Retrace is an indie game with a Steam page that promises thrilling adventure, old school puzzles and queer-focused story telling. One can imagine with all that going for it, and a retail price of twenty dollars, Retrace would be a game full of twists, turns and memorable relationships to keep the player invested for several hours.
At least this was the hope I had going into it. I’m optimistic anytime someone hands me a game that promises to give me an old school puzzle game vibes. Based on what I knew of Retrace, I was definitely expecting something like a Corpse Party or even Ib.
When the game started I was instantly intrigued, at least, for a while. I tried my best to connect with the main character Freya, to see what the game wanted me to feel about her — but she comes off as sullen and perhaps even a little depressed. I don’t believe a protagonist needs to be peppy to be a main character, but Freya comes across as unlikable — and it’s hard to root for her to save her friends when it’s hard to tell if she even likes them. It seems a shame too, because the game definitely feels like it’s trying to convey a feeling of working together to get out of a horrible situation.
The other characters have their flaws as well, but for me, Mia comes across as the most likable. She’s a little too overzealous, but her sunny and hopeful disposition to keep everyone from falling into despair is clear cut and helps smooth out everyone else’s edges. It’s clear she’s putting on a brave face, but she carries the cast on her back throughout the interactions in the game.
Gameplay-wise, the puzzles are very standard and not too difficult for the average player to get through. If you’ve played a puzzle game or two you’ll be able to get through this one without too much difficulty. However, the game has a few bugs in it that might cause puzzle solving and bad end jumping to go a bit awry. It’s hard to tell if any of them are game breaking because a few of the endings aren’t clear on how they affect the overall progression.
One big thing I did notice while playing was the lack of ambiance. The game is primarily just the OST, which is quite nice as the music changes depending on which character is following you around. However, it is quite strange not to hear footsteps, wind, or anything one would expect in a game like this. The game isn’t supposed to be intensely spooky, but it feels like it’s missing some of the SFX magic that is so integral to this sort of game.
Overall, the game is quite simple and knows what it wants to do even if at points it doesn’t always get its story messages across very well. I think it’s worth the 3–4 hours one might put into it, but as someone who got it for free, I would lean toward waiting for it to go on sale to play it for oneself. In the end though, while Retrace has some nice portrait art and well executed music, it’s interesting premise could have been boosted with a bit more time in the oven.
Retrace Twitter: https://twitter.com/RetraceGame
