Anamorphine
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himself. Early in the experience,
you explore a colourful
alien landscape with an
undulating ground, where
huge and strange flowers
bloom at your approach.
Later, you return here; the
music is now discordant,
the flowers dying halfway
through their bloom.
There are issues, sadly,
mainly of the technical variety.
Anamorphine has frame
rate and lag problems.
We’re not talking about annoying
but forgivable hitches.
These are fairly regular
and significant interruptions
to movement that unceremoniously
punch progress
in the gut, doubly painful for
an experience that is – or, at
least, should be – a deeply
emotional one. Assets that
do the job and little more,
we can easily and happily
give a pass. Unintended
interruptions to what is already
a slow-paced game,
not so much.
The whole thing is only perhaps
two hours long and,
while this isn’t a problem
in and of itself, there are
severe pacing issues. Most
of it is well judged, and
carefully crafted to gently
nudge the player in the right
direction. The bicycle riding
sections are easily at least
twice as long as they should
be though, and rarely offer
the player anything of interest
to look at while they endure
them. Although it does
some things very right, Anamorphine
is worth a look,
but not worthy of hitting the
top of your shopping list.
written by Critical Gamer’s
Luke Kemp
This is a story told with
virtually no dialogue (and
what dialogue there is, is
mis sable, right at the end of
the experience and required
to trigger one of the two
endings). You play as Tyler,
reliving the memories of his
life with his wife Elena.
Anamorphine recognises
that memories are imperfect,
and exploits this well.
Some of these interactive
memories are, in theory,
relatively straightforward.
Taking a bike ride with Elena
and then catching up with
her in a crowded square, for
example, is a prosaic experience
decorated with crowds
of strangers represented by
blank mannequins. Nobody
remembers each individual
face and outfit that they
pass, after all. Elsewhere,
memories are more surreal
and dream-like, sometimes
to truly impressive effect.
Much of the game takes
place in Tyler and Elena’s
apartment. Consisting of
just a few rooms, it folds in
on itself and presents new
experiences in a manner
reminiscent of PT. Walk to
investigate something, turn
around, and you’ll find that
time has jumped forward
while your back is turned.
Elsewhere, things are much
more symbolic. At the beginning
of the game for
example, you walk through
a physically impossible
moving van, browsing your
possessions on the way to
your new apartment. Other
sequences are significantly
more detached from reality.
The skeleton of the story
is that Elena, a cellist who
loves her music and is
thrilled when she begins to
find success, later has an
accident that renders her
unable to play. The story
after that is about how she
tries to deal with this, the
effect it has on her relationship
with Tyler, and the effect
everything has on Tyler
* Format: PS4 (version reviewed), PC, PC VR, PSVR
* Publisher: Artifact 5
* Developer: Artifact 5
* Players: 1
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