Way back in 2007, an unexpected yet excellent game “Bioshock” from 2K took the gaming genre by storm. For me, what sold it was the narrative as it fooled me right from the get-go as I blamed it on “Consolitis”. Why is that because of the outrageous starting point of the game where the protagonist injecting needles into himself without asking questions so we can get straight into the action. Well I was totally wrong as the game fully explained later on, about why you do what you do. Why I’m saying this is because this game “The Fidelio Incident” has a similar feel to it. Granted it’s coined as a “walking simulator” (for which I loath this term as most of my games I walk anyways to get into the “feel” of it – that’s another story) however it’s plays upon the experience of the main character.
There is an obvious inspiration here (Fidelio) as it’s based on Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio. If you happen to know this opera, you are a couple of steps ahead of what to expect in this game. In addition to this and looking in hindsight, it’s very difficult to term this as a game as well. Basing on a couple of theories about “What is a game”, this plays upon more of a novel than a game. Yes, it has “gaming” elements, however when progressing through it, it’s more of an “experience” than “playing” as it oozes metaphors like there’s no tomorrow.
And that’s the clever part of this “game” – you live through the experience of the main protagonist Stanley. The opening scene depicts Stanley flying a plane over Iceland with his wife Leonore (notice again the inspiration of Beethoven’s Fidelio) and then suddenly the plane collides with a couple of birds – one which wedged straight into the left engine. This caused the plane to plummet and crash into the not-so-forgiving Iceland’s harsh wilderness. Both survived however the catch here is Leonore is some fair distance away from the wreckage comparing to you (Stanley) and she’s stuck. Another catch here is that her diary (now in many sperate pages) is sprawled all over the crash site and beyond and Stanley needs to collect them all to hide their shady past in case they get rescued.
There are many oddities here like how in the world her diary just “divided” separately into perfect pages scattered throughout the crash site? I’ll say just roll with it. As I mentioned it before, play it for the experience than trying to figure out the logic behind it. Yet, and as expected, Iceland is a harsh place especially in the wilderness where the plane had crashed. There will be plenty of natural hazards like ice cracking as you walk, hail and let’s not forget the bitter coldness. At first glance, fighting against the cold was a royal pain as I naturally assume exploration is part of the key. Well, exploration is not the key as it’s quite linear and wandering off into the cold landscape will make you freeze up and die. There is no penalty for dying though other than start back near the beginning of that particular level. Thankfully there are heat vents strategically placed throughout. Again, don’t worry about the logic.
There are some puzzles to solve that mainly consist of altering heat valves or pipes as, where you crashed, looks like an abandoned research area of sorts. These “puzzles” are not difficult to solve yet “puzzle enthusiasts” may scoff because of this. Granted that the game’s webpage actually advertises it has exploration, survival and puzzles yet it lacks thereof in all three categories. One can say it’s a load of farse however, again and I’m stressing this, play for the experience or better still, read the narrative in their corresponding subheadings to get an understanding at Act3Games website.
Yet there are two outstanding features and that’s the voice acting and the soundtrack; collectively the audio part of the game. All the voice acting is absolutely brilliant – Irish accents to boot! Stanley is voice acted by Glenn Keogh (and he’s Irish born) and Leonore is played by Bess Harrison. The musical score is composed by Michael Krikorian and has over 40 minutes of original scores. This also forms as a free DLC when you purchase the game via Steam and it’s seriously worth listening to as a standalone.
Visually it’s pretty decent to say the least. For the harsh Icelandic environment, it sure looks beautiful to behold regardless of its ruggedness as it’s all rendered by the Unreal Engine 4. Yet, there are an occasional sudden frame rate drops that I’m unsure of to why as there’s not much “action” going on during those drops however it’s there. Thankfully it doesn’t spoil the flow of the game though. Natural elements like smoke effects and lighting certainly adds immersion to the narrative style gameplay.
The game is quite short and it’s recommended to be played around the three hours mark. For me, I realty took my time searching all the journal entries thrice throughout (and even listen to them a couple of times) and I have clocked around five hours. Because this game is purchased via the Steam client, there are fourteen achievements to collect (and they are all achievable during the first playthrough) and six cards to collect (along with the typical background / emojis and what like). The cards are just OK as they are extracts from Leonore’s journals (just the pictures). They could of be a little more imaginative here like having cards that was part of a concept art (or something to that effect).
Because the game advertises (in accordance to their website) that it has narrative, exploration, survival and puzzles, the only thing that’s got going for is the narrative as the other three (exploration, survival and puzzles) are in very small quantities. However, there is an enveloped underlining theme – that is, understanding the mindset of the main protagonist Stanley and his quest to locate and save his wife before it’s too late. And as a sidenote, this also can make a great movie flick too.
7.5 / 10 – Whilst it promises narrative, exploration, survival and puzzles, the narrative exceeds everything else. However, play it for the experience as, after all, life is a collection of experiences.