Richard & Alice
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Richard & Alice
Strong writing isn't enough to establish the apocalyptic stakes at play in Richard & Alice.
The strongest aspect of Richard & Alice is how it manages to tell an engaging story in a fairly compact amount of time. Although players start out as total strangers to the duo, they find themselves quickly interested by their plight.
Uninspired puzzles and weak art might put some folk off, but they'd be missing out on a thoughtful, slow-burning tale that opens up into something poignant, even though it never stops being bleak.
There is plenty to like and the plot takes some riveting turns towards the end, but make sure you can look past its minimalistic visual presentation first.
In a game that brings a little of the very best of retro point and click gaming nostalgia and also some of it's worst, only a decent narrative and a big plot twist can save Richard and Alice from a far worse fate than living in an ice world.
Richard & Alice is a lesson in narrative that every video game developer should take a page from, and a testament to the power of its medium. Consistent, harsh and unafraid, it casts the everyman as neither antagonist nor protagonist, but as another survivor.
By comparison to mindless shooters, this is a breath of clean air, but it's disappointing if you think outside the small window of possibility it gives you.
