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ViolettWhen her parents move to an old house out in the middle of nowhere, Violett is obviously not impressed. However, as the bored teen broods in her room she notices a glint coming from a mouse hole. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she sticks her hand into the hole only to be transported to a magical world. Violett has to explore her surreal surroundings to find a way back home but first she must escape from the clutches of the evil spider queen that captures her upon arrival.
Violett is a point & click adventure but unlike some modern entries in the genre it packs some old school gameplay. If you are used to obvious hints and plenty of hand holding the difficulty of the puzzles in this game might come as a bit of a shock. I have been playing adventure games since the days of Loom, Space Quest and Monkey Island and still found myself stumped in Violett on more than a few occasions. In typical point & click adventure fashion you control everything with a mouse, telling Violett where to move and what to interact with. An early encounter with a fairy bestows Violett with the power of telekinesis so you can manipulate some objects from afar but don't expect this to help you with the puzzle solving. Instead this power is mostly used to collect the colored orbs hidden on each screen. If you see something important that needs to be collected you still have to figure out how to get to it in order for Violett to add it to her inventory. The world that Violett is transported to feature some Alice in Wonderland inspired locations and characters along with a healthy dose of Dali. You'll encounter caterpillars, frogs, grasshoppers, termites and cockroaches that tower over Violett, all engaging in bizarre activities. All the speech in the game is gibberish so when you interact with characters you have to pay attention to the images shown in the speech bubbles to figure out what they want. This can be confusing at times but after a while you get used to it. The game features some very colorful visuals and mixes hand painted 2D backdrops with 3D objects. The various scenes are connected by an Escher style hub section and I found myself looking forward to seeing what crazy location Violett will stumble upon next. Some of the puzzles require a bit of backtracking to solve but inventory items are usually found close to where they are used. There are no item descriptions which can add to the confusion but at least Violett cannot die or misuse items. I did encounter one bug where I was unable to complete a puzzle due to a disappearing ant but thankfully managed to find a workaround. While there is no speech, apart from the gibberish noises that Violett and the other characters make, the soundtrack is rather nice and includes some very eerie tunes. The OST is included with your purchase so if you enjoy the tunes you can listen to them outside the game. Violett is quite a lengthy game which is refreshing but the ending felt somewhat rushed. I won't spoil anything but it features an encounter where you have no input beyond watching the events unfold. During the course of the game Violett also gains three more powers in addition to telekinesis but these also feel underused. Regardless of the rough spots, Violett is a very enjoyable title that isn't afraid to challenge players. It might take a while to wrap your head around some of the puzzles but they all make sense in some bizarre way. If you find yourself breezing through modern point & click adventures give Violett a spin and prepare for a challenge.
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System Requirements
TAGS: Violett,
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