Love the Catalan setting that was built for this game and for such a short horror game the world building is honestly incredible. It makes no sense to have a sequel but I'd love to see more games set in this universe.

For some reason though if you click tab you can edit all text in the game, I wonder if it's intentional

I have been hesitating on getting the Wine based on my research. Most of the complaints are centred around the chase sections. I happen to hate those sections in most games I played. But the release of the next game (the Beggar) and the Wine looking appealing in other ways made me take a chance. I’ve completed the game in two sittings with a total of 6.4 hours. I mostly love what I played! My main issues do not involve the chase sections surprisingly enough.

The game has 4 big chapters along with an epilogue. The gameplay involves exploration, some very light puzzles, finding collectibles, figuring the story out and the chase sections of course. The puzzles are mostly finding missing objects to open/activate something or inputting the correct symbols you find along the way. The action of inputting symbols is very simple of course. But it’s made interesting thanks to some being well hidden and the chase sections. The challenge IS being able to multi task the symbols and chase sections together. As mentioned, I usually hate these sections. But the game is really not bad about it for the most part. It becomes predictable and you can work around it once you figure the AI’s behaviour. There are some later sections that look impossible at a first glance, especially the one where you drop down and need to manage your flashlight. But looks can be deceiving and you just need to find the right pattern for the lurker to follow you. You can turn the chase sections off in the accessibility menu if you wish but I decided to try them first before making use of the option myself. It is part of the game and what makes it challenging. So I advise giving them a try as well if you’re uncertain.

So what makes the game good? The island is well realized and it truly feels like people used to live there. This is also part of the story telling because you will see some things that can make you sad if you follow things closely. The story is also strengthened by the notes scattered and some very short cutscenes in a way. It’s about a pandemic taken to the extreme, the consequences of it and some twists to the characters. The story is brilliantly and smartly told. Every detail is accounted for including the collectibles. You can have discussions whether the author has left or right political views when it comes to the pandemic and that’s the beauty of it. Speaking of beauty, the graphics are another highlight. It’s impressive when it’s beautiful, there are decent graphics options and it runs really well. I didn’t encounter any bugs either and the achievements are fine.

The game is not perfect unfortunately. My biggest issues are how it’s made very difficult to find two collectibles in the Sommelier chapter, the lack of auto save indicator and the heavy lever you need to carry sometimes. The collectibles involve using objects that break too easily along with some tricky platforming. I had to retry two sections so often! The game only auto saves and it’s baffling that there was no icon showing me when the game is saving. It was stressful not knowing when to quit sometimes. The lever is tiny and somehow you walk so slowly when you’re carrying it. It wasn’t fun and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The game is on sale with 80% off for around €2,79. It’s money well spent for what I got out of it and a good introduction to the planned trilogy. Now I have to give the Beggar a try while it’s 40% off day one. I highly recommend the Wine if you like what you read, especially when it’s still on sale.

Excellent.