The Rivers of Alice: Extended Version

A musical note, a touch of painting, an emotion, inspiration comes where it is not always expected. It was by listening to a rock band album that the game designer at delirium Studios slowly had the idea of a poetic adventure game. To make the project a reality, the team appealed to various artists to create a very personal game. The rivers of Alice is a game of adventure and reflection in which you will guide the little girl on a dreamlike journey that will lead her to imaginary lands. Four dragonflies have escaped from his necklace and there are many puzzles that you will have to brave to get them back! Do not look for a real meaning to this story, it is about the dream of a young girl with her fears and desires, an appointment with imaginary places where only poetry is necessary to exist. At first glance we can only appreciate the unique appearance and the very personal rendering that the developers have given to their game. Designed by artist ANE Pikaza, these watercolours give their meaning to the phrase "video game is an art". http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=562344047 Alice appears as the only character who is not colorful in these paintings where the colors abound, a way to mark a separation between dream and reality. This style is very personal so it is the taste of everyone to decide whether the game is "beautiful". Personally I really appreciate these games that have character and that are the reason why we like independent games. The work done on the animations also deserves to be talked about because one can only imagine how much to animate paintings has to ask for work. The music of the game was composed by a Spanish rock band, vetusta morla (Yes it is the band whose album inspired the game designer!) and brings soft sonorities with its acoustic strings and its voices suave. As you progress through the adventure you will unlock new songs that you can then listen to from the game menu. The least we can say is that delirium Studios has been able to surround itself and form successful artistic collaborations that contribute to the uniqueness of the rivers of Alice. Gameplay side you can stroll from Tableau to chalkboard, talk to characters and solve puzzles. The classic point & click recipe, and it works! Do not expect long dialogues, here everything is done by the image without using the word. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=562344167 each image will give you clues about solving puzzles or where an object is located. All these pictograms will then be archived in Alice's book where you can even take notes, something that will be very useful in view of the puzzles offered in the game (although I preferred to use the good old paper-pen combo). You should know that the rivers of Alice offers lots of puzzles and will not necessarily address all point & click lovers. Appearances are deceiving because under his childish airs, the game is not easy, on the contrary it will even be quite complex at times. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=562344531 it will be poetic (lights to match with the location of the stars, necklace of shells to replenish, musical game) to the most classical (labyrinth, teasing or still wheels to match). On the end some puzzles became very complex like this mini-game with sounds to reproduce, rather arduable for those who do not have the musical ear but one can however appreciate the variety of these puzzles that will allow the game to reach the 3 to 6h of duration of life, according to your ease to solve them (because of a conflict of the game with the antivirus I have to play in offline mode from where the low playing time displayed). All in all, logical puzzles and puzzle puzzles will fill players in search of challenge and the artistic work accomplished will delight those who want to try a very unique game. With the rivers of Alice, delirium Studios has been able to replace the video game with the art rank. A key was provided for evaluation purposes by developers which nevertheless did not influence my opinion. Read more reviews on my curation page: Kitsune's Guide