An FMV game developed during the lockdown, whilst Night Book is presented well and has a fun setup, the inherent limitations of lockdown mean that it feels slightly handicapped throughout and too many choices result in similar scenarios, reducing the enjoyment of multiple playthroughs.
A cast of characters headed up by Julie Dray and Mark Wingett - and also featuring Colin Salmon in a supporting role – the bulk of the action takes place in Loralyn’s (Julie Dray) apartment as she works the night shift, interpreting calls from French to English and vice versa for one of two selectable pairs of clients, the first major choice that branches the story off in two distinct directions.
Her mentally ill father (Mark Wingett) is living with her in a spare bedroom as her husband works away, trying to seal a deal in building a resort on an island…the very island that has had ‘issues’ with Kannar in the past…
As with Wales Interactive’s previous releases, the presentation and visual clarity is top-notch and the majority of the performances are great with the weaker spots coming more from a clunky script and lack of chemistry - and even basic empathy, in one case - between characters – possibly due to the remote style of working that the lockdown forced upon the project.
Each run-through of the game will take somewhere between thirty to forty-five minutes and there are fifteen endings to reveal if you want to see everything. I played through twice, and even though I was making pretty much opposite decisions the second time, I didn’t feel like the variety was there to warrant a third run – as it appears the main split comes from choosing which pair of clients to assist early on in the game.
Being an FMV game, the gameplay comes from making choices and – again, due to lockdown – it was apparent that, as the actors couldn’t leave their immediate vicinity, there’s no real variety in locations etc. so the focus is really on the small cast in keeping things interesting.
Night Book seems well-priced for what it delivers, which is a gently spooky couple of hours of cheesy fun but it really does feel limited by the situation in which it was developed.
That said, it is a cool experiment that will probably seem even more stilted to players who come at it when lockdown is a distant memory.
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