Catapole

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Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 2 Write a review

"Catapole est un jeu qui se déroule sous terre, où tout le monde s'active pour fournir de l'énergie à un monde utopique en surface. On a ici quelques thèmes intéressants (opposition surface/terre, travail ouvrier et culture ouvrière, environnement) qui sont imbriqués de façon originale ; tout est expliqué de façon expansive (d'aucuns diraient verbeuse) dans les premières scènes du jeu. Cependant c'est plutôt bien emmené et ça ne semble pas lourd ; en fait, malgré ce que les thématiques pourraient laisser penser, le jeu est très léger et jovial ! Ceci grâce à l'écriture du jeu, pleine d'humour et d'entrain ; le personnage principal est relativement attachant, il y a quelques autres npcs bien écrits, et le jeu est truffé de commentaires et descriptions amusants ; il y a également plusieurs "easter eggs", inutiles mais drôles et qui contribuent à l'immersion. Le fait que le jeu est aussi bien implanté et complet aide également : peu de frustration, et les réponses même négatives contribuent à poser une atmosphère. Les puzzles sont bien posés, il y en a une demi-douzaine ; pour certains puzzles, la mort guette, mais les solutions sont relativement logiques et on ne reste pas bloqué. Le seul reproche que je pourrais faire est que la fin est un poil abrupte ; le nombre de péripéties est certainement suffisant, mais la résolution est rapide et plutôt expéditive. Un très bon jeu, un des meilleurs en français !

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My first IF in French. (I'm not counting Les Heures du Vent because it was unfinished and I quit.) I can read French quite well, but it took some time (and some help from online dictionaries) to figure out the commands.

Catapole is very, very well written. You play as a chimneysweep in a huge underground complex, where workers live and work their entire lives to support the wealthy who still live on the surface. This underground atmosphere, the stillness of the air, the soot,... is made tangible by the writing. It is also reflected by the PC, with his mood, his views on life underground. Not really unhappy, but aware that there is much of the world that lies beyond his grasp.

Because of this surrender to the status quo, he becomes the target of a murder attempt by revolutionaries who want to shake the public into a revolt against their living conditions. Up to you, the player, to find the way to survive this attempt and choose a way of life for your PC.

These are deep themes, thought-provoking and worth contemplating. Unfortunately, the game does not do them justice.
However well-written, Catapole is too short to get in-charachter, too on-rails to understand the life underground, too confined to get a grasp of the relation of your PC to his world and to the people he lives with.
The same is true for the motives and the actions of the revolutionaries.

There's just not enough immersion in the grand overarching story to understand the main character and to make a valid choice at the end.

Still, Catapole is well worth a playthrough for the exquisite writing, and to let yourself wonder about the options.

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