Breaking into people’s houses, burning their art / The Portrait (Edgar Allan Poe Indie Game)
5There’s an Edgar Allan Poe Game Jam going on on itch and this entry by Elegant Crow tickled me a lot, especially since it’s been a while that I played a pixel game (to my 5 loyal viewers: I played this before “I need to pee” but published it later, so yes, the continuity is all over the place).
Anyways, this game is based on the short story “The Oval Portrait” which you can read here (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/POE/oval.html) and probably also need to read to know what the heck is going on because even though I liked the game and it looks beautiful, it’s a bit thin on the actual story (and therefore also not as spooky as it could have been).
Spoilers: The story follows the protagonist whose valet Pedro helps him break into an abandonned chateau during night to get some rest. Pedro soon falls asleep but the Protag is restless and reads until his eyes fall on the portrait of a young lady that seems to mesmerize him. After doing the whole “melancholic ghotic protagonist gripes over their numerous feelings”-thing, he gets up and finds a book that tells the story of the painting. Turns out, the woman in the portrait was in love with the painter. But the painter was only in love with his art. He wanted to paint her and even though she hated to be merely a muse, she loved him so much that she obeyed. The painting took AGES and the more the portrait took form, the weaker the girl grew. And in a reversed Dorian Grey-Twist, upon adding the final touches to the portrait, the artist discovered his muse to be dead. Heavy stuff.
Anyways, if you want to play the game yourself or follow the dev: https://elegantcrow.itch.io/the-portrait
#IndieGames #EdgarAllenPoe #LetsPlay