Have you ever wondered what is the story behind paintings, whether by a recognized artist or an amateur? This question was Silver Lining Studio’s starting point for Behind the Frame: The Most Beautiful Landscapes, a game with a title that’s longer than the game itself.
window to the heart
behind the frame He tells the story of a young woman. A young painter is working to land her dream job in New York. in front of his apartment general An old man, also a painter, his works seem familiar to the young woman. What if there was a story behind these paintings? A story that does not make the girl and the old man strange.
Insofar as it should be immediately prevented, Behind The Frame is one of those acts that one wraps up in one evening. At just over an hour and a half, the game constantly oscillates between narrative and point-and-click gameplay with almost no difficulty. Thus, most of the game takes place in the same place: the apartment of our heroine. If the situation in the room is fixed, then a simple continuous right-click allows you to monitor the places in 360 degrees. The opportunity to enjoy the beautiful graphics of the game. Silver Lining Studio They seem to appreciate Studio Ghibli’s work and have taken some inspiration from it.
gouache stains
the side Play On the other hand, the game is much simpler. Days often start out the same way and you just have to follow our character’s comments to see what to do. Playing some music, making a meal and coffee and then writing an order letter are all steps that are repeated day in and day out. At last we are sitting at our window to observe the life of our old neighbor and his cat. An opportunity to draw some sketches. And what about drawing in all of this, you’ll tell me? We come there.
In fact, noticing your neighbor quickly makes you notice similarities between his works and some of the paintings in your house. Discovering these paintings is an opportunity to start a small series of not very complex puzzles. For example, you need to add colors to the panels in your apartment so that they correspond to the version of your neighbor. Don’t panic for those who, like me, are bad at drawing, it’s usually enough to add the right color in the right area while respecting the proper shape of the game to recognize your talent. Then we discover a new puzzle or new color that we can add to our masterpiece.
Make no mistake, this is all just to accompany the story. The story of a meeting between a man and a woman whose different paintings represent important moments, which we can follow through small animated scenes. A story that might leave some players’ finale by the way, but I’ll be careful not to reveal it further.
small technical point
Although this test is performed on PC, you should be aware that the game is also planned for mobile. So it’s no surprise that we end up with an options screen that has been reduced to its simplest form. However, the game is very beautiful, with a beautiful soundtrack and French subtitles. However, this PC version seemed to have some issues on my device: subtitles persisted and overlapped, but also the screen that seemed to freeze for a moment during transitions between animated and 360-degree scenes. ° Leave to the player. It’s a shame you missed out on that kind of detail given the game’s relatively short life.
I got stuck on this screen for no reason
conclusion
At the time of completing this test, more than a matter of game quality, it is more about the platform you recommend. Because Behind the Frame worked just right I probably would have preferred to see it on a touch screen. silver Lining Studio provided good mouse support, but I felt like I was missing something in the process. In short, if you have the possibility, go instead to the mobile version, which will cost you less as a bonus.
Testing conducted by Grim on PC using a copy provided by the publisher.
