Have you ever wondered what the story is behind the paintings, be it from a renowned artist or an amateur? It was this question that served as the starting point for Silver Lining Studio for Behind the Frame: The Most Beautiful Landscapes, a game with a longer title than the game itself.

Window in the heart

Behind the frame tells the story of a young woman. A young painter working to get her dream job in New York. In front of your apartment year an old man, also a painter, and whose works are familiar to the young woman. What if there was a story behind these paintings? A story that would not turn the young woman and the old man into two strangers.

So much for immediate warning, Behind The Frame is one of those jobs that is completed in one afternoon. In just over an hour and a half, the game constantly oscillates between storytelling and point-and-click play with almost no difficulty. Therefore, most of the game takes place in the same place: the apartment of our heroine. If the positioning in the room is fixed, a simple continuous right click allows you to observe the places in 360 °. The opportunity to enjoy the beautiful graphics of the game. Silver Lining Study They seem to appreciate the work of Studio Ghibli and were inspired by it with a certain joy.

Gouache stains

Side How to play on the other hand, the game is much more minimalist. The days usually start the same and you just have to follow the comments of our character to know what to do. Putting on some music, making a meal and coffee, and then writing a request letter are steps that are repeated day after day. We finally sat in front of our window to observe the life of our old neighbor and his cat. The opportunity to draw some sketches. And what about painting in all this, will you tell me? We got there.

In fact, observing your neighbor quickly makes you notice that there are similarities between his works and certain paintings present in your home. Discovering these pictures is an opportunity to start a small series of not very complicated puzzles. For example, you need to add colors to the paintings in your apartment to match your neighbor’s version. Don’t panic over those like me who are bad at drawing, you usually just need to add the correct color in the correct area while vaguely respecting the correct form for the game to recognize your talent. Then we discover a new puzzle or a new color that we can add to our main masterpiece.

Make no mistake, this is all just to accompany a story. The story of an encounter between a man and a woman, whose different paintings represent the important moments and that we can follow through small animated scenes. A story the conclusion of which may leave some players by the wayside, but which I will be careful not to reveal more.

The little technical point

Although this test was conducted on PC, please note that the game is also planned for mobile devices. Therefore, it is not surprising that we end up with a screen of options reduced to its simplest form. However, the game is very nice, with a beautiful soundtrack and French subtitles. However, this PC version seemed to have a few issues on my machine: subtitles persisting and overlapping, but also a screen that seemed to freeze for a moment during transitions between animated scenes and those for which the ability to view scenes in 360 ° it was left to the player. It’s a shame to have overlooked these kinds of details given the relatively short life of the game.

I got stuck on this screen for no reason

conclusion

At the time of concluding this test, more than the question of the quality of the game, it is the platform on which you recommend it that arises. Because Behind the Frame is a perfectly correct work that you might have preferred to see on a touch screen. Silver Lining Studio provided good mouse support, but I felt like I was losing something in the process. In short, if you have the possibility, go for the mobile version, which will cost you less as a bonus.

Test conducted by Grim on PC using a copy provided by the publisher.