![]() ![]() ![]() The music adds fitting accompaniment to the various scenes you encounter, all in an 80s style. The scenes are further brought to life with a soundtrack by Supernaive, consisting of the brothers Lucas and Baptiste Malgoire. There’s a good balance between the two – even though technically speaking you probably spend more time playing with young Mimi – with each clue found in the future triggering a flashback into the past, taking you on a journey of discovery told in eight chapters. The game alternates between these two versions, the adult in 2002 and the kid in 1982. Younger Mimi is a temperamental child, constantly on the border between innocent excitement and teenage boredom. But as she begins to reflect on her life, Mimi’s 12-year-old self looks a bit like a young female Indiana Jones, with a straw hat and a carrier bag. ![]() Her present-day 32-year-old self has round red glasses, unruly black hair, a green shirt and shorts, and red All Stars. Mimi, the main character, is designed like a mix of Studio Ghibli anime and a typical 80s French style reminiscent of Albert Barillé’s animated series Once Upon a Time…. No collecting tons of inventory items without a clue how to use them in this game! But even though you might recognize them visually in this way, some of them can’t be clicked on until they become active later on in the storyline when it’s actually time to use them. Objects and persons of interest are more sharply outlined and have a glowing/flowing effect to make them stand out as hotspots. This effect only becomes apparent when you start paying attention to it, but it really helps you feel like you’re actually there, watching through an invisible observer’s eyes. The entire game breathes like a painting or storybook come to life.ĭordogne’s scenes aren’t completely static, as the camera slowly bobs up and down and swerves from left to right just a tiny bit at the edges even when Mimi isn’t moving, but it always focuses on her when she does. The most beautiful settings are the landscapes, from the rural surroundings of Grandma’s house, across the meandering Dordogne river, past a trail-rich mountain to the picturesque town further down the valley, but the indoor scenes are also designed in this same lovely style. And there are two hundred of them! Babouche worked on comic books and animated movies before expanding into video games he’s even an art teacher, so he really knows his stuff. Each scene is a unique background hand-painted with watercolors by illustrator and game director Cédric Babouche, based on real-world locations in the titular region. This is the first game developed by French company Un je ne sais quoi in collaboration with Umanimation, and its biggest selling point is the graphical style. It isn’t a typical adventure game with lots of puzzles, but its gorgeous painterly world, rustic atmosphere and diverse gameplay kept me entertained throughout and left me feeling as warm inside as the weather outside. However, she doesn’t really remember much of her childhood, and it’s up to you as the player to help her fill in the gaps of that personal history. Dordogne transported me from my own small Flemish town to southern France, where a woman named Mimi finds herself tending to her grandmother’s belongings after her death. With the great weather, I found myself in a lounge chair in my backyard, playing a similarly beautiful, leisurely game on my laptop. No worries, no obligations, just relaxing without a care in the world. The sunny, cloudless skies brought vivid extra color to the world. A hot June weekend felt like the start of summer vacation. ![]()
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