Narrative games are fascinating for their ability to put us and our choices at the heart of an intrigue with often cinematographic codes. With the rise of our game consoles, the craziest projects, such as those of the Quantic Dream studio, have been able to see the light of day. However, the evocative power of works with a much lower budget should not be overlooked. This is precisely what the independent studio State of Play is trying to do with its South of the Circle which arrives today on our Nintendo Switch. Will he manage to take us into his world? This is what we will see next.
Swallowed by the great white
It all starts for us aboard a light aircraft flying over the deserted and icy plains of Antarctica. Unfortunately for us, a mechanical problem forces us to land in an emergency in the middle of nowhere, which is saying something given our flight plan. To survive, we will have to cross this snow desert to try to reach the nearest scientific base and thus bring help to our pilot. Our pedestrian wanderings in these vast environments will then be an opportunity for us to remember the events that led us to wander alone here in the middle of nowhere.
Thus, the whole narration is only a succession of phases, more or less long, alternating present and past events. Our hero, Peter, is a climatologist. In this present, he must carry out a climatological, logical study. In the past, he is a young doctor who has just graduated and who must find a subject of publication to satisfy the expectations of his superior.
The choice of the period is crucial for our adventure. Taking place in the midst of the Cold War, international tensions will have a direct impact on the life of our scientist. We are on the eve of student revolts and the emancipation of women. Many subjects such as the always too slow equality between men and women or friendship between peoples will be addressed. We will also be able to discover the hidden face of the university world, which is nothing but a gigantic power game.
This narrative set up is effective and if the beginning is a bit long to set up, the main characters are immediately endearing and make us want to go to the conclusion of this story. Entirely subtitled in French, it is very easy to enjoy the dialogues which are always very well written and above all very well dubbed, in English this time, by actors who are always perfectly in their role.
A story of choice
The gameplay offered by the developers of State of Play is obviously based on choices. These are of two kinds. First, there is the way we conduct our conversations. To do this, we must, not choose a line of text, but a sentiment. Our answer will thus depend on our state of mind. These feelings are grouped into small formations represented by a symbol. If at first, these feelings are marked around the symbol, very quickly, only the representation appears, it is up to us to remember what it is all about. Fortunately, help is available in the launch menu.
Between anxiety, joy or honesty, the palette of emotions that our character can feel is wide and we can thus personalize our dialogues as we wish. The only criticism we will make of this first category of choices is that it has no influence on the course of the game. For this, we must address the second group of choices: life choices. During our adventure, we will have to decide how Peter behaves. It can be very simple, such as how to swear to tell the truth or choose the color of our future home, but some can be more important and we won’t tell you more about it.
Our whole adventure lasts about three hours. These life choices appear in the second half of the title, an automatic save system allows us to start directly from this second part to vary our decisions. This is extremely useful for discovering the differences that may appear depending on our decision changes. It’s just a shame that the final twist makes all those choices unnecessary. It will have taken us several attempts to understand what we hope is in fact the end of the story. This little personal revelation is also one of the pleasures of playing South of the Circle.
The shining retina
From a technical point of view, there is nothing to throw away in the work of the State of Play studio. The fun of playing narrative games comes from being able to share that experience easily without having to share the controller. The choices we have to make, if they are subject to a time limit, are however easy to take together and we have the impression of living a shared adventure on which we can give our point of view. The symbols are clearly distinguishable from each other and their meaning is rather well evoked. It is thus almost impossible to make a mistake, even with two people.
The graphic part is also a great success. Far from trying to dazzle us with a representation seeking to ape reality, we are entitled to a modeling of the sets and minimalist characters that perfectly suits the atmosphere, sometimes melancholy, sometimes scary, set up. The color schemes are also perfectly successful and the contrasts are always right. The only less pleasing part to the eye are our character animations which don’t look at all natural with pools that seem fixed at an immovable height from the ground.
The soundtrack is also perfect to put us just right in the mood of the moment. The moments of lightness of walks in the forest are light years away from the anguish and loneliness engendered by these frozen plains. Finally, note that for an introductory price of €13, the lifespan is quite good. With a first three-hour trial and then attempts to try to understand the events a little better, it was a little over six hours of play that stretched our arms.
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