Broken Parts Analysis – Mysteries in the Lighthouse

Broken Pieces is a puzzle game with a clear 90s survival horror undertone.

Parts It is the first title of the French study Experience from elsewhere as an independent developer. Set on the French coast, the game revolves around a mysterious tragedy in a town and the only inhabitant who has escaped the chaos.

Elise and her companion Pierre they believed they had found a quiet paradise when they moved from the city to Saint-Exil, a small town on the French coast. However, when a dark and dangerous sect in the region decides to carry out his cruel plan, no one is prepared for what is to come. Just over two weeks after the “attack”, Elise decides it’s time to search the local lighthouse for clues. She is the only one left in a town whose population has mysteriously disappeared. And she desperately tries to find out why. During her exploration phases, she is attacked by ghostly figures known as “the faithful”, figures which also multiply drastically at night, which means that you have to be home before the sun goes down.

When we start playing, the first choice we have in Parts is to choose between normal combat and reduced combat. Normal combat is the gameplay experience the studio intended, while reduced combat offers fewer enemy encounters and simplified combat, so you won’t have to spend a lot of time dodging and fightingbut reacting when devotees seem to harass you.

The combat is probably the least inspired part of the game in general and the least fun. After starting a game with normal fights, I had to choose reduced fights to be able to continue the game. So I would recommend this mode to anyone interested in experiencing the story itself, especially since combat only features the same enemy type each time and it doesn’t add much to the overall gameplay. Unfortunately, this also means that it is difficult to agree on the classification of Broken Pieces as survival horror, since it plays much more like a puzzle game with combat phases.

Broken Pieces feels a lot like a classic survival horror experience in some ways, as it includes lots of puzzle solving, fixed camera angles, and collecting clues to solve the mystery of what really happened in Holy Exile. Some aspect, like the camera, add to the claustrophobic atmosphere as you move through the different parts of town and explore abandoned buildings. Others, like not being able to aim and move, are design decisions that would be best left aside at this point in the film.

On the other hand, the story of Broken Pieces tells an uncomfortable and fascinating premise: Elise is surrounded by a real and deep loneliness. Being completely alone is a fear many of us have, or at least something that should make most people uncomfortable at best. It’s hard not to want to know more about the happy little life of Elise and Pierre. before the attack, and it’s fun to pick up bits and pieces of the townspeople as you explore. It also helps that the game is subtitled in english, because it is very interesting to know what happened in Saint-Exile. Unfortunately, the conclusion of Broken Pieces is somewhat disappointing, especially after all the effort the player had to put in. With a fuzzy conclusion, the game leaves you with the strange feeling of having invested 5 hours of play to end up exactly at the point where you started playing.

In general, Parts it has a solid base and I am interested in the next parts of the Experience from Elsewhere. The game is graphically and artistically beautiful and the premise is appealing. What didn’t work for me was the fight and the end of a story which had been built so promisingly. Parts This ends up leaving a mark on the player, which is very important in a match. So, we leave it up to you if it’s worth finding out what happened in this intriguing title.