Broken Pieces is in some ways a hard game for me to review because I basically think it's a 1 or a 2 in some areas and a 4 or a 5 in others. It's really not very average at almost anything it does, which is a very different experience for me. But hey, that does make it easy to say that these things in combination make it in the middle for me.

Also, here's one of my favorite songs from the game, feel free to give it a listen while you read!

Explaining the premise of Broken Pieces is somewhat difficult. If you asked me to liken it to other titles, I'd say that it has gameplay similar to a simplified Parasite Eve with the vibes, but not the drama, of Life is Strange. I think this is a pretty interesting idea and conceptually, I think the game has some really great ideas. You play as a woman named Elise who is living in the otherworldly Saint-Exil, a quaint town on the French coast once inhabited by a strange cult. Following some kind of paranormal calamity, the town has become deserted of other people who are replaced by shadowy monsters that appear in the streets, making night time too dangerous to even risk. Further, the town itself is warped and in the distance you can see massive pillars of water. Your goal is to uncover some of the mysteries of this bizarre setting while experiencing the grief and loneliness Elise feels in her isolation, especially missing her significant other, a musician named Pierre.

I think this premise is actually super promising. There's so much intriguing mystery and wonder with the setup described above that it's easy to want to dive in and the emotional beats are all there. But while the game does express some of Elise's loneliness quite well, most of the story, when it's not hard to follow, just feels like it opens up more mystery than it resolves. The exploration of the town is rather pretty and there is a lot to it, with some solid puzzles and a good number of environments to sight-see. However, it ultimately feels a little pointless in the context of the story and even by the end of the game I was left with only a "that's it?" I get the feeling the ending was rushed to meet deadlines as it didn't feel like much of a resolution. Further, I really liked the exploration of some of Elise's mourning and reflection on her past relationship, but unfortunately she feels rather bland in a game with only one on-screen character.

The gameplay is where the game falls apart most. Combat feels very jank and repetitive. There are very few enemy types and the few times combat is spiced up, I mostly found it more annoying as the flaws in the jank became more apparent and got in my way of enjoying the game. At the very beginning I thought it was fine. It was very simple, but it was kind of nice having such a basic parallel to an old gem like Parasite Eve, even if it was dumbed down. But it didn't take long before it got very old and I groaned when an encounter would pop up. It could've used a lot more fine-tuning and quality-of-life improvements and...okay, the list could go on a while; it could've used a lot of work.

My favorite part of the game was definitely the vibes. One of the neatest features of the game is that Elise has a cassette player that you can turn on at any time while roaming around. Some of these tapes are the usual audio logs that appear in a lot of games, but you gradually unlock several recordings of Pierre's music. You can roam around listening to the fairly empty ambience of the deserted town, but I found myself constantly turning on one of these really nice acoustic indie tracks as they fit exploring the pretty French town quite nicely. There's an additional layer to this in that Elise's listening to these tapes is one way of holding on to what she has left of her lover. The music itself is also really nice and has a decent variety, though I wouldn't have minded an extra song or two just given the length of the game. A lot of this wandering around peacefully reminded me of those moments in the Life is Strange games where after some scene, you're able to just chill out and listen to some relaxing indie tune or another while the camera pans around the scene, allowing you to sit and enjoy your time there until you're ready to move on. I didn't enjoy a lot about the game, but it was a very cozy experience that I found really comforting during the fairly stressful time when I played it.

Despite the things I do like, I unfortunately don't feel I can really recommend Broken Pieces. I think it's a very impressive accomplishment for a team of only 5 people, but it just feels like despite having a great foundation in some ways, the game needed more work on the core mechanics and a tidier story. I think I would be willing to try another game by this team as a lot about it is rather unique and fun, but I'd probably recommend skipping this one if you're considering it.