The Berlin Apartment Reviews
The Berlin Apartment is a lovely and cosy title, with an intriguing story (or stories!), although there could be some improvements in gameplay mechanics to make playing a bit smoother. This is one of those titles that is hard to put down once started, with interesting characters and stories that pull on the heartstrings.
An interesting and personal feeling set of first person histories that barely constitute a video game and yet wouldn’t really work in any other medium.
The Berlin Apartment is a short but sweet walk through a century of history of the German capital, where the underlying theme is life under oppression; of the Third Reich at first, and of the DDR later. Good voiceover, pleasant visual style, but the "gameplay" is a bit clunky at times.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Minimalist yet poignant, The Berlin Apartment offers a handful of narrative vignettes allowing players to experience the tumultuous history of Germany across the decades. Though brief, its stories pack an emotional punch that won't be forgotten.
The Berlin Apartment is certainly a nice tribute to the history of the titular city. With gorgeous scenery evolving through time that tells the tales of its residents, the apartment is a delight to explore. However, a more intriguing main narrative or engaging gameplay mechanics would’ve been a massive boon for the game. A gorgeous art style and heartwarming sentimentality make The Berlin Apartment an enjoyable experience, albeit one that struggles to stand against the genre’s best.
Beyond aggravating launch-window bugs (on Xbox) that need to be fumigated, The Berlin Apartment is an underwhelming living space managed by a greedy landlord.
The Berlin Apartment is not an anthology. It is not a collection of stories. It is a single story told by those who remain. By those who silently observe every departure and every return. And that someone is us. The game doesn't put us in the protagonists' shoes. It puts us in the shoes of the home they inhabit, carrying the full weight of a century of history.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The stories these walls could tell...
Overall, I have mixed feelings about The Berlin Apartment. I can see what it’s trying to do, and what it’s trying to do is excellent. The idea of telling the story of a place, of lives, of the temporality of who we are and the places that are meaningful to us is a good one, and I love that this game chose to tackle it. On the other hand, when the execution detracts from that story to such an extent that it’s a struggle to get through it, I can’t help but be disappointed. All the beauty of the visuals and ideas are moot when the actual experience of moving through the space is tedious and buggy. There is a lot to love in The Berlin Apartment. However, that love needs to be given by someone with a bit more patience and grace than I.
The Berlin Apartment is a charming journey into German history through four well-written stories that manage to leave a strong impression.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Berlin Apartment does, as I said, undoubtedly offer an engaging narrative, even if you will have to endure several half-baked gameplay elements. It’s a beautifully considered look into the human experience, offering players a concept that is creative and engaging, even if it might not quite unlock its full potential.
The Berlin Apartment is a short but powerful indie experience that uses atmosphere, storytelling, and a unique presentation to vividly capture a century of Berlin’s history.
Review in German | Read full review
Este es un de esos juegos que no solo te hace reflexionar sobre las historias y vivencias que otras personas ha podido dejar para ti, escondidas dentro de algún objeto sin importancia, si no de las que tu mismo vas a dejar escritas, impregnadas en el lugar donde vives y que quizás, algún día, con algo de suerte, otros puedan encontrar algo que les ayuda a revivirlas.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Berlin Apartment tells its story beautifully through the eyes of many different narrators. There are plenty of opportunities to replay chapters if you’re going for for the platinum like I will be. For the slight bugs and graphics issues, I have to give the game the Thumb Culture Gold Award. Once these issues are fixed, I could easily bump this up to a platinum game.
The many lives of the same space through five stories in an apartment in the German capital. A set of stories full of hope, despite happening in unhopeful times.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Berlin Apartment is an intimate and delicate experience, capable of telling small but significant stories through a “simple” apartment in the city of Berlin and a narrative arc spanning almost 120 years. Although it does not shine in terms of originality in its gameplay mechanics (not fully exploiting their potential), the title impresses with its narrative effectiveness, the emotional power of the stories it tells, and its artistic attention to detail, making it particularly recommended for fans of historical narratives and lovers of contemplative experiences.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Berlin Apartment is a small narrative gem that encapsulates a century of history through the lives of ordinary people. Blue Backpack’s work moves, surprises, and invites players to reflect on the weight of memory and the value of change, even when it does so with modest means and a few inevitable technical imperfections.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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Review in German | Read full review
The Berlin Apartment tells some wonderful little stories that’ll make you feel emotions from both ends of the spectrum, and it gives a heartfelt glimpse into life in Berlin at key moments in its history.
With a short but engaging interactive narrative, the four-hour campaign of The Berlin Apartment showcases a century of transformations in the namesake city. The journey through time in Berlin is seen through the windows of an apartment and reflected in the lives of the people who inhabited it. There are many details to contemplate and some creative interaction mechanics that enrich its stories, although the superficiality of others leave something to be desired.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review