Facade (PC)

Not a commercial release; don't feel bad if you haven't heard of it. This odd little game is part experiment, part proof of concept, and part challenge to game designers.

You play a guest at the house of two married friends on the verge of a messy breakup. Their breakup forms the story; you're challenged to interact so as to affect the outcome.

My first attempt, though interesting, was largely unsuccessful. The game seems to be a fairly excellent demonstration of AI driven characterisation and combining plot elements or "beats" to produce a unique story while still retaining narrative cohesion.

Unfortunately, the underlying situation is inherently stressful and non-fun, making it less something you want to experiment with and more something to toy with once or twice and then escape from.

It's a free and legal download via Bittorrent, though, so if you have the bandwidth I strongly recommend you to check it out.

This review was previously posted at The Dust Forms Words on 24/03/2006. 

Score: 7 out of 20 (A deeply flawed game that remains interesting or provocative.)
For fans of the indie: 10 out of 20

Release date: July 2005
Developed by: Michael Mateas & Andrew Stern
Published by: N/A