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An hour and a half ago I began playing a new video game; right now I'm trying to process the ending of the game. Wow! What a true gem of a game I found in “Serena,” which was designed by Agustin Cordes and developed by Senscape, an independent game developer based out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Serena” was released on January 30 2014 through the “Steam” game engine for Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu Linux. I actually found out about “Serena” after I saw it appear in my “Steam” library even though I hadn't purchased it. Many “Steam” users, including myself, had the game appear in our game library immediately following its release. It's a clever marketing design that “Steam” uses when it releases free new games so that players find out about them. After clicking on the “Serena” game link from my library and finding out that the game was free and it would only take 500MB of space in my hard drive, I immediately downloaded it. The description available on the “Steam” store page says that the game can be completed in an hour which made it even more appealing for me to want to play it.
Il y a une heure et demi, j'ai commencé à jouer un nouveau jeu vidéo; et maintenant je suis en train de finir la partie. Ouah ! Quelle vraie perle rare j'ai trouvée dans le jeu « Serena », qui a été conçu par Agustin Cordes et développé par Senscape, un développeur de jeux indépendant basé à Buenos Aires, en Argentine. « Serena » est sorti le 30 Janvier 2014 et le moteur de jeu « Steam » pour Windows, Mac OS X et Ubuntu Linux. En fait, j'ai découvert « Serena » après l'avoir vu apparaître dans ma bibliothèque « Steam », même sans l'avoir acheté. Beaucoup d'utilisateurs de « Steam », y compris moi-même, ont vu le jeu apparaitre dans leur bibliothèque de jeu immédiatement après sa sortie. C'est une conception de marketing intelligent que « Steam » utilise lors de la publication de nouveaux jeux gratuits afin que les joueurs puisse les découvrir.
Après avoir cliqué sur le lien du jeu « Serena » dans ma bibliothèque et découvert que le jeu était gratuit et qu'il ne prendrait que 500 Mo d'espace sur mon disque dur, je l'ai immédiatement téléchargé. La description disponible sur la page de la boutique « Steam » dit que le jeu peut être fini en une heure, ce qui m'a encore plus donné envie d'y jouer.
So tonight, after a long day of work, I sat down to play “Serena.” I began playing it and literally could not put it down. It's sort of reminiscent of “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” in that the main character has no memory of what has happened and must look around for clues. You play the game with a mouse and keyboard, but mostly with the mouse. As you point and click your way through your isolated cabin, clues begin to manifest. It may appear as if nothing's happening and the story is not progressing, but it is. The trick is to keep on clicking everything until each object begins to tell you the same things again and again; that's when you know it's time to move on to another object. Without giving away too much of the game, I'll clue you in on a little secret: if you press the spacebar on your keyboard, little blue circles appear on the items that are meant to be explored. Once you feel you've clicked on everything, go back to the dining table, which is where the game begins, and look at the picture again. If you've explored everything, then Serena's face should not be blurred out anymore. From here on, you must go back and check on things a second, third or fourth time until eventually you open things that originally couldn't be opened and before you know it the game drastically ends. By the time the game ends, your jaw should have dropped so low that you may need a surgical procedure to put it back where it belongs.
I may be going out on a limb, but here it goes anyway: “Serena” may be nothing more than a sort of mini-game teaser meant to promote the upcoming game “Asylum” which is also designed by Agustin Cordes and developed by Senscape. I base my theory on three things: “Serena” is a very short game that can be completed in less than an hour. Think of it as an appetizer meant to open your appetite before you're served the real deal. The game is free, thus allowing everyone access to it. It's a kind of sampler that you get while you wait for the main meal. There is a drawing found in one of the drawers that has the words “Waiting for Asylum” written on the back. This is the biggest clue of all. Regardless of whether “Serena” is an hour long advertisement for “Asylum” or not, it is a great game all by itself. You've got to play this game! It's free, so you've got nothing to lose except for time and when you've finished it, you won't regret the short time you spent (not wasted) on “Serena.”
Conclusion Pro's • The game is entertaining and short, which leaves you wanting more. • The music, when it's heard, sets the mood accordingly. • Clearly from the beginning, the game seeks to confuse the player, and it definitely accomplishes that task. • The quality of the dark, eerie, dimly-lit artwork and graphics throughout were not expected from a game with such low graphics requirements. Con's • The voice acting almost made me put the game down at first, but, as I played, it began to grow on me and, towards the end, I couldn't imagine the game with a different voice. Although the voice acting may not seem like the greatest at first, give it a chance and don't be turned off by it, you'll be greatly rewarded if you stick with it. • I can't help but give “Serena” a full 5 out of 5 stars. System Requirements Minimum System Requirements OS: Ubuntu Processor: 1.6Ghz Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible with 128MB Hard Drive: 500 MB available space