Game Review: Florence

Florence is a video game experience I can confidently say I’ve never had up until now. I think this is one of the main reasons for why I love indie games; they simply deliver experiences you never imagined having. While most can be small in scope, the ambition and creativity behind them help to add so much weight and memorability behind their impact. Florence is a key reflection of that impact and I highly recommend anyone looking for new and interesting experiences to go out there and play it. 

Florence is an interactive narrative video game developed by a Melbourne based studio called Mountains and published by Annapurna Interactive.  Originally releasing on mobile devices back in 2018, the game was later ported to PC and Switch in 2020. It’s main selling point is it utilises a graphic novel style design to illustrate the beats of this very personal story while incorporating fun gameplay segments to keep the player engaged. It’s short in length, but the quality of what’s here is well worth exploring. 

Florence Yeoh is a 25-year-old woman living out a pretty mundane life with little to no excitement or passion. Her life is structured in monotonous routine and she finds herself longing for something more than what she currently has. One day when walking down the street she hears music being played from a cello player called Krish.  An ambitious musician from a middle-eastern family, Krish has hopes of taking his musical aspirations to far greater heights by going to college. With both seemingly aspiring for more in their lives, Florence and Krish form an instant connection and the game then follows their relationship through all its ups and downs. 

I really dug the entirety of this narrative. I’m a big sucker for romance stories in any format just because I look at the concept of love and connection with so much optimism in my own life. Seeing the way this game’s story tackles a lot of real-life concepts like longing for more and seeking connections with others felt very endearing to experience.  Florence and Krish’s relationship is anything but predictable too which is another choice I fully appreciate. Romance stories tend to stray away from realism when they don’t often confront the common messy elements of any relationship. Being in love doesn’t mean your relationship is perfect and without fault, it’s a natural element of any couple’s life that arguments will form and problems will arise; what matters is how you deal with them together. The game’s narrative explores all these concepts and more in such a fantastic way that I really cannot understate how impressed I was. Even the ending which I appreciate may upset a lot of people, I really came to respect for just how determined it was to send a strong and realistic message about how life can end up turning out.  What also stood out to me about the format of this story was how little it relied on dialogue. It’s a visual novel in all the best ways because it uses the illustrations and gameplay beats as a means of expressing the tone and intent of the scene and gives the player more room to interpret what may be going on. 

The gameplay element of Florence is a commendable aspect of the game too. As you scroll through Florence’s life the game will present you with numerous segments in which you must interact with the scene to progress. It can be ordinary stuff like helping Florence brush her teeth, do work or clean up her desk. It can also be more complex stuff like piecing together what Florence says in response to people when she feels lost with what to say or trying to keep together a drifting image which doesn’t want to stay together. The game is filled to the brim with interactive elements which keep you constantly engaged and what I appreciate is they all feel relevant to the tone and purpose of the scene they are in.  It’s nothing overly complex or demanding but I feel its just enough interaction to help give the player a sense of presence in the game and help keep its momentum going. 

As far as design goes, this has to be my favourite element of the game; both on an audio and visual level. Kevin Penkin is the credited composer of this game and I cannot praise enough him and his musical team’s contribution towards this game. I honestly feel without the music being produced; this game would not be nearly as impactful. Kevin and his team use a collection of traditional musical instruments to help influence the theme of this game. With Florence’s segments being piano-based and Krish’s segments being cello-based. These two instruments have such an asynchronous relationship in real life but because they are both being used to portray these two people forming their own relationship, it helps to individualise them as well as meld them together. It’s a fantastic way to further the tone and narrative of the game and Penkin and his team should be extremely proud of the beautiful score they composed for this game; it will definitely be going on my Spotify routine from now on.  On a visual end I also adore the art style of this game so much. This game feels like a graphic novel come to life, with a smart use of colour and style which also furthers the narrative on top of everything else. This art design is absolutely gorgeous and I found myself mesmerised by its simplistic charm so much as the game progresses. It’s a clear reflection of the quality behind this game when it uses every single asset as it’s disposal to further the one core goal of its narrative.

Florence is a game I will be recommending to anyone and everyone going forward. I think the core appeal of this game is likely to be appreciated from all types of audiences. It strikes me that Ken Wong set out to design this game which could exist outside a requirement for violence. To use the medium to explore stories which are relevant to who we are the lives we live. That sole purpose is layered throughout the entirety of this game and I think he and his team achieved something truly special in this game. Florence deserves to be played by as many people and I hope to experience more games similar to this going forward.