![]() “The cool thing about our game is that it clearly takes place in San Francisco, but the visuals have castles and all sorts of fantastical elements,” said creator Hanford Lemoore. Instead, animated drawings from their sketchbook dance around the screen as the flashbacks play, kind of like the opening credits of a Pixar movie. Kenzie and Michael, who are played by real-life couple Bryce Dallas Howard (“The Mandalorian,” “Jurassic World”) and Seth Gabel (“American Horror Story,” “Fringe”), are never really shown. To progress through this storyline, the player explores and manipulates the puzzle version of the city.īut this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill romance. Released by Annapurna Interactive on Tuesday for Steam, PS4 and PS5, “Maquette” is a first-person, story-based puzzle game that brings an animated version of San Francisco to life, inviting the player to follow the fictional couple as they experience a meet-cute in a coffee shop, fall for one another and move on. While he revisits the memories they shared, you approach a landmark that’s highly reminiscent of - but not quite - the Palace of Fine Arts. ![]() He discovers the sketchbook that he and his former girlfriend, Kenzie, used to draw in together during afternoons spent at backyard patios in the Mission District. Either way, it's worth your time, because Maquette is a standout game that's an instant classic.The game begins in an oddly familiar moonlit garden.Ī mellow cover of Eric Burdon and the Animals’ “San Franciscan Nights” softly plays in the background, and visible dialogue from a character named Michael appears in the scenery around you. But if you're the type of player looking solely for escapism and entertainment, Maquette is a pretty, short puzzle game with an entertaining soundtrack. If you've been a fan of other dialogue-heavy, emotionally difficult narratives in video games, Maquette is a home run. The only drawback: This isn't what every player wants. Maquette is a fantastic title for Annapurna Interactive, which is truly redefining what seemingly simple genres like puzzle games and walking simulators can and should be capable of, showcasing games on the cutting edge for players searching for emotional depth and memorable narratives. ![]() Whether or not a calm, self-paced, emotional storyline is what you are looking for in a gaming experience, any instance where a storytelling medium successfully presents relatable events in a universal yet completely new way is a triumph. As a result, this narrative may only be relevant for emotionally aware adults rather than young teens, who should first be educated regarding the basics of boundaries, consent, and respect in romantic relationships. For teens, the simultaneous avoidance and reactive characteristics of Kenzie and Michael's relationship may be too subtle to understand, even at a simplistic level. ![]() For adults, Maquette is an intricate, complex narrative full of opportunities to reframe and reprocess one's own experiences. This game's approach to mature topics such as self-acceptance, emotional growth, and setting expectations can either be meaningful or useless, depending on the player's background.
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