Gemini Rue

Taking a break from Horror games, I figured I'd go back to another favorite genre of mine and I was lucky enough to have an old review saved in my computer. This was back when I used to get excited over a game and would want to express my feelings on paper about it. It's interesting to look back and see how changed my writing style or how unchanged it is. I'll post it here but today's review is about Gemini Rue, a cyberpunk adventure game that I happened to play for free long before it was released on platforms like steam. Nowadays you can find it there as well as on the Play Store for Android and iOS.

I’m sitting down right now writing this review about one of the best games I’ve played this year. Gemini Rue truly blew my mind with its story. I really didn’t expect to enjoy a point and click adventure game more than most of the RPGs I have played. It shows you how storytelling is very important when it comes to a good game. I’m a big fan of graphical adventure games and I knew that it was a great game from its storytelling. It was very innovative, as much as Machinarium was.

The reason I’m in love with this game is because of its story. You start out playing as a cop called Azriel in the year 2054 (Or was it 2052? Can’t remember). Azriel is looking for his brother, whom is held prisoner in outer space and no one knows the whereabouts of this prison. As you progress with the story, you switch between two characters. The story is filled with countless plot-twists and innovative storytelling that I rarely see in an adventure game. It reminded me of the good old days when I used to play The Broken Sword series. It was filled with a lot of mysteries just like Broken Sword, only it rarely has any comedy in it. The scenes are so gripping and they usually leave the player to wonder what’s going on behind the background of each character. I enjoyed Gemini Rue till the last second mainly because of the innovative storytelling and the many plot-twists set in a fictitious sci-fi universe. Gemini Rue also has a lot of themes that the writing will usually hint in that might bother some people mainly because they are a perspective or an opinion to a person. I’m surprised by the amount of independent developers that nowadays are creating better games than well-known companies.

The graphics are very deceiving to those that are used to next-generation graphics. I personally like it. It fits the atmosphere and the environment the main characters are in. It still threw me off when I found out about Gemini Rue. I was looking at its release date and I thought it was a mistake that I read it came out in 2011. As much as the graphics look old, it is still very accurate. You can’t see the character’s faces and expressions in the game itself, but during conversations you can see their faces through character portraits. These portraits are drawn well as much as the objects lying around you. You are able to see any item lying around the main character as accurately as possible. There are effects such as the rain, fog, or even smoke that you can clearly see and they do not distort the scenery at all. So really, I have no complaints towards the graphics. I should understand where this developer is coming from and how independent game developing is done in the simplest form, but that only means that such a game deserves more recognition in hopes of creating other projects like Gemini Rue.

The Gameplay in Gemini Rue is very different despite how it is a graphical point and click adventure game. It features a lot of options for the players to explore the environment around them. The main character has a communicator which can look up names in the database of the city Azriel explores. The player can call with it all the characters he has met throughout the story to ask them questions regarding the cases Azriel is working on. A different style of gameplay is introduced halfway through the game which I really wanted to see in earlier Adventure games like Broken Sword 2 for example. That style is combat… Yes, combat in a point and click Adventure game and the way it is done truly surprised me. The player can take cover behind objects, shoot multiple targets and even kill using headshots. It is true that it is done in a simplistic way, but I’ve always wanted to take on enemies face to face instead of plotting something behind them while they await their own demise. It’s more realistic that way and it can’t always be done. However, the way the idea was implemented was very fitting for the setting and the story of the game. The puzzles consist mostly of tracking down suspects but reaching to them in the first place requires the player to use different gadgets Azriel has and the methods the puzzles were solved in were realistic enough. You don’t need to mix scissors with super glue in order to use them both as a handle for a door missing a knob (I’m kidding, it’s just ridiculous the way some puzzles are solved in some Adventure games). You can also get other characters’ help in Gemini Rue such as getting a boost from someone or passing someone who is far away an essential item for solving a puzzle (I won’t give away too much to avoid spoilers). Gemini Rue had a very enjoyable style of gameplay and I wish to see more from this developer.

The voice acting was okay. It wasn’t effective as I had expected. At times, it is required of the characters to sound more emotional than they should be when all you hear is a normal conversation when they are in a dire situation. I remember there was a scene when one of the characters was almost going to die when all he could ask for was help as if he wanted someone to pass him a glass of water. I’m just saying that the voice acting could have been more impactful. On the other hand, all the sound effects were perfectly executed. The rain, the gunshots, and the wind sounded realistic enough for me and I wish they had better voice acting for the characters.

Gemini Rue is an Adventure game, and most Adventure games don’t offer great replayability value. I personally think it would be interesting to replay Gemini Rue to look at the characters from different angles after knowing who is behind what and knowing the true identity of each of the characters. There are no rewards nor are there any achievements in Gemini Rue, so it all comes down to the player if you want to replay it or not.

Gemini Rue’s developer is innovative and I like his writing style. I think this game deserves more attention and I hope through my review that I have given it at least some recognition. Truly a masterpiece of an Adventure game.