Exploring Salomé
Tale of Tale’s next release after their most ambitious project yet (The Path), Fatale took the team in a completely different direction (although akin to their first project, The Graveyard). So, in Fatale you’re invited to delve in the story of Salomé, one of the stories of the Bible but, in this case, following Oscar Wilde’s adaptation, “Tragedy in One Act”. The game is, however, divided in three: first off you’ll play as John the Baptist in the dungeon, then you’ll hover over the courtyard, and in the epilogue you’ll be Herod Antipas, the tetrach of Judaea. All of these are sort of in “first-person” view. The courtyard hovering is the real meat of this “game” though, as the other bits don’t even require you to do anything.
The “gameplay” consists in hovering over the courtyard where Salomé rests in contemplation. You should zoom in on sources of light (various lamps scattered around) and just try to put them out with a sort of darkness that you control while you’re zoomed in (the process of zooming in is quite cryptical, I haven’t yet understood what they meant by it). As this is a very passive and visual game, these zoomed up views gather the content of the game. This makes it quite free to interpretation (as seems to be the main thing about Tale of Tales, and I guess one of the things that sets them apart as artists rather than gamemakers). As the actions you can take are quite limited (hover, zoom, put out candles) you’re instead invited to take in, absorb, what you’re seeing. The game is quite small if rushed (40minutes?) but I found myself pacing just wondering why they chose particular angles on the zoomed bits, the way things were arranged, like you were analyzing pictures, although not as a game element (like so many adventure games make), but for your enjoyment, to interpret and figure out what it was exactly they were trying to express, without it depending on your “game progress” (truth be told, there would be no right “answers”).
Apart from the candles, there are 7 coloured veils twirling about and just some things you wouldn’t expect to see, like a guitar and amplifier, a matchbox with Salomé written on it, or an iPod strapped to Salomé’s thigh.
The game’s graphics and music are quite a delight and show just how close independent and mainstream games can get in those departments. Lighting is exceptional, character design (by famed Silent Hill designer Takayoshi Sato) is intriguing and it’s just overall quite an experience to just stop, hear the music, see the contrasts, the fluttering veils… quite an artwork.
As for the story, I must admit that, as a semi-heathen, I wasn’t familiar with it when I played Fatale for the first time. So it was even more cryptical than ever, albeit slightly fascinating. As I read the play afterward (it’s quite a short play) and got the gist of the Bible story (somewhere in St. Mark’s gospel), a lot of things started to make more sense and it just struck me that the way they transposed a play into interactive media was amazing. Lines from the text pop up here and there, but it’s the way the atmosphere was captured (a hot summer night, gradually turning into dawn), the connection between the Moon and Salomé, the facial expressions, the way it all wrapped up in the end… It made me wonder how this method could be applied to other literary works (why not something more ambitious like Don Quijote or Walden?); extracting feelings and ideas like movie adaptations can’t seem to.
The “gameplay” consists in hovering over the courtyard where Salomé rests in contemplation. You should zoom in on sources of light (various lamps scattered around) and just try to put them out with a sort of darkness that you control while you’re zoomed in (the process of zooming in is quite cryptical, I haven’t yet understood what they meant by it). As this is a very passive and visual game, these zoomed up views gather the content of the game. This makes it quite free to interpretation (as seems to be the main thing about Tale of Tales, and I guess one of the things that sets them apart as artists rather than gamemakers). As the actions you can take are quite limited (hover, zoom, put out candles) you’re instead invited to take in, absorb, what you’re seeing. The game is quite small if rushed (40minutes?) but I found myself pacing just wondering why they chose particular angles on the zoomed bits, the way things were arranged, like you were analyzing pictures, although not as a game element (like so many adventure games make), but for your enjoyment, to interpret and figure out what it was exactly they were trying to express, without it depending on your “game progress” (truth be told, there would be no right “answers”).
Apart from the candles, there are 7 coloured veils twirling about and just some things you wouldn’t expect to see, like a guitar and amplifier, a matchbox with Salomé written on it, or an iPod strapped to Salomé’s thigh.
The game’s graphics and music are quite a delight and show just how close independent and mainstream games can get in those departments. Lighting is exceptional, character design (by famed Silent Hill designer Takayoshi Sato) is intriguing and it’s just overall quite an experience to just stop, hear the music, see the contrasts, the fluttering veils… quite an artwork.
As for the story, I must admit that, as a semi-heathen, I wasn’t familiar with it when I played Fatale for the first time. So it was even more cryptical than ever, albeit slightly fascinating. As I read the play afterward (it’s quite a short play) and got the gist of the Bible story (somewhere in St. Mark’s gospel), a lot of things started to make more sense and it just struck me that the way they transposed a play into interactive media was amazing. Lines from the text pop up here and there, but it’s the way the atmosphere was captured (a hot summer night, gradually turning into dawn), the connection between the Moon and Salomé, the facial expressions, the way it all wrapped up in the end… It made me wonder how this method could be applied to other literary works (why not something more ambitious like Don Quijote or Walden?); extracting feelings and ideas like movie adaptations can’t seem to.
In the end it’s a very interesting piece that I guess should be enjoyed with a basic knowledge of the story. It’s an experience that does strike a chord, and is just quite different from anything else ever done. Worth it if you’re fans of Wilde, Tale of Tales, Sato or just looking for something out of this world. I can’t wait to see what they deliver next.
Fatale is a contestant for the Independent Games Festival 2010 awards.
Fatale is a contestant for the Independent Games Festival 2010 awards.
Originally published December 7, 2009.
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