The Artful Escape Review

[Michael {United Critics}]

Music Is Like A Dream

Recently, I’ve taken a liking to games published by Annapurna Interactive. The AAA titles focus on realism & stuff nowadays. Due to this, indie games have so much room to make games that are way far from realism. Exploring the realm of creativity & making games that are very pleasant in all ways. Annapurna Interactive games are pretty simple but have stunning visuals & extremely smooth gameplay. If you like this game, I also recommend trying out Sayonara Wild Hearts. I also wrote a review for it!

Note: I played this game through XBOX Gamepass!

About This Game

Storyline

The storyline of this game feels like something that came straight out of someone’s weird dream. I really loved the game’s plot although I got lost at times. It has everything from holographic guitars to weird-looking aliens that enjoy music. Anyways, without spoiling much, here’s the storyline:

You play as Francis Vendetti, the nephew of a deceased folk-music legend named Johnson Vendetti. Everyone who lives in Calypso (A fictional town in Colorado) expects Francis to continue his uncle’s legacy so he is made to perform one of his uncle’s most famous songs for a festival. But Francis is tired of living under his uncle’s shadow & wants to pursue Rock Music. One night, he has an encounter with a certain something that changes his life dramatically. His Sci-Fi fantasy comes to life! Play the game to find out!

I loved the storyline & I am sure you will too! The game is about 4-4.5 hours long which is a decent gameplay time. I recommend not spoiling the storyline for yourself by checking the wikis & other reviews which have spoilers!

Gameplay Mechanics

I feel this game mostly revolves around its visuals, storyline & obviously the music. The gameplay is rather simple. It mostly involves you moving around & interacting with interactables in a platform-like perspective. Then there are these “Play-along with me” kinda interactions where you have to copy the rhythm of the person/creature you’re playing with. It also has a bit of “Parkour” gameplay to it.

A really cool feature they have is the ability to strum/wail your guitar whenever you want. What’s even cooler is that most of your surroundings react to the music. Lights light up, creatures do something cool, etc. The combination of the visuals & auditory cues is out of this world, literally & figuratively! I love when games use creativity to the fullest & give the players an experience of a lifetime. The blend of colorful & bright visuals with ear-pleasing music is just perfect.

Anyways, enough of my admiration for the game. So, there are a few basic mechanics involved in the game. The basic one is moving left & right. Then, there is jumping. In some parts of the game, you can double jump while in others, you’re limited to only one jump. You can get a third “glide-type” jump by strumming your guitar while in the air. I don’t know a lot of guitar-related terms so please excuse me if I used the wrong terms/explanations. As I mentioned before, you can strum/wail your guitar whenever you want. It triggers visual & aural events around you which enhances your overall experience!

Apart from these, there isn’t much. The core purpose of the game is to give the players an easy laid-back experience accompanied by beautiful visuals & mesmerizing audio & they deliver it successfully. I can keep on going about how much I loved this game but we don’t have all day. So, let me wrap up this segment right here.

Visuals & Audio

Words aren’t powerful enough to explain how amazing the visuals & audio of this game are. First of all, the game uses a very cartoony art style. It looks amazing since it’s very bright & colorful. The animations of the environment reacting to our guitar are a feast to our eyes!

The dialogue delivery is amazing too. You can feel the emotions behind each & every sentence. There are some songs that have amazing vocals while others are mostly just instrumentals. You can listen to all of the OSTs here. My personal favorite is “The Banks of the River are Lined with Gold” & “Father”. Johnny Galvatron & Josh Abrahams make really good songs! Each song is wonderful in its own way. You’ll never feel bored, trust me!

Pros

• Amazing Soundtracks & perfect dialogue delivery.
  
• Flashy & colorful visuals which are a feast to our eyes!
  
• Very unique gameplay with a lot of interactions.
  
• A random & confusing but interesting plotline.

Cons

• Game is very short. You can finish it in 4 to 4.5 hours.

Conclusion

I wish this game was longer. I enjoyed each & every second I invested in this game. Unfortunately, I finished it in one sitting. You might be surprised by how high the price for a 4.5ish hours long game is. I mean, you can clearly see the amount of effort they put into the game. If you ask me, it’s worth the base price. But if you are looking to save some money, it’s obvious that you got to wait for a sale.

Rating: 10/10
(An amazing game! A must-play if you love games that focus on music & visuals!)

Reviewer: Midplayz
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.