The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo Switch

The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo Switch

Pop culture is full of references to Doctor Frankestein and his monstrous Creature, born from the pen of the British writer Mary Shelley: movies, cartoons, video games and so on and so forth. Thus, the story of the mad scientist who wanted to defy the laws of life and death by assembling and animating a monster entered by right into thecollective horror and gothic imagery. But what if it were not Doctor Frankestein, but rather the Creature to tell their own story? Who is hiding inside that body made up of remains of corpses? And what are his intentions? The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature attempts to answer these questions by exploring the interiority of the Creature of Frankestein in an indie game for Nintendo Switch we have tried for you.



A classic reinvented in The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature

 

The video game, developed by the independent French team The Belle Games and produced by the broadcaster ART, is configured as a vaguely reminiscent narrative game of graphic adventures of the post-LucasArts era, in which the choices made by the player have the power to change the course of events, bringing it to gods alternative endings based on what was decided in the various chapters that mark the game.

The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo SwitchThe Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature opens with the awakening of the Creatura, controlled by us, which has no memory of herself and of what brought her to life. Thus, the Frankestein monster will begin a journey to discover his identity, the world of humans and his inventor, confronting his terrible aspect that terrifies anyone who meets him along his path. The story is told by the Creature in the first person through dialogues interior or with the characters with whom it is possible to interact, choosing the answers to give them.



Lo storytelling of the game, entirely localized, is one of the cornerstones of The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature: the narrative is a breath of fresh air for the nineteenth-century novel, showing us a Creature always on the border between his benevolent nature and his monstrous nature. The possibility of rewriting the history of the novel from an alternative point of view places us in front of some existential questions: what is the meaning of life? Is it better to choose a peaceful life or to give in to violent and animalistic impulses? THE surprising alternative endings, evidently aimed at unsettling the player, are the worthy conclusion of a reinvented classic.

The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo SwitchThe narrative adventure, however, is not exempt from smudges in history: the observations of the Creature contained in the subtitles or in the dialogues tend to to anticipate what will happen soon after. More than indications that act as a guide for the player, these thoughts end in take away the pleasure of discovery from the player both of the actions to be performed and of the landscapes that he will find himself admiring shortly after.

More, the difficulty of the game is extremely low: despite the title, which recalls travel and exploration, in The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature la exploratory component it is almost nothing and with very few hotspots to interact with, despite the care of the settings. In addition to moving from one location to another, often limited to a simple corridor where you just need to head north, and interactions through dialogue with multiple choices with other characters, the game is interspersed with simple rhythm game or graphic adventure puzzle of different nature (memory puzzles, objects to be reconstructed or textual riddles), but of limited difficulty.


The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo Switch

An interactive painting

The artistic direction is the real, great gem by The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature. The settings are truly breathtaking and full of details and colors as well integral part of storytelling of the game. Indeed, the backgrounds react to the choices of the Creature, becoming brighter and more pastel when it makes altruistic choices and, on the contrary, more gloomy and inhospitable whenever the Creature behaves in a violent way or when it is sad.


Also the sound sector deserves a commendation: the soundtrack sees the predominant strings (the violin among all) and their nuances in the moments of joy or dismay of the Creature, helping to create a dreamlike and fairytale atmosphere that reflects the protagonist's interiority.  The sound effects are spectacular who accompany us among the snow-covered and desolate lands, in the crowded celebrating cities, but also in the intimate moments of sadness in which the Creature reflects on his sad destiny. In the latter case, the music interacts with the protagonist's emotions, resulting all the more distorted and dissonant the more acute is the monster's displeasure.


A rushed port

The real sore button of The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature are i commands, which severely affect the gaming experience. Originally released October 31, 2019 for PC on Steam, this Nintendo Switch game is what it sounds like a hasty and bug-ridden port (especially in the Frankestein laboratory) that destroy the climax and the emotions arising from the story to give space to frustration of not being able to continue smoothly.

The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature - Review of the dreamlike narrative game for Nintendo Switch

At different points in the game, the map expands to reveal the entire background of the level, but to do this it is necessary to position yourself on a trigger point that is neither indicated nor intuitive, all made worse by woody and inhomogeneous movements of the Creature. In the few stages of exploration it is not always clear what to do, forcing the player to trial and error or to retrace, sometimes with difficulty due to the commands, portions of the map already explored before.


Given that the desktop version has a point and click interface, it would have been worth asking how better adapt the hardware to the software, perhaps along the lines of the porting on the Nintendo Switch of the graphic adventure of Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick Thimbleweed Park, which allows the player to move the cursor over the environment thanks to one of the two analog sticks of the hybrid console.

Summing up, The Wanderer: Frankestein's Creature is an original attempt to rework and renew an iconic noir tale of the nineteenth-century literary tradition with sounds, atmospheres and emotions often in counterpoint with the monstrous origin of the Creature. Nonetheless, the end result is a very short game (at most 3 hours of estimated gameplay) and plagued by numerous bugs and imperfections that transform a potentially enjoyable gaming experience into frustration with unresponsive commands.

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