The Fidelio Incident is out now for Windows via Steam for £11/$15/15€, although currently enjoys a 34% discount. Tagged with Act 3 Games, feature, review, wot i think, The Fidelio Incident. If you click our links to online stores and make a purchase we may receive a few pennies. The Fidelio Incident is a single-player, first-person thriller set off the coast of Iceland. After a violent plane crash, Stanley must search a desolate frozen island in search of his wife Leonore while covering up any traces of their bloody Irish past. Rescue help is on the way.
Stanley and his wife Leonore have an unfortunate aviation mishap and we find ourselves in Stanley's shoes amidst the burning wreckage of a plane in the cold, deadly and beautiful wilderness of a fictionalised Iceland. At face value the story of the game is simple: find Leonore.
However, at the core of the game lies an attempt at telling a deeper story through a study of Stanley's past and his ultimate redemption.Gameplay is simple and to the point. You need to walk towards a nearby mountain where Stanley's wife is trapped, pick up journal entries narrated by Leonore that fill us in on our protagonist's backstory, accumulate sparse items such as a flashlight, keycards, icepicks and valve handles to aid us through gated sections, all while trying to survive the harsh elements by sprinting between burning wreckages or open geysers.The game has very light puzzle elements in the form of the aforementioned valve handles. Stanley needs to open and close valves in order for warm steam to melt a path, so he can move ever forward towards his trapped spouse.
The solutions are generally very obvious and serve only the purpose of foregoing the dreaded 'walking simulator' tag that's all too generously applied to games in this genre. Only once did we get slightly stuck with a combination lock and after finding the illogical solution Stanley himself commented: 'how the hell?' Throughout the game one will find several signs outlining the steps of hypothermia and, in the latter half of the experience, the game starts blurring the lines between delusion and reality as Stanley is confronted with some of the ghosts from his past, this because of his hypothermic state.And that's where the game, unfortunately, starts to fall apart. The reliance on the heavy backstory takes away from the immediacy of survival. The feeling of dread melts away because the game's struggles are, in the end, a metaphor for Stanley coming to terms with his past and his relationship with Leonore. One stops playing the game to see the happy couple reunited, and instead, you trudge forward between setpieces trying to piece together a story not directly related to the actual gameplay. It doesn't help that some of the puzzle elements feel less realistic and more fantastical than others, such as an impossibly localised hailstorm, or swathes of bugs that need to be cleared out with steam, in what otherwise felt like a realistic struggle for survival.
The game looks fantastic (as was to be expected what with the game being developed in Unreal Engine 3, and helmed by Ken Feldman, the art director of ) and takes place in a setting that borrows elements from some of the most iconic and beautiful scenery in the world. The audio design is, for the most part, exemplary, and another area where the game shines is the voice acting of the two characters, where actors Glenn Keogh and Bess Harrison breathe life into their lines, which really pulls you into the experience.Clocking in at around two hours, has a lot going for it in terms of uniqueness, aesthetics and story. Unfortunately, these strong elements don't quite manage to hold the momentum through until the end, and it gets a bit trapped between a narrative story and interesting albeit simple gameplay that doesn't quite fit together.
Editors Liked
Intriguing narrative based on an underutilized period of modern history
Expert reviews and ratings
By GameSpot on 60
Still, The Fidelio Incident being nice to look at and listen to doesn't necessarily make it interesting to play. The haunting, frozen vistas and enthralling backstory constantly trip over uninspired gameplay. Though there’s a measure of forgiveness to be had considering the length of the experience, even that concession is fragile in light of the obvious disparity that exists in the quality of the narrative and the gameplay that's forced upon it.
By New Game Network on 77
The Fidelio Incident is a solid exploration adventure that's elevated by an interesting premise, engaging story and great voice...
By Polygon on 65
The Fidelio Incident makes an admirable attempt to approach a difficult subject from a unique angle. But it fails to capture the emotional subtlety or artful storytelling that games like Gone Home, Firewatch and Virginia have demonstrated within the same kind of framework.
By GameInformer on 65
The characters, their stories, and world they inhabit are divorced in a way that doesn’t make The Fidelio Incident a rewarding journey. When complete, I could look back on the story and appreciate it. But the two hours it took me to finish the game and gather the narrative components made me doubt it was worth the effort.
By PC Gamer on 67
The Fidelio IncidentAn interesting story with some beautiful scenery, but let down by half-hearted puzzling and some derivative story beats.See commentsLoad...
By geeksandcom.com on 85
The Fidelio Incident est sans aucun doute une excellente entrée en matière pour le studio Act 3 Games qui propose son tout premier projet. Malgré sa courte durée de vie et son concept peu original, Ken Feldman et son équipe réussissent à nous plonger...
By nrsgamers.it on 70
Per quanto ci siano molti videogame che parlano di tematiche attuali come il terrorismo, pochissimi affrontano l'IRA irlandese. Forse è lo stesso motivo per cui non si tocca l'estremismo islamico, magari sono argomenti troppo spinosi. In qualche modo la...