Despite her father’s protests, a determined Mimi travels to the picturesque French countryside of the Dordogne to find a missing piece of herself. Awaiting her is her recently deceased grandmother’s quaint house, which will soon be sold, as well as treasured childhood memories of a summer that Mimi inexplicably cannot remember. How could she forget something so precious and the circumstances behind the troubled relationship between her father and grandparents? These are the charms that guided me through this enjoyable and beautifully animated adventure game. While it wasn’t mechanically over the top or remotely challenging, I enjoyed this relaxing short break in France.
As Mimi inspects her grandmother Nora’s house and surrounding grounds for clues, I engage in quirky interactions that add a touch of playfulness to the otherwise mundane plots. Instead of pointing and clicking on objects, I insert and turn keys to open doors, tilt a box to pour cereal into a bowl (and the entire kitchen table), and levitate my puppet-like hands over cutlery to get it out to collect a river bed. One of the most creative sequences involved throwing word bubble greetings over a cliff to convey how to yell at a distant friend. I like that Dordogne regularly finds small but fresh variations in the way you engage with your world. Of course, using the little mouse-like cursor to perform these actions feels more cumbersome with a controller and easily gets lost in the colorful, busy backgrounds, but it gets the job done.
Almost all of these unique interactions are performed by a 12-year-old Mimi, who players control in numerous flashbacks, telling the story of her summer vacation with Nora. She documents her stay by taking photos, recording sound effects with a tape recorder, and collecting stickers, cassette tapes, and giant dreamlike words scattered across the levels. The endgame for completing these tasks is to fill pages of a scrapbook by forming simple poems from collected words and arranging photos and stickers. Aside from satisfying an innate desire to rid chapters of their allotted collectibles (and unfortunately, you can’t replay chapters to find missed chapters), creating these scrap pages offers no tangible reward other than the small pleasure of me in limited express way.
Playing Dordogne is nice, but looking at it is even better. Thanks to a beautiful watercolor art direction, each scene feels like an interactive tour of an artist’s gallery; you can actually see the brush strokes. The framing of certain scenes makes them look great as static images, but odd angles sometimes make it difficult to discern walkways; Expect to bump into some bushes and stairs until you find your way forward. Character models have a similar visual appeal and when combined with the beautiful soundtrack, “Dordogne” feels like a charming French indie art film come to life.
Being a coming-of-age tale set primarily in the early ’80s (the adult Mimi sequences set in 2002), Dordogne hits the right note: it’s whimsical enough for kids, but also has enough dark undertones and grown-up discussions to give her the spice it needs grown-up. I felt warm and comfortable watching Mimi and Nora bond over simple pleasures like fixing a broken kayak or having a picnic by the riverbank. The fringes of the darker backstory surrounding Mimi’s family provide additional intrigue that pays off somewhat in the end. However, more clarification on vague topics, such as the cause of Mimi’s father’s lifelong resentment towards his parents, would have been desirable. The story also depends in large part on players finding easily-missed collectible letters that provide crucial context and backstory to critical events.
As someone who genuinely enjoys admiring beautiful paintings, Dordogne ups the ante by letting me creatively interact with his beautiful art. Even better, it superimposes a largely entertaining story on top of it. As with Mimi and Nora’s relationship, there are a few hurdles to overcome, but good times await those who are willing to overcome them.