Translated by
Microsoft from French
Microsoft from French
First, as the description says, "Hello Charlotte" is an episodic game. This is episode 2 of the series; It is necessary, to follow the scenario, to play episode 1 before this one, which can be downloaded for free (although a small donation would be welcome to the developer if you enjoy the game) via the link given on the page of the store.
The game itself is an RPG horror that will undoubtedly appeal to those who like me the games of this genre, like the Witch's House, corpse party, Alice Mare or mad father to name but a few. The recipe remains the same: we control a character, here Charlotte, who evolves in a world for the least strange (halfway between OFF and Yume Nikki, with perhaps a side Fausts Alptraum), although there are still a number of humorous touches . We interact with the other inhabitants of this world, we solve puzzles (which are neither too harsh nor too simplistic, we remain in any case not blocked for hours before them), we die in all possible ways and unimaginable in bad ends , but it does not become boring for the player (although this is mainly applicable for the first episode), and there are some classic "Chase scenes". Very simple RPG fights are introduced in the second episode, but they are not mandatory and can easily be run away.
But what is unique with "Hello Charlotte" is its history, mixed with endeant and successful characters. History always makes us want to continue playing to know the answers to our questions. In fact, it's one of the few games of this type that honestly made me want to find all the possible endings. And the more the game advances, the more you come to invest emotionally, especially in the second episode; the game manages to touch us, and also to touch rather delicate subjects accurately, without however getting away from its strange and almost surreal atmosphere.
The music is good and participates very well to give a bizarre atmosphere to the game. At the level of the sprites, episode 1 shows us only the expressions of the characters, but the second offers more complete and detailed sprites. The "sketchy" but rather pretty graphics accompany the atmosphere of the game, and we also find a good number of well-drawn CGs.
In short, I can only recommend it as a fan of this kind of game, although it probably will not appeal to everyone since it is essentially a "walking Simulator" with many dialogues and puzzles to solve. But if you like a game with endeating characters, a surreal atmosphere and a good scenario that will make you emotional at times, then "Hello Charlotte" is for you!