| Game | Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2021 |
| Developer | Silver Lining Studio |
| Publisher | Akupara Games, Akatsuki Taiwan |
| Genre | Narrative, Puzzle |
| Platforms | Mac, Meta Quest, Mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |
Initially, I simply expected a point-and-click painting adventure, hopefully accompanied by a charming story. Little did I know, it’d turn out to be an absolutely precious emotional journey, with high-quality anime cutscenes that feel like watching a Ghibli film.
A game that makes the player feel they’re good at something they’re usually bad at is quite the feat, but Behind the Frame certainly managed to do that for me when it comes to painting. I still have the best art piece I made in high school on top of my shelves, and it’s barely decent if I’m being kind to myself.
You play as a young female artist who goes about her day following a short to-do list: put on some music, get breakfast, send an email, have a coffee, and paint. It’s a daily routine that you get used to implementing at the beginning of every chapter.
The artist lady (whose name we won’t learn for a while) is working on a scenery painting that she plans on sending to an art exhibition in the near future. As the player, you’ll be the one actually painting it, one color at a time. You’ll gradually discover new paint tube colors hidden around the apartment as you solve a few puzzles and advance further.
The game is divided into chapters, each one starting with a new day and allowing you to find a new paint tube. The artist’s home is full of items you can click on, which will let you know some details about her life, and sometimes let you in on some of her inner thoughts.
The handful of puzzles you’ll come across are not very challenging, though some of them might still take a minute. But while the game is rather easy to get through, the heart of it is definitely in the story, the lovely visuals, and the atmosphere it transports you to.
It has an incredible soundtrack that made me want to keep listening to it after the game was over. You play it using a cassette tape that you pick up and put into the cassette player yourself, every day playing a different tune that perfectly sets the mood for whatever is happening on each chapter. For example, a cat coming in through the window gets a playful song, while a rainy day gets a slower, beautiful piano melody.
The overall feeling as you play is really peaceful and heartwarming, but it also gets intriguing once you realize there’s a bit of a mystery going on. While the story seems to develop rather slowly at first, I’d say it’s actually helpful in building a bigger emotional connection to the characters, allowing for a stronger impression by the end.
The only other important character is the neighbor across the window, an old man who also happens to be an artist. He seems rather solitary and he doesn’t respond when our main character greets him, but you’ll take a liking to him immediately when you see him bonding with his cat.
There are quite a few paintings hanging on the apartment walls depicting a couple of young people, a man and a woman. Although they seem to be simply anonymous characters in art pieces, you’ll eventually learn more about them and, if you’re like me, you’ll be engaged in knowing how their relationship develops. There may or may not be a love story hidden in there, but either way I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know them. The hopeless romantics like myself will definitely be drawn to this aspect of the game, especially with how beautifully the music ties everything together.
My only complaint was a small technical issue. After an animated sequence and before the ending of each chapter, you’ll be presented with a piece of the story that only progresses as you point and click, but those sections took a very long loading time for me. Perhaps never longer than a minute, but still, for the game being as short as it is, the waiting period got quite annoying. However, I haven’t seen anyone else having the same problem, so it’s likely not an issue most players encounter.
Now, I must mention that, even if you finish the main game and see the credits roll, the plot continues. In the menu screen, you’ll now see the extra content available. This second part was added to the game some time after the original release, but you don’t need to buy it separately, so consider it a mandatory unlockable bonus. There’s more gameplay, more painting, and more story, but this time, it’s from a different character’s point of view.
This is where the story goes full circle and really feels complete, even if you still end up with a few questions after all is said and done. Yet, I think some things are meant to leave you drawing your own conclusions and using your imagination. And honestly, as someone who usually needs to have all the answers, I still think that it’s perfectly fine. Because you don’t need to know every detail of someone’s life to understand how certain experiences felt if you just experience them with them.
Still, I want to continue talking about the ending itself, because even though I enjoyed the whole thing, this is where the game truly stayed with me.
Spoiler Warning!
The next part of the review contains major spoilers, click below to reveal the text and read at your own discretion:
CLICK HERE TO OPEN/CLOSE SPOILERS
I just really wanted to write down my thoughts on the story’s conclusion. It was very emotional for me because it talks about missed opportunities and the ache of wondering what could have been.
So, Amber (the artist) went to New York to pursue her dreams, and Jack had plenty of time to visit, or just go after her and stay together. Instead, we see him express himself in letters that he never sends, replacing them with generic words that never get to convey how he really felt. Eventually, the communication between them gets less and less frequent until… it just stops.
As we get to see, Jack’s life takes a rather bittersweet turn. He becomes a renowned artist in his own right, and while Amber inspired him not to give up on his dreams, there’s a lingering sense of regret over the path he never took with her.
It’s heartbreaking to see. I do have a tiny bit of personal experience on a similar situation, from the side of the one who had to move on. There’s only so much you can do when someone perhaps isn’t ready to take the leap of faith that could change their life, but someone else’s life journey is entirely their own.
It hurts so much because the regret of not trying will always be more painful than trying and failing. Only one of those will allow you to close a life chapter and move on, and perhaps allow yourself to open up a new chapter.
(End of Spoilers)
Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery is quite a long name for a game title, but it’s an artistic choice and I guess it suits the main topic just fine. Anyway, the game combines beautiful visuals, music, and storytelling into an impactful emotional journey that I highly recommend if you’re looking for a moving experience, especially if you enjoy anime films.
