Sunset

When it comes to traditional video games, there is no publisher/developer that is so out of the box as Tale of Tales. Their newest game Sunset reaffirms their place in their unconventional line of video games that rely far more on the narrative and what the player does with the information they are given rather than a set goal. Tale of Tales' games aren't meant for those who want to have a clear goal in mind or who prefer games to stick into the very restrictive bindings of what they think a game actually is. They are meant for those who want to experience just how interactive media can be used to tell a compelling narrative.

Sunset is told from the viewpoint of a housekeeper named Angela Burnes, who is cleaning the house for the wealthy Gabriel Ortega during a huge revolution in the fictional South American country of Anchuria. Every day, Angela comes to the apartment before sunset to do the tasks that Mr. Ortega has left for her. The player gets to choose whether or not they want to do everything or how they want to do it. These choices are what shape the games overall narrative. You never know what sort of impact your work will have until the day after you do it. Sometimes it takes even longer for Mr. Ortega to notice depending on what you did or didn't do.

The entirety of the game takes place in the apartment of Mr. Ortega, and the elevator to get there is the game's menu screen. It's a small setting that you're responsible for changing as the housekeeper. Everything you do affects how the apartment ends up looking. Whenever you come back there will be small items moved or new tasks for you to do that will change the place. It gives a sense of accomplishment or progress when you do these small things despite the game not having a set goal. Your job as Angela is to get through every day as a housekeeper as the world falls apart around her. The apartment is like a sanctuary, and while chaos explodes outside, which the player has the option of viewing, the apartment is the one place where Angela feels safe.

While you don't ever physically interact with Mr. Ortega, there are small things you can do to build on Angela's relationship with him, either as a boss and worker, or possibly two individuals with growing affection for each other. The way that the relationship is built isn't on sight or discussions that we see, but by responding to notes that he's left for her in a flirty way or organizing the books in a certain order. The most mundane of jobs can be seen as a sign of affection to the both of them; they definitely build up a believable relationship between those chores and the notes. Whether or not you take the romance route is up to you the player, but the game gives you the option to do so, which changes how Angela speaks of him. Whether she's worried as a friend or as a potential lover.

Angela is your primary narrator throughout the game and her lines are delivered beautifully by Tina Marie Murray. If there is one thing that keeps you in the moment of this game, if not the environment or how everything is placed, it's her voice. You don't hear it all the time, but when you do, you take pause and you listen. She truly delivers a strong performance and should be praised.

The gameplay is point-and-click with the occasional choices thrown in there. There isn't anything like puzzles, or pre-defined goals, there's just you in this guy's apartment. You even can just not do what he wants and the game is affected by that choice. The revolution narrative plays out throughout the game and while the role Angela's brother plays in the revolution is a little too convenient, it does show that she has some sort of stake in this other than what she does around Gabriel. She seems to be as much of a revolutionary but doesn't express it outwardly. However, the player has the option of doing her revolutionary stuff as her like turning in certain documents to them if they want to, which ups the stakes even more for what's going on in the revolution against the dictatorship.

Graphics-wise the game looks good; the usage of lighting and the furniture from the time period the game takes place in (1972) is all accurate. Tale of Tales clearly did their research while developing this game. There are also a lot of parallels to modern day revolutions and characters just like the ones in the game. Sunset doesn't tell a real story, but what could have been a real story in this sort of environment. It's all very well crafted and the setpieces are beautiful to behold. It's not super realistic but it isn't cartoony ether, it takes a nice happy medium between the two, keeping things stylized but keeping the likeness of actual furniture and papers.

The game is very strong in the writing department, but there are times when things just seem to happen too conveniently, which detracts from the believability of the story. It's not a huge distraction that completely takes you out of the game but it will make you raise your eyebrow at how things just seem to fall into place. At times it's a little too predictable, but then the game will throw a wrench in the works and immediately make up for it.

When walking around the house, Angela sometimes will phase through small parts of furniture and can potentially get stuck. It doesn't happen too frequently, but there are times where you may find Angela walking into a wall and having her arm stuck in it. These are just small bugs that will more than likely be fixed in later patches.

Sunset is yet another beautifully crafted, narrative experience from Tale of Tales. It does have some shortcomings in the terms of the story, but it is a game that should be played at least once by those who truly love playing games that, despite their small scope, have a narrative so delightfully weaved that it sucks you in and never lets you out again.

Angelina Bonilla, NoobFeed (@Twitter)