Developer: Artifex Mundi
Publisher: Artifex Mundi
Platform: PC, Mac, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love (Switch) – Review
United forever in friendship and labor, our mighty republics will ever endure. The Great Soviet Union will live through the ages, the dream of a people, their fortress secure. It remains a mystery and if the first few lines of the anthem give you a proud feeling, then you are real Russian comrade. With these feelings, Evan starts his adventure to the glorious communistic Matryoshka, solving many puzzles along the way and trying to save the glorious leader.
Story
Like in several games and series, we’ll start at the ending, where something ‘epic’ is taking place, which will raise many questions as you do not know what is going on. Soon after we get taken back at where it all began, and we see the protagonist, Evan, giving a speech about the positive aspects of communism, which isn’t that appreciated by his American audience. Just like in the real 1950s America, the audience will boo the filthy commie off the stage. It seems that his speech has reached the right people though, as soon he finds himself invited to Matryoshka by the beautiful Anna.
This all seems very strange. Why would they pick silly old Evan? However, this will get clearer towards the end. As the American isn’t too bright, many of his encounters and missions will result in funny and comical situations. Overall, the story flow is amazingly perfect, the game has you held hostage in your seat as you can’t just stop and you want to keep playing and save the leader of Matryoshka. Luckily (or sadly), the game isn’t that long, so you can complete it in one sitting if you want.
Graphics
Irony Curtain uses a lovely blend of hand-drawn images and 3D renderings. Most characters and levels are static items like a comic book with nice animations but your main character is fully 3D. The difference is small but noticeable and makes it nicely stand out. The game’s setting is also your stereotypical 1950s cold war where everything seems correct with a few modern quirks. Playing the game is fun and the overall clearness of the interface will allow gameplay to go very smoothly.
Sound
Something immediately noticeable is the pitch-perfect voice-acting. In the beginning, there is a strong Russian accent, which later sadly gets more localized to American stereotypes (typical southern accent for farmers, etc). The soundtrack is powerful and is correct as it should be. Things might sound simple, but this enforces the simplistic feeling that is often associated with the Soviet Union as it was back in the days.
Gameplay
Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love is a point-and-click adventure puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of Evan Kovolsky, a person that admires Matryoshka and wants to spread the ideology of communism in his home town of New Pork. Of course, the idea is not welcomed and you get kicked off the stage during your speech about the subject. This marks the start of the whole adventure to Matryoshka, to save the glorious leader from the hands of the traitors. Right off the bat you notice that this game strongly emphasizes puzzles, almost every interaction is a riddle on its own and thanks to the many obstacles available, you will be solving these all day. Don’t worry though, as the puzzles are all quite straightforward or only need a quick think. If you are stuck, you will be quickly hinted by the game. This means that even less fanatic puzzler or younger folks can enjoy the story of Matryoshka. Objectives range from brain teasers to action mini-games that require speed but still don’t really have a time limit so there’s hardly any stress or pressure involved. While interacting with the many people of the glorious country, you will have many speech options to choose from. Even certain conversations are puzzles on their own, but even when choosing the wrong options you can get rewarded with comical situations.
Irony Curtain controls very well for a point-and-click title, even on console. Movement is direct and you can either interact with close items or switch over to a cursor to use anything in the world. The HUD is open to work with and you don’t have an annoying inventory screen that pauses the game, you need to hold down a button to show an inventory drawer in the top part of the screen. While navigating through that part it might get a bit tricky since you need to keep holding down the button, and if your controller is a bit finicky it can cause some frustration.
Conclusion
The game might be a bit short as you could run through the whole title in only an afternoon of playing. Yet it makes up for this with a beautiful story in an amazingly well-crafted world that is fully voice-acted from start to finish. The many puzzles that are all very different and keep the gameplay interesting, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to clear the game. Even if you get stuck, the game will nudge a hint right your way. The music is periodically correct just like its cold war era visuals. Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love is that game that due to its fun nature, will be a good title for your library, not only you can enjoy it but everyone you know. Try doing a speed run or having a challenge while you’re at it, the game’s shortness should not be a reason to not get this title, as you can easily replay it and have fun a second or third time.
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