From French developers over at The Pixel Hunt, comes an absolutely beautiful game in “The Wreck.” Not like most video games, this one is more of a 3D visual novel that tells the story of our lead character named Junon, a woman going through an existential crisis at the age of 36. Her job isn’t going anywhere, her personal life is falling apart, and emotionally she’s just jaded and numb. One day she is called into the ER because her estranged mother had a ruptured brain aneurysm. Heavy stuff I know, buckle up! Quickly, you learn that Junon’s past was very tumultuous to say the least with her family and past non-healthy (to say the least) relationships and now she is given the heavy responsibility of making the decisions needed for her mother’s care.
The game features many flashback scenes about Junon’s relationship with her sister Diane, and of course her mother as well. Throughout the story, there are visions of a car crash, which don’t correlate into the story at first, but each time it will send you to a new flashback sequence where it puts you in almost a real dream state environment. These scenes also encourage you to interact with objects and eventually will trigger important words to pop up on the screen, which then leads to you being able to progress the story. You are given the ability to rewind time forward and backward, which is helpful when trying to find everything in a given scene.
The first hour of the game can be a bit cerebral, and you’re often unclear with what is going on exactly. There is also a lack of narrative hook that may struggle to get you invested in Junon specifically right away. The game heavily relies on you to have some patience and let the story unravel at its own pace, but eventually, you will get hooked on its emotional and moving storytelling. With such a linear story at its core, it’s difficult to discuss more of this visual novel without mentioning spoilers, which would be a huge disservice. The writing in this game is absolutely incredible. The dialogue is so strong. Junon’s revelations slowly piece together at a quiet and reflective pace. It’s a poignant reflection of loss and forgiveness. There are also themes of depression and self-harm.
So, since this is a visual novel, where is the gameplay? Is there any? Pretty much all there is for you to do is being given options of dialogue to choose from during specific points in conversations. The visual style is absolutely gorgeous in its simplicity. Scenes aren’t fully animated, mostly just a number of still shots stitched together over a period of time. Not too different from stop motion animation, but here there are way fewer frames so it almost looks like photos are gradually moving with ambient lighting filters thrown on top of it. With environments not extremely detailed, and character design not looking full cartoony, but somewhat grounded looks great. Altogether makes for a really cool effect that works really well for the visual novel medium.
This time when you’re interacting with objects, while great, can also really slow down the pace of the overall story. When you’re playing a game that is more of a visual novel and less interactive, pacing is crucial to keep you interested in continuing on. Which this can struggle a bit at times, but in the grand scheme of things, the story is executed so beautifully, that to me, this was a small nitpick rather than a serious issue, but this story may not affect everyone the same way of course, so moments like this may be more bothersome to others. With a powerful 3–4-hour runtime, I caught myself shedding a tear or two. Like I said, the game may not be for everyone, with its much slower pace and lack of lively controls to keep some gamers addicted to the screen, it may be tough to convince some people to give this one a try. “The Wreck” is a beautifully crafted visual novel that tells a poignant story of loss, forgiveness, and coming to terms with one’s past. Its sorrowful tone and dark themes may be tough for some to digest as well, but I love when a game can pull these kinds of emotions out of me.
When people need examples of how video games can push the boundaries of art and storytelling, “The Wreck” is a perfect example. The storytelling is truly its greatest strength, with an emotionally charged narrative that will leave you thinking about it long after you’ve finished playing. It’s difficult for me to score this one, while I know many won’t like it or give it the time of day, it’s certainly a very powerful and thought-provoking one, and a very vulnerable and personal one. “The Wreck” truly is a testament to the strength of the visual novel medium.
9/10
Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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