-and-white, point and click, 2D animated adventure, tinged with Tim Burton looks and an Addams Family feel. It revolves around Prim, a young girl who has gone to live with her father after the death of her mother. Whereupon she learns that her father is Death himself, and home is now the Underworld. Unhappy with her circumstances and her father's rules, her 16th birthday seems like the perfect time to spread her wings and embrace her emerging other-worldly powers. However, having escaped back to the land of the living, a tragic accident results, and what follows is Prim’s determination to put things right. Self-described as creepy-cute, it's an apt description. The visual style is engaging, the characters are spookily charming, and the sights and the sounds are a kooky joy. There is a light-heartedness that is retained throughout, and even the ‘darkest’ moments are anything but. The eyeball on legs is also a most splendid accomplice. After an opening sequence, once you gain control of Prim you are confined to a single room. Needless to say, your first task is to get out. Once you do, it's not long before the available locations considerably open up. The more constrained start helps you settle in and also provides some tutorial moments. Prim is an engaging character, a touch rebellious, a little melancholic, but fundamentally a forthright young woman with a good heart. She also does a good line in wry humour. Introspection is not beyond her, and while the narrative is at one level about her efforts to undo what has been done, it is also as much about growth, and not just her own. Many of the other NPCs are almost as enjoyable, and there is plenty of banter to be had. Together they provide a rich tapestry to help move Prim’s journey along. There is humour, both dark and not so much, occasional poignancy, but an overall feel-good vibe. The story on all its levels is a strength, and I enjoyed playing it out. Puzzling is predominantly of the finding and using things variety, and while how to do what needs to be done can be a little opaque at times, it isn’t a difficult game. Reading things you come across will help, as will chatting with characters and reflecting on what they have said, and doing some things more than once can’t hurt. The ability to highlight hotspots (once you activate that capacity) might help some more, and if all else fails a hint system you can access inside Prim’s journal should ensure you won’t stay stuck for long. There are some conversation puzzles and a rather good tactical game involving a gnome, as well as a card game that had too much chance for my liking. You will play it more than a few times, and while the chance aspect can be mitigated, it felt a bit too much like padding. It utilises cards you can find throughout the game, so don’t forsake looking for those as you progress. And if it gets the better of you, there is an FAQ on the Steam page that provides an insight that might assist. The game is familiarly point and click, with the keyboard used only for certain actions (the M key for instance opens the map). Explore the scene in front of you with the mouse, click to move Prim and double click to hurry. Active items will produce a descriptive label when discovered by the mouse, and left click to engage in whatever goes on there. If you take the item it will then be in your inventory where a right click will inspect it, while a left click will allow it to be used in the game world or combined with another item. The inventory is where you find your journal, which also contains a ‘to do’ list that keeps track of your objectives, as well as a map (once you acquire it) that enables you to fast travel. Scenes might slide in various directions, exits are indicated, and while the game autosaves you can also save at will. Everything is well voiced, and the sound pallet admirably supports the goings-on. Tweak a few things in the menu to suit yourself. The aforementioned Steam FAQ reckons 6 to 10 hours of game play is common, which is where I fell. However long it takes you, I can’t imagine you won’t have a very good time. I played on: OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit Processor: Intel i7-9700K 3.7GHz RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB
|
