Florence - The Bigger Picture

I'm sure I'm not the first nor will I be the last to say that Florence is a great piece of art meant to be experienced, seen, heard, and felt. I'm not talking about the Italian city, I am talking about Mountain's very first game distributed by Annapurna Interactive, the same people who published What Remains of Edith Finch amongst other brilliant titles.

Florence is $2.99 on Android and iOS and it deserves every single cent it gets. From the beautifully drawn art to the orchestra that describes your feelings perfectly, this game is easily a masterpiece.

I am a bit late to this party as the game was released almost exactly a year before I played it, on St. Valentine's no less, but this game is not only about love but more about growth and self discovery. I would also like to preface that this is not as much a video game as it is an interactive story (which doesn't make it any less valid).

The art in this game is adorably simplistic and yet complex enough at times when the mood needs it most. The music is wonderful and perfectly represents the emotions that they were trying to convey for the character. And finally the gameplay, while not being challenging, is very unique. As I said before, this is not a video game so I didn't expect the puzzles to be challenging and I wasn't disappointed by the lack of interesting mechanics. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the variety of ways to make the player feel what Florence was feeling.

In the next segment I'll analyze the first act out of the six that are in the game, and I will talk about my thoughts and feelings for them, so spoiler alert for whoever wants to experience this wonderful game for themselves (which I highly recommend).

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["Just five more minutes...", we've all been there.]

Chapter 1 starts with a routine we can all relate to, Florence gets up, goes to works, eats and goes back to sleep. Her life is depicted here in black and white because that's how boring it all is. The only colours in these scenes are the photos on social media, so other people's happiness (or puppies, same thing really), but then life goes back to be black and white for our protagonist.

In chapter 2 Florence is cleaning up her house, and while cleaning the shelves some pop of colour throws itself at her. It's her childhood memories, the arts and crafts she loved to make when she was little (and the game makes you make them in a very childlike but fun activity).

[Two different butterflies made in two different playthroughs, I probably had too much fun with these]

But after reminiscing a little, she puts everything back in the polka dotted box and goes back to her black and white life. She's a grown up now, after all.

[As soon as I saw the clock I knew I had to move it forwards and make her grow up, but I instinctively tried to avoid that and I moved the clock hands bacwkards. Of course, life doesn't work that way and neither does this game. Life goes on.]

The third chapter starts as usual, it seems to be the same old routine, our protagonist is on her way to work while listening to her music and checking the same old posts on twitter, another element of monotony. But the battery soon dies out and she's forced to put her headphones away, which ends up being a blessing in disguise. A pop of colour suddenly comes on the screen along with a yellow cello note, then another and as you keep clicking on them, more and more appear and the yellow pleases your eyes while the cello pleases your ears. Little by little you meet the source of this beautiful sounds, a celloist practicing his craft in the streets.

These were the first three chapters of the game which I feel are enough to captivate anyone willing to look for a beautiful game to play in a couple hour. I have a lot of thoughts for the rest of the game but I'll refrain as I don't want to spoil the entire experience in this article. I do recommend playing this game on your own, however, and then we might discuss it together.

As I said before, this is a game about love that describes it as purely and then, unfortunately, as heartbreaking as it really is. It's not a coincidence that it released on St. Valentine's. However, it is not just that. This story is about a woman getting to know herself better and finding her own path. Love was just her clue to understand the bigger picture.