What we are talking about today is quite an adventure particolare: we are not faced with a long and demanding production, much less faced with something bland and conceptually banal. Monorail Stories, which we cover in review, is one short narrative experience (nicely defined "casual" by the developers) set on a monorail, which will see us interact with the passengers, listen to their stories, and in the meantime proceed with an interesting plot that binds the fate of two protagonists. Teaming up with Freedom Games upon publication, the well-known team of Stelex Software, who after delighting us with a much longer-lived and playfully demanding adventure (Eselmir and the Five Magic Gifts, here you can find our review) decided to share with us a completely new type of experience, which it has people as its focal point.
The suspended straight line
In Monorail Stories we will get to know closely two characters, who travel from one city to another as commuters using the long monorail that connects them. These are the cities of L. and M., similar and different at the same time. Situation e Silvie they are those we will control, two very particular protagonists who nevertheless they don't know each other, and traveling with reverse journeys and different times they will never meet ... however, it is the little things that make the stories big, and they will inevitably end up influence each other's life with their own actions.
Our fate can be decided not only by what we do, but also how we will treat others (a maxim to be learned even outside the game ed). In fact, inside the monorail there will always be other people, some we will meet with one of the two, some we will meet with both protagonists.
Needless to say, the way we will weave our web, between dialogues and different actions, will have impact on the continuation of the story. If we respond badly to a passenger, he will remember it, just as he will remember if you help him with something, but is being ethically correct always the most rational choice? You will find out for yourself.
We have already said that the experience is very short: it is in fact five working days, from Monday to Friday, in which we will alternate control of Silvie and Ahmal between morning and evening, and during the trip we will decide what to do, whether to talk to everyone present, whether to dedicate ourselves directly to our current objective, and above all how to do it. Every action and dialogue will have consequences, and gradually a tree of possible implications and, especially, final that we will be able to obtain. Some of these are even linked to secondary characters.
Clearly dialogues and newspapers they also hide something else: talking and reading will make you discover more and more about the lore of the two cities, on what is happening outside the monorail, and will give you a perfect background that you will need to assimilate and embrace to fully understand certain dynamics, in addition to the implications of the plot.
Divided, together
Certainly one of the nicest things about Monorail Stories lies in its component multiplayer. In fact, in addition to the classic mode where we will live the story of Silvie and Ahmal all in one breath, we will be able to play with a friend online, who will make his choices in a way that is unrelated to you, guiding one of the two protagonists. You will not know what happened to the other, so you will actually be simulating what would happen in reality (a bit like in the titles of the Dark Pictures Anthology). And while you wait? Have fun with a minigame, which we will not spoil because it is linked to one of the characters in the plot. Additionally, for those who would like to bring Monorail Stories live, there is a Twitch Mode to play alongside the public.
Next stop: accessibility
One of the most important and modern aspects of Monorail Stories is undoubtedly its being suitable for an incredibly wide range of players: you want for the simplicity mechanics and controls, you want for the squisita pixel art used, you want for localization also in Spanish texts, gameplay and time will flow lightly. Monorail Stories, as we have pointed out several times in the course of this review, is therefore an accessible game and that puts people and their stories first, people as such, without ever naming diversity of culture or ethnicity, a veiled but significant equality message.
At irregular intervals, it was revealed to us by the development team, they will be released new seasons free of charge, seasons that will have a new character from them, but always linked to the main story of Ahmal and Silvie. Again we will learn even more about the lore, the secondary characters and the fascinating game world.
Review- Monorail Stories (Tested on PC) 8 Final grade
Despite its brevity, and despite leaving us with a positive hunger to want to know even more, Monorail Stories is a genuine jewel, an adventure suitable for all players and that thrills to be replayed several times to discover the various implications and various combinations. The really great thing is the hidden message within the game, which doesn't stop simply at the curiosity and depth of the stories that can hide the lives of commuters, but goes further, perhaps without even realizing it. We look forward to the new seasons, which will enrich the game with more details, stories, and of course hours of gameplay (which it actually needs).
