If Found... (new Irish game)

johnny_ultimate

Worth its own thread to give a bit of support to a local studio... Their new game is out on PC and IOS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Qs6CjGeQc

Played through it and very impressed far beyond it just being a rare game from an Irish studio. It's a visual novel and coming of age story following a young queer woman who returns home to Achill Island for Christmas at a point where she's completely lost about what to do next in her life after graduating college. A row with her family sees her end up moving in with a bunch of lads (the words 'lads' is used ) squatting in a crumbling house.

Few interactive stories I've played have looked and sounded this good. The visuals are an explosion of expressive colour - stunning hand-drawn imagery that mixes the fantastical and the natural with endlessly stirring effect. The soundtrack by 2mello complements that perfectly. It's all edited together in a way that ebbs and flows depending on the emotional state of the protagonist Kasio - there's one sequence, capturing her euphoria at attending a local rock gig, that's an absolute rush, and the climax is an intense cocktail of mixed, confused emotions.

Your interaction primarily comes down to an 'erase' mechanic (although there are wrinkles and complications, particularly in the final stretches) that sees you literally rub out images and words in your notebook. It's a simple but engaging gesture that again enhances the story being told, while also being a mechanic that directly ties into the events that are unfolding. The erasing means something significant to Kasio, although it's not something that's merely a simple mechanical metaphor either.

It's not perfect - I'm not sure if the short space travel interludes come together in the end, even if they are full of magnificent imagery. But it's an accomplished, articulate piece of work that's very much up there with the likes of Florence as smart, thoughtful interactive story that has a very unique way of telling their stories. It's around two-hours long - play it in one sitting if you can as it definitely has pacing that's best appreciated when played as one thing. Not for everyone: these kind of games rarely are. But well recommended for anyone who thinks it sounds interesting.

Oh, and it's VERY Irish - even contains footnotes on words like 'Bosco' and 'grand' so non-Irish players aren't left wondering what the **** the characters are talking about

Retr0gamer

I know the family of the girl that did the art for this. Will definitely pick it up to support Irish devs but genuinely interested in playing it. Absolutely adored Florence and this looks very similar.

pixelburp

Wouldn't ordinarily be my bag, but picked it up anyway to support an Irish development team. Few enough of them as it is.

The art looks phenomenal though, really striking stuff. A lot of visual novels I'd see lean into the ... I wanna say "anime look"; that's probably off base, but makes them look terribly rote. This has a proper aesthetic of its own.

johnny_ultimate

pixelburp wrote: »

The art looks phenomenal though, really striking stuff.

It is, and the soundtrack too is super impressive. The presentation is much more dynamic than the handrawn still images would suggest, and the screen is nearly constantly buzzing with different types of energy depending on where the story's at. It's a bit of a trip

Mr Crispy

It's after getting a mention on RPS.

Kingp35

Any indication if there will be a console release?

johnny_ultimate

Kingp35 wrote: »

Any indication if there will be a console release?

Not that I've heard, but I couldn't say for sure Interface might be a bit strange on a joypad, but could absolutely see it coming to Switch like Florence.