Marie's Room
Think of yourself as a teenager, about 15-17 years old. The world still seemed huge and interesting, and it did not shrink to two, maximum three airplane flights. The scale of the problem also increased many times over.
A long-term friendship could have been ruined by some petty quarrel. A nice guy in class caused discord among girls, and for the sake of a nice girl, you had to arrange whole battles for school. Beautiful rock musicians caused strange sensations in the lower abdomen, and it was impossible to explain that “I really didn't want to” with some soloist.
Now, from the height of the past years, from the acquired cynicism and the pile of fragments of a repeatedly broken heart, all these problems seem very tiny and insignificant. And the world has shrunk too. And among the credo of life appeared prudence, the ability to determine the importance of each event and the ability to adapt to any situation.
Marie's Room, a tiny game that can be played from start to finish in just half an hour, is an attempt to open a box of memories and see a time when the world was completely different. And the importance of friendship was different too.
A story about a quarrel between two girlfriends
Marie's Room is a tiny game in which you don't really need to do anything. It's just a dive into history, into memories. Only a box of souvenirs grows into a whole room. Actually, in this only room - well, apart from a short corridor - the whole action of the game unfolds.
Twenty years ago, the main character of Marie's Room and the very same Maria were best friends. But then something happened, and their "spiritual connection" was destroyed. What happened is up to the player to find out.
The main character enters Maria's room. For two decades, practically nothing has changed here. Even a laptop didn't go into sleep mode (oh, those tweaks for Windows). At the same time, the main character herself actively recalls that something terrible happened two decades ago.
The whole gameplay consists in the fact that the main character named Kelsey takes various objects, notes, Maria's diary, reads them or leaves her comments on this matter. Actually, that's all. Scraps of the plot make up a full-fledged story, which, by the way, boasts a rather interesting twist-twist.
Marie's Room Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, Marie's Room is a classic quest adventure. We read notes, collect history in parts, look through the collected diary. For half an hour or an hour of gameplay (by the way, there are no saves here) Marie's Room doesn't even have time to get bored.
There are also two puzzles. It is required to find the code from the lock on the case and the password from the computer. However, they are simple, so you don't have to struggle with dozens of combinations.
In this regard, Marie's Room is very similar to the "walking simulator" What Remains of Edith Finch. However, there were much more gameplay mechanics - and transformations into different animals, and games with a whale and a frog in the bath, and much, much more. In addition, in What Remains of Edith Finch, every player's action is bound to lead to tragic consequences. But in general, both of these games are immersed in stories, in memory and in the dark events of the past. Just differently.
Marie's Room is a short experimental project. This is even written on the game page on Steam. By the way, Marie's Room is completely free, and this is an additional plus.
The second project that Marie's Room has a spiritual connection with is Gone Home. However, you shouldn't go into more detail about how the worlds of these two games intersect, so as not to reveal spoiler details.
Finally, experienced players can replace similarities in Life is Strange, including Before the Storm. However, this is a purely visual coincidence. Yes, Marie's room is quite similar to Chloe's, but - let's be honest - all teenage girls love to hang posters on the walls, light garlands and leave little interesting things all over the place.
Music in Marie's Room
Probably, for any story-driven adventure game, musical accompaniment is of paramount importance. It can help you immerse yourself in history, atmosphere and world. And in Marie's Room, the soundtrack is fine too.
For the most part, the musical accompaniment of the game is calm guitar strokes. However, at some point, the player finds a poster with a rocker. And after that the soundtrack becomes a little richer - “alternative” compositions appear in it, differing in rather standard characteristics. However, this is also their dignity.
The main soundtrack is not loud. The fact is that the heroine is constantly talking. He comments on every detail out loud, and reads the diary out loud. And the music just shouldn't interrupt the main character. Therefore, guitar picks are quiet, calm, unhurried.
