Beyond is
an interactive fiction game composed by Roberto Grassi, Paolo Lucchesi
and Alessandro
Peretti. This game has been awarded
the second place in the last IF Competition and can be played with
either a z-machine or a Gluxle interpreter, such as WinGlulxe. I
would greatly suggest the latest option, since it will allows you
to experiment the game as its best, that is with all the artwork
options turned on. And indeed, the game has much to offer in this
aspect. However, do not expect neither video sequences like those
you can find in Future
Boy! nor Syberia-like
backgrounds, let alone the sheer colorful combination of photographs
available in Robb Sherwin’s
games (i.e. Necrotic Drift). The art in Beyond is
minimalistic, working by sustraction and by a careful and clever
combination of static
drawings matching both fonts and backgrounds. A good note is that
each time you talk to a character, its portrait appears in a side
of the screen. The portraits are very well done, really helping the
player to get into the story.

When playing the game
it is quite clear that the authors made a clear desicion in terms
of overall game design from the very beginning
of the development and really kept faithful to it till its end. I
mean, the game shows a great level of homogeneity and coherence between
its different parts. Interestingly, exception being made for the
story and character development, nothing else (for example, puzzles)
is really mind-blowing nor revolutionary (well, in a second thought,
maybe I’m being too hard here, see below for comments in some
interesting innnovations the game has to offer). But at the same
time everything is polished, works well and fits in with the general
aesthesic and pace of the game, so creating a very atmospheric and
well-balanced experience that gets you hooked from its very beginning.

The story has many twists
and hidden agendas going on, so it is sort of difficult to tell
much of it without spoiling it. Your character
is a girl wich happens to be in a place (dimension? Alternate reality?)
reserved to those who have never been born. Maybe their mother died
during an accident or was killed or any alternative possibility that
you could think. In that place you are faced with a hard choice:
either to find peace inmediately or to have a look –through
the eyes of someone else related to your death—at the circumnstaces
sorrounding that death in order to acquire a bit of knowledge about
your possible life and fate. Supossedly, you are not allowed to change
the events by following that path, but… maybe… you could make
some space to it or help someone in the way. Of course, you decide
to return to life. From that point on, you will be mainly in control
of the detective who’s in charge of investigating the apparent
suiscide of a young woman, who was found with her wrists cut open
in a cheap hotel’s bathtub. As you may have already noted,
the game deals with many adult issues. Hence, it is not suitablen
or reccomendable for young children.

While the richness of
the story allows for plenty of suspects and possible avenues of
research, you shouldn’t have problems winding
up the game. Beyond features a notepad that keeps track of your findings
and latest events. Moreover, the game is divided in several chapters,
each one allowing you to explore a small subset of enviroments, so
reducing backtraking and minimizing the number of possibilities to
try. Even more interesting, the game offers a very creative online-help
system. Whenever you get stuck you may want to type “hint” and
your character will be transported to a room –whose existence
makes sense in the context of the story—where you will be able
to examine certain objects and extract directions and pointers from
them. Another sign of the “organicness” I already rambled
about. But don’t be afraid, there are just a few traditional
puzzles in the strict meaning of the word and they are definitely
logical and not very difficult.

The writing is top-notch
and, as said earlier, shines when it comes to character development.
Most of the them have a lot of dialogue
lines to offer –even though it should be said that dialogue
options are fixed— and in them you will find not only emotions
but also motives to back up their behaviors.

To cut a long story short, Beyond is not a game that aims to change
the genre or to replace old classics, but at the same time fullfills
each and every one of the goals that undertakes, offering a compact
and solid story with many of the most charming characters I have
seen in the last time in text adventures. I gladly reccomend this
game not only to text adventures gamers but also to anyone interested
in enjoying a good story. Beyond receives a grade of B+ from this
reviewer.

Final Grade: B+
(find out more about our
grading system)

System Requirements:

• a z-machine or a
  Gluxle interpreter