Florence

Genre: Interactive Story

Players: 1

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Review:

Florence is a game… probably. I mean, there is gameplay in it, although you can’t really lose and the gameplay isn’t the point. Okay, let me start over again… Florence is an Interactive Story, that combines elements of music, animation, and gameplay to tell a story about a young woman’s relationship.

In terms of presentation, Florence is simply beautiful, and much of this is thanks to its amazing acoustic score that really helps to punctuate the emotion of the story being told, although the lovely hand-drawn animation also deserves some credit here. Everything being presented is simple, but in a way that absolutely works for the abstract nature of the story being told.

The gameplay in Florence is completely in service to that story, and in many ways this is more like an interactive comic than a game, shifting from scene to scene, with players having minimal interaction with the game to emphasize what’s going on in that point of the story. There’s no challenge here, and I wouldn’t describe the gameplay as “fun” – it’s more of a function of storytelling than fun, really.

This… may put off a lot of gamers expecting, you know, a game, but I have to give the game credit for using gameplay in creative ways to push the story, such as how players put together puzzle pieces to literally piece together the words of Florence’s conversations, a gameplay element that evolves as the story goes on. It bears mention that this gameplay works perfectly well both in docked mode with a controller, as well as using a touchscreen.

As for the story itself, it is beautifully-told, elegant, and extremely relatable. I suspect most young adults will find something in Florence’s story to relate to. Having said that, it doesn’t really find any particularly deep insights here, either. This is a story we’ve seen countless times both in our own lives and in various media, and while the way this story is being told is unique and refreshing, the story itself is disappointingly mundane.

It also bears mention that this game is extraordinarily short, easily completed in under an hour, if that. And while I don’t need every game I play to be long, I have to admit that upon finishing Florence, I was overwhelmed with a general feeling of “just what was the point of that?”. There were some good emotional beats along the way, but there was no moment that I felt like the story truly hit me on a deep, resonant level. And while the experience was overall pleasant, I can’t say it was pleasant enough to justify the game’s $6 price tag.

I absolutely love the way that Florence goes about telling its story, even if as a game it’s somewhat lacking, but in the end my biggest problem with Florence is that the story it chooses to tell doesn’t seem to go anywhere that I haven’t been countless times before. I wish there were more to this experience, and I wish it explored the emotions it brings up more deeply. As a concept piece, Florence is fantastic, but as a completed work, it just left me wanting more, and not in a good way.

tl;dr – Florence is an Interactive Story that uses gameplay as a storytelling device along with its animation and music. The presentation here is wonderful, in particular its beautiful soundtrack, but the game is very short and its story doesn’t seem to have anything particularly new or profound to say. It’s still pleasant while it lasts, but not anything you’re likely to be thinking much about after the hour it takes to finish it.

Grade: C+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Overrated

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