Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery

Developer: Silver Lining Studio | Publisher: Akupara Games, Akatsuki Taiwan Inc. | Release Date: 2021 | Genre: Adventure / Puzzle / Interactive Fiction | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery is one of those games where saying too much about the story would rob players of much of what makes it special. On the surface, it is a short and relaxing adventure about an aspiring artist preparing the final painting for her gallery submission. She paints, sketches, drinks coffee, makes breakfast, and occasionally watches the elderly artist living across the alley along with his cat. However, as the chapters progress, seemingly ordinary details begin connecting in unexpected ways, gradually transforming what initially appears to be a simple slice-of-life story into something considerably more moving.

Developed by Taiwanese studio Silver Lining Studio, Behind the Frame describes itself as interactive fiction, and that is probably more accurate than calling it a traditional adventure game. There are puzzles and objects to interact with, but the gameplay is deliberately simplistic and exists primarily to draw players into the story rather than provide any serious challenge. The Steam version also includes an additional artistic adventure that becomes available after completing the main story.

Most of the game is viewed from a first-person perspective inside the protagonist’s apartment. Players can rotate their view around the room and click on points of interest, with the daily routine initially involving simple tasks such as preparing breakfast, brewing coffee, working on a résumé, and continuing work on the large painting occupying one side of the room.

Painting is obviously central to the experience, but anyone expecting an actual art simulator should temper their expectations. Drawing and painting scenes simply involve dragging the cursor back and forth over the relevant section of the screen. The game handles the actual artistry, so there is no requirement to accurately trace lines or carefully apply individual brush strokes. Once enough of the appropriate area has been covered, the image fills itself in correctly. It is mechanically basic, but it does suit the relaxed nature of the experience. Having to genuinely paint an elaborate picture with the mouse would probably have become tedious very quickly, particularly for players without any artistic ability. Instead, the act of painting becomes almost meditative, providing something tactile to do while the narrative slowly develops.

Progress revolves around finding the missing colours required to complete the protagonist’s masterpiece. Doing so means examining her surroundings, studying sketches in her notebook, interacting with paintings, and solving a selection of small puzzles. The puzzles are rarely difficult. Some involve noticing differences between paintings, others require reproducing patterns, entering sequences, completing simple pictures, or using information found elsewhere in the environment. One puzzle, for example, involves pressing buttons to recreate an image recorded in the protagonist’s notebook, while later challenges require filling missing portions of paintings or matching colours to clues.

Most solutions can be worked out almost immediately after locating the necessary clue, which means experienced adventure-game fans are unlikely to become stuck for long. This simplicity could certainly be viewed as a weakness, but Behind the Frame clearly isn’t interested in interrupting its story with twenty-minute logic puzzles. The puzzles are instead used to control the pace at which information is revealed.

This makes the game extremely relaxing to play. There are no enemies, timers, complicated inventories, or ways to fail. Players can examine everything at their own pace while the combination of painting, gentle puzzles, coffee, and music creates an almost cozy atmosphere.

However, the experience gradually becomes stranger. Paintings begin revealing connections that are not immediately obvious, familiar scenes take on different meanings, and the relationship between the protagonist, the old man across the alley, and his cat becomes increasingly important. It would be very easy to spoil what follows, so we won’t. What matters is that the story ultimately ended up being far more moving than we expected from the cheerful opening chapters. There is a bittersweet quality to the narrative that only becomes fully apparent once all of the pieces are in place.

The game is also clever about recontextualising things players have already seen. Objects and paintings that initially appear to be nothing more than background decoration eventually gain significance, and several apparently unrelated moments make considerably more sense in hindsight. It is the kind of short story where knowing the ending changes how the beginning is interpreted.

This narrative focus does come at the expense of gameplay depth. Once the novelty of interacting with paintings wears off, there isn’t much mechanically separating one chapter from another. The protagonist performs another part of her routine, examines the apartment, sketches something, solves a few straightforward puzzles, obtains another colour, and paints another portion of the canvas.

Fortunately, Behind the Frame is short enough that this repetition never becomes a serious problem. The main story consists of six chapters and can comfortably be completed in a couple of hours, depending on how much time is spent examining the scenery and solving puzzles. 

Completing the story also unlocks an additional chapter focusing on another painter. This content was added after the original release and is now integrated into the game rather than requiring a separate purchase. The additional chapter is a nice touch because it provides another perspective on events from the main game. Rather than simply padding the runtime with unrelated puzzles, it complements the existing narrative and gives players another reason to reconsider what they have already seen. It follows the same general gameplay structure, with painting, environmental interactions, and simple puzzles, but adds worthwhile context to the story.

Completionists have nineteen Steam achievements to unlock. Unfortunately, this is also where one of our biggest complaints lies.

Many of the missable achievements involve repeatedly clicking on things in ways that a normal player has little reason to attempt. One achievement literally requires pressing every square on a puzzle for a total of 78 button presses, while another requires repeatedly manipulating a can lid in the bonus chapter. There are similar achievements tied to clicking environmental objects multiple times.

These can be amusing once you know what they require, but figuring them out naturally is not particularly satisfying. Good optional achievements can reward exploration, experimentation, or noticing something unusual. Clicking something ten times because an invisible achievement condition expects it feels more arbitrary.

This means anyone intent on reaching 100% will probably end up consulting a guide for at least some of the missable achievements. It is a shame because the actual game does a good job of gently encouraging players to inspect their surroundings without turning everything into a pixel hunt.

Replay value is otherwise limited. Once the story has been experienced and the puzzles solved, there is little mystery remaining. A chapter selection feature does at least make returning for missed achievements considerably more convenient than replaying the entire game, although the emotional impact of the story naturally won’t be quite the same the second time around. 

Visually, Behind the Frame is absolutely gorgeous. The game uses hand-drawn, hand-animated artwork inspired by Japanese animation, with the developers specifically mentioning Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli as visual influences. The comparison is immediately obvious without the game simply looking like an imitation.

The protagonist’s apartment is filled with warm colours and small details, while the panoramic presentation allows players to rotate around beautifully illustrated environments. Even mundane activities such as making breakfast or staring through the window have a wonderfully animated quality.

Short cinematic sequences are even more impressive. Instead of relying entirely on static illustrations, important moments feature traditional-looking animation that gives the game the feeling of an interactive animated film. This presentation does much of the heavy lifting when it comes to the emotional story, particularly because there is no full voice acting; 

The paintings themselves are naturally another highlight. As missing colours are restored and incomplete images are repaired, seemingly ordinary pictures become part of the storytelling. It creates a satisfying connection between the visual presentation, puzzles, and narrative instead of treating the artwork as decoration.

Audio is equally well suited to the experience. The soundtrack was composed and arranged by Yuchain Wang and Sung-Yueh Chou, with a mixture of piano, cello, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocals, and even flugelhorn used across the score. The official soundtrack contains twelve tracks, including the vocal theme “The Color You Love the Most.”

The music leans heavily into the game’s relaxed atmosphere, with gentle piano and jazz-influenced pieces accompanying the protagonist’s routine. It never overwhelms the experience but gives the apartment a warm, comfortable quality that makes simply looking around enjoyable.

As the story changes, the soundtrack changes with it. The more reflective pieces work particularly well during the later revelations, helping the narrative become surprisingly emotional without resorting to melodrama.

Sound effects are understated but effective. Coffee brewing, pencils moving across paper, paintbrushes brushing against canvas, and other everyday noises give the small apartment a convincing sense of presence. Combined with the soundtrack, these details make the game almost as pleasant to listen to as it is to look at.

Controls are about as simple as the gameplay. The mouse is used to rotate the viewpoint, interact with objects, drag puzzle pieces, sketch, and paint. This works particularly well for the brush strokes because the physical act of moving the mouse back and forth at least provides some connection to what the protagonist is doing, even if the game ultimately completes the artwork automatically.

There are occasional moments where it isn’t immediately obvious which object can be interacted with next, but the confined environments prevent this from becoming frustrating. There is simply not enough clutter or space to become seriously lost.

The game’s brevity will probably be its most divisive aspect. Players expecting a substantial puzzle adventure may feel that the credits arrive just as the narrative is becoming interesting. The simplistic gameplay also means there isn’t much mechanical substance to justify repeated playthroughs.

However, stretching Behind the Frame into a six- or eight-hour adventure would probably have damaged what makes it work. The daily routines are charming precisely because they don’t have enough time to become tedious, while the story benefits from being told without unnecessary diversions.

In that respect, Behind the Frame has more in common with something like Florence or a short interactive animated film than a traditional point-and-click adventure. The puzzles provide interaction, but the emotional experience is clearly the priority.

Overall, Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery is a beautiful and moving little adventure that understands the importance of atmosphere. The painting mechanics and puzzles are extremely simplistic, and completionists may be irritated by achievements requiring arbitrary repeated clicking, but neither issue seriously undermines the experience. Its gorgeous hand-drawn artwork, excellent soundtrack, relaxing pace, and gradually unfolding story make the short runtime memorable, while the additional chapter after the main game provides a welcome extra perspective.