Despite her father’s protests, a determined Mimi travels to the picturesque French countryside of Dordogne to find a missing piece. Awaiting her is the soon-to-be-sold strange house belonging to her recently departed grandmother, as well as a summer of precious childhood memories that Mimi, inexplicably, has no recollection of. How could she forget something so precious, as well as the circumstances behind the rocky relationship between her father and grandparents? These are the hooks that drove me through this fun and animated adventure game. Although not mechanically demanding or close to challenging, I enjoyed this relaxing French vacation.
As Mimi scours her grandmother Nora’s house and surrounding grounds for clues, I engage in strange interactions that add a touch of mischief to otherwise mundane actions. Instead of pointing and clicking on objects, I insert and turn keys to open doors, tip a box to pour cereal into a bowl (and all over the kitchen table), and hover my marionette-like hands over silverware to collect it from a riverbed. One of the most creative sequences involved popping greetings of speech bubbles over a cliff to shout out to a distant friend. I love that Dordon regularly finds small but fresh twists on how you engage with her world. Using the small mouse-style cursor to perform these actions naturally feels more awkward with a controller, and is easily lost among the colorful and busy backdrops, but it gets the job done.
Almost all of these unique interactions are performed by 12-year-old Mimi, who players control during numerous flashback sequences that weave together the story of her summer vacation with Nora. She documents her stay by taking pictures, capturing sound effects with a tape recorder, and collecting stickers, cassette tapes, and giant dream-like words scattered across levels. The end game for completing these tasks is filling album pages by creating simple songs from collected words and arranging pictures and stickers. Beyond satisfying the innate desire to clear episodes from their assigned collectibles (and unfortunately, you can’t replay episodes to find missed episodes), making these cut pages offers no tangible reward other than the small pleasure of expressing yourself in a limited way. way.
Playing the Dordogne is nice, but looking at it is even better. Thanks to beautiful watercolor art direction, each scene feels like an interactive tour of an artist’s gallery; You can actually see the brush strokes. The framing of some scenes makes them look great as stills, but odd angles occasionally make it difficult to distinguish between walkable paths; Expect to encounter some bushes and stairs until you find your way forward. Character models have a similar visual appeal, and combined with the lovely soundtrack, Dordon is like a charming French indie film come to life.
As a coming-of-age story set mostly in the early 1980s (the aquatic sequences for adults take place in 2002), Dordon hits the right notes of being whimsical enough for kids but has enough dark undertones and mature discussions to give it teeth. adults. I felt warm and fuzzy watching Mimi and Nora bond over simple pleasures like fixing a broken kayak or having a picnic by the river. The edges of the darker backstory involving Mimi’s family add intrigue that feels adequately fleshed out by the end. However, further clarification on ambiguous issues, such as the reason for Mimi’s father’s lifelong grudge against his parents, would have been nice. The story also relies heavily on players locating easy-to-miss collectible letters that provide crucial context and backstory for critical events.
As someone who derives genuine pleasure from admiring beautiful paintings, Dordon ups the ante by letting me creatively interact with his amazing art. Even better, it layers a largely enjoyable story over it. Like Mimi and Nora’s relationship, there are some bumps to overcome, but good times await those willing to work through them.