Verne: The Shape of Fantasy

[h1]Not really a game[/h1] It's more of an interactive story book than a game, a 2D walking simulator, but in the simplest sense. Most of the levels are just long panoramas where you walk and trigger the dialogs and story. Sometimes you must go all the way to the left or the right of the platforms, to not miss the "hidden" collectibles (for achievements). There's a bit of gameism included, such as simple point-n-click puzzles, a couple stealth sequences that are more annoying than anything, and some easy puzzles (except the last puzzle that you'll need a walkthrough for). One of the levels is just a long back and forth through the labyrinthine nautilus hallways, with the pretext of dialogs with various crew members, very well modeled level, but extremely tedious to play. The game leaves the domain of fantasy to become a bit of a Jules Vernes documentary film, toward the end. The protagonist talks like a moronic wimp and his excessive use of french profanities is ridiculous. At the start of the game you'll notice the shifty publisher ("assemble") and the fact that the game's sponsor is a terrorrist organization (the european union). So this game has everything that should make m…

Considering the often prophetic and futuristic nature of Verne's work, there's a certain irony in the fact that this game is a throwback to old point-and-click adventures, complete with a nostalgia-inducing 2D art style and a similarly short playtime. It comes with an effective score and sound design that's a bit all over the place in terms of quality. The voice acting isn't always spot-on either, and the English subtitles could have used better quality control. While I still had a lot of fun with this game overall, it sometimes doesn't quite seem to know whether it wants to be about the grandiose fictional worlds Verne created or about the man himself, which leads to frequent exposition dumps, even well into the last act. Similarly, there's a funny disconnect between the very easy puzzles, which almost seem designed with kids in mind, and the plethora of profanities uttered by various characters throughout the story. Between this game and others inspired by or based on Verne's works (the great "80 Days" comes to mind), I'm left wondering once more whether there isn't potential for a gigantic AAA open-world title to rival other genre greats by connecting the dots of his oeuvre in a…

This game is incredible absolute must play

10/10 Glad I got to play this, reminds me of old point and click games.

This game is ok at best. I found the delivery of the story to be lackluster, the gameplay is mostly dull and somewhat halting; I only finished this because it's short. I like the art and the environment design of this game- there's some cool scenes & scenery, and really, I did play/continue for that.

[h2]This was my first Steam game and it was exactly the experience I needed with my favourite author and an art style of which I was sceptical but now truly enjoy. [/h2] The art style is mesmerizing, it very well suits games steampunk style and the antique mosaics were gorgeous! Story line is good, in my opinion it was quite intriguing and reflected on a deeper moral question [spoiler] about facing the cruel world or succumbing to ones own madness but in a lighter tone. [/spoiler] I enjoyed the historical facts from Jules Vernes life, though the best ones were little accents in the background capturing moments from his works. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience, game can be enjoyed by both Vern fans (if they don't mind an artistic interpretation on works of the author offering something new) and those who haven't read him, because the game also slowly introduces to who Jules Vern was.