| the marionette | |
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 ' | |
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Developers |
TeamEffigy |
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Released |
2009 |
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Genre |
Point and Click Adventure |
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Modes |
Single Player |
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Platforms |
Windows |
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Input |
Mouse |
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Website |
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"the marionette" is an award-winning horror adventure game by TeamEffigy.
It was released on November 10th, 2009 after being in development for several years. Created on the Adventure Game Studio engine, "the marionette" follows a classic point-and-click playstyle similar to that of older adventure games like "Monkey Island".
Gameplay[]
You play a struggling sculptor named Martin, who is drawn into a strange world where he tries to both escape and understand why he was brought there. Along the way he must relive events from the life of someone he once knew to unravel the mystery.
The game controls like a first person point and click adventure game, where the mouse can be used to look at or interact with items or people in the room.
Awards[]
The game won four of the 2009 AGS awards for the following:
- Best Original Story
- Best Background Art
- Best Music
- Best Tutorial or Documentation
- Nominated, Best Game Created with AGS 2009
- Nominated, Best Dialogue Writing 2009
- Nominated, Best Player Character 2009
The game won "Best of Casual Gameplay 2009: Freeware Adventure" on JayIsGames.com.
Reviews and Articles[]
PCZone's Full-Page Review of "the marionette" (Febuary 2010 Issue)
Magazines/Print:
"If there's an intriguing or good quality adventure out there in Freeware land, it's very likely that it'll end up as the lead piece in this section. The Marionette is both of these things, a solidly made adventure with an intriguingly developed story. [...] [A]s far as spooky point-and-clicks go, this puts some of the commercial releases we've seen in recent years to shame, perhaps just because genuine care and attention has been put into the project. This has been a labour of love for a while now. [...] Adventure fans would be mad not to give it a go."
PCZone(UK) - Febuary, 2010 Issue
Included in the book "250 Indie Games You Must Play" By Mike Rose; 2011
Internet/Online:
"The Marionette is built in the icon-driven, point-and-click fashion of adventure games’ heyday in the late ’80s and ’90s. Those games were beloved for their environmental puzzles and storytelling, and The Marionette is certainly a worthy heir."
"The successful mix of artwork and music in creating a dreamlike atmosphere, plus the integration of logical puzzles that propel the story forward rather than stopping the action, all contribute to making The Marionette an enjoyable game, and one that’s free of charge for good measure."
Adventure Gamers - 4/5
"It has everything. Snappy dialogue, a foreshadowing of events, an intriguing storyline, a divisive subplot and strong characterization, all mixed with a small measure of verbal irony. For heaven’s sake, it even dabbles with symbolism – showing one thing, meaning another. When did you last see anything like that in an AGS freeware game?"
Adventure Lantern - 4.5/5
"A solid gothic adventure game in the tradition of Phantasmagoria, The Marionette weaves an interesting if not wholly unpredictable mystery around a captured sculptor, who must play by his host's rules if he is to discover the truth. The relatively straightforward puzzles contribute to a rather short adventure, though with multiple endings and cutscenes there is enough content to keep you interested."
AGS.com - 3/5
"Despite the aged feel to the mechanics, this is still a pretty gripping experience. [...] You will really want to find out what's going on, and who the elusive and threatening 'Alice´really is."
Softonic - 7/10
"I am not exaggerating when I say that I love the plot of this game. [...] The distance the player has from the characters also makes the big reveal of what Martin did all the more surprising, not from how shocking and horrifying it is but rather how mundane it is."
Credits[]
- Story, art and scripting - Auriond
- Scripting - Cristina Nicolae, Gabriel Nicolae
- Additional scripting - Gijs Dekker, James "Dualnames" Spanos
- Game design - Auriond, Taunia Sabanski
- Music - Kieran
- Sound advisor - Nikolas Sideris
- Additional art - Taunia Sabanski
- Pre-shipment Inspector - Sebastian Pfaller, James "Dualnames" Spanos
Trivia[]
- "the marionette" took over five years to create.
- All of the art is painted by hand.
- The soundtrack of the game is completely original. It was created by Auriond's brother, Kieran Wong.
- The only piece of music not produced by Kieran Wong is a song by Justin King called "Cue the Music". The song was used with his personal permission.
- There are four endings. TeamEffigy has never revealed which is the "true" ending.