Developer: Neckbolt
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platform: PC
Belladonna – Review
Belladonna is a dark and twisted point and click adventure game developed by Neckbolt and published by Black Shell Media. Inspired by Mary Shelly’ novel Frankenstein, the game features a macabre narrative that includes unraveling the mystery that is your death and reanimation, in combination with a far from romantic and bizarre love triangle that doesn’t shy away from same-sex romance.
Story
Clearly inspired by Mary Shelly and her infamous gothic novel Frankenstein, the player takes the role of a young woman whose corpse has been reanimated. With each step she takes, the protagonist questions her whereabouts as well as the reasons for her reanimation.
The story unravels at a quick pace as you’ll pick up lengthy letters, which you will need to read if you are to find out the full story. The plot thickens as you are somewhat forced to reveal the nature of your own death, as well as the murder of another. In the meantime, secrets of a bizarre love triangle that tackle a same-sex romance are being revealed.
Graphics
Visually, Belladonna is absolutely brilliant. The stunning art style is something that will pique anyone’s interest almost immediately. A dark atmosphere looms over the general game, which is on par with the macabre concept of reanimation. Each room shares that atmosphere while using colors more suitable for the intent of the room itself, whether it should feel cold or warm.
Sound
The sound design is mediocre at best and could’ve been far better. Belladonna does offer voice-overs but the voice of the protagonist sounds like a child, or at least a teenager, while the other voices sound incredibly strong and “old” compared to her. Voice-overs are included in the animated cinematic but the lip synching is absolutely terrible. Furthermore, a large part of the storyline is told through lengthy letters which have not been voiced-over, forcing the player to read the often hard-to-read fonts.
Gameplay
First things first, the game offers no options whatsoever. This is a notable lack as one would like subtitles, while others wouldn’t and the sound is often too loud for most games. The second notable lack is a form of tutorial, or even a decent intro. Of course, it is a point ‘n click game which means that the basics should be the same as others and the game does feature an macabre intro but it feels uncalled for. That being said, I figured out – randomly may I add – that you can pause the game with the spacebar.
As a point ‘n click adventure game, one of the key features is the inventory where the protagonist stores items that may be of use later. This inventory is a simple bar at the bottom left of your screen, which you can reveal or hide. Again, this isn’t explained but it’s one of those features you know the game should have. There is also a book icon but the use of it will be unclear until you start gathering the letters that are scattered across the rooms.
Gameplay wise Belladonna is fine but far from perfect. In fact, it is mediocre at best. The puzzles are far too simplistic and barely interactive. Many of the puzzles feel like a memory-game as you are most likely to remember where to get a specific item from, or what to do with it. It simply lacks the brain cracking difficulty. This makes the game feel less of an adventurous point and click game and more of an interactive, animated visual story. Either way, the art style is incredible.
The difficulty of the game is far from steep thus the learning curve is nearly flat lined. However, this causes seasoned players to finish the game in less than an hour which means that the game has a steep price especially since Belladonna is a full released game. That being said, having a glitch that everyone stumbles upon is simply not good. Upon starting the game, you are given the option to continue your game, or create a new game but you will never be able to actually click continue. Starting a new game will force the intro upon you but you’ll begin where you stopped. Since the game is short, you shouldn’t notice this glitch but when you try to take a screenshot, the game forced you back to the menu which means it is highly notable.
Conclusion
The reanimated “Frankenstein” concept of Belladonna with a mixture of a bizarre love triangle and same-sex romance is great and shows great potential. However the length of the game is far too short and ended too abruptly. The amount of gameplay and narrative the game has so far would be a great introduction to the narrative as a “what-happened-before” while exploring the rise of the reanimated forces but the developer didn’t explore this area.
Although the game was enjoyable and has a unique visual art style, much if it remains unexplored. The puzzles were lacking hardship and the voice-overs felt unfitting. The atmosphere remained great, from start to end but allowing the player to solve a problem in different ways would have been a nice feature because honestly, I was forced to kill a cat.
Belladonna - Review,
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