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Mento

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Resonance: A Picturebook Adventure

By Mento 11 Comments

Hey friends and nemeses, it's that ominous time of the month again. That's right, the time I make awkward menstruation misdirection gags because there's a new comic commission to be done. Thanks to eternally magnanimous sponsor , this month I had the privilege of playing Wadjet Eye Games' new joint, Resonance. In a nutshell, Resonance is a point-and-click adventure game that follows a quartet of people as they uncover a mysteries behind a lab explosion and a citywide blackout. While each have their own reasons for getting into a vault that the chief scientist of the labs left behind, they work together in order to succeed. In many ways, it's an extension of Wadjet Eye's earlier adventure game Gemini Rue, which featured a duo of protagonists helping each other in a similar fashion.

But hey, enough of the small talk. You all came to look at the comics, right? Or you accidentally clicked a link to this blog and are wondering what the hell these MS Paint squiggles are all about? Well then, allow me to elucidate:

The Characters

Ed is the first guy you play as. While quite awkward and meek, Ed's the most desperate to find out what happened to Resonance, the breakthrough scientific study he and his boss Dr Javier Morales were working on.
Ed is the first guy you play as. While quite awkward and meek, Ed's the most desperate to find out what happened to Resonance, the breakthrough scientific study he and his boss Dr Javier Morales were working on.
Detective Bennet is a slovenly senior cop and the game's closest thing to a wild card. Dude's definitely got the
Detective Bennet is a slovenly senior cop and the game's closest thing to a wild card. Dude's definitely got the "I'm getting too old for this shit" angle covered.
Ray's kind of an asshole. He's also a delightfully uncomplicated unscrupulous blogger with an over-reliance on using pretentious wordplay and has a severe overestimation of his own talent and importance. Can't help but feel a kinship, honestly.
Ray's kind of an asshole. He's also a delightfully uncomplicated unscrupulous blogger with an over-reliance on using pretentious wordplay and has a severe overestimation of his own talent and importance. Can't help but feel a kinship, honestly.
Anna's kind of the tragic heroine in all this, as she's never not being put through some awful situation, whether in the real world or in one of her dream flashbacks. I guess you could say she's the soul of the piece? She's the only regular person, at least.
Anna's kind of the tragic heroine in all this, as she's never not being put through some awful situation, whether in the real world or in one of her dream flashbacks. I guess you could say she's the soul of the piece? She's the only regular person, at least.

The Puzzles

Resonance really has three types of special puzzle, beyond the traditional "use X on Y" set-up that is in every graphic adventure game ever. They are:

Co-operation Puzzles: Such as when one character runs interference while others do sneaky shit. There's a few cases of this in the game, though not nearly enough of them to justify this premise. I mean, it is ostensibly why we have four playable characters, right?
Co-operation Puzzles: Such as when one character runs interference while others do sneaky shit. There's a few cases of this in the game, though not nearly enough of them to justify this premise. I mean, it is ostensibly why we have four playable characters, right?
Timed Puzzles: These aren't as bad as they can sometimes get. The few timed puzzles in this game (usually involving Anna running away from something) tend to be fraught with tension because you know something bad will happen if the bad guy catches up. Because she's the most identifiable character, it's easy to be in her shoes and be terrified for one's life. Or at least terrified that we'd have to redo the last four or five puzzles if we fuck up.
Timed Puzzles: These aren't as bad as they can sometimes get. The few timed puzzles in this game (usually involving Anna running away from something) tend to be fraught with tension because you know something bad will happen if the bad guy catches up. Because she's the most identifiable character, it's easy to be in her shoes and be terrified for one's life. Or at least terrified that we'd have to redo the last four or five puzzles if we fuck up.
Layton Puzzles: I don't really know what is a better term for this kind of thing. Such a name has the same problem as
Layton Puzzles: I don't really know what is a better term for this kind of thing. Such a name has the same problem as "Doom Clone". A Layton puzzle, as featured in the Layton games as well as quite a few others now, is a self-contained mini-puzzle involving numbers or logic or spatial reasoning that tests your intellect rather than your resourcefulness. The few that are in this game are pretty clever but won't fry your melon in the process, including one that can be made infinitely easier with the right item.

I'll be writing up a review presently (or have done, even), but I hope these goofy illustrations give you some general idea of how this game sets itself apart from its graphic adventure peers, or at least tries to. As a budget game made by a fledgling (but improving) studio on third-party open source AGS software, it's an impressive enough adventure with a decent (if a little goofy) thriller plot that I'd be happy to recommend to fans of the genre. Should it find itself in some affordable Indie Brain Pack or Wadjet Eye Collection down the line, y'all should definitely consider it.

Thanks again to for giving me this game to tinker with as well as his continued support and I'll be back a little later with perhaps another "A Brief Jaunt Through" for the rest of you. I did threaten to do one more of those, after all.

11 Comments

11 Comments

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Mento

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Edited By Mento  Moderator

Hey friends and nemeses, it's that ominous time of the month again. That's right, the time I make awkward menstruation misdirection gags because there's a new comic commission to be done. Thanks to eternally magnanimous sponsor , this month I had the privilege of playing Wadjet Eye Games' new joint, Resonance. In a nutshell, Resonance is a point-and-click adventure game that follows a quartet of people as they uncover a mysteries behind a lab explosion and a citywide blackout. While each have their own reasons for getting into a vault that the chief scientist of the labs left behind, they work together in order to succeed. In many ways, it's an extension of Wadjet Eye's earlier adventure game Gemini Rue, which featured a duo of protagonists helping each other in a similar fashion.

But hey, enough of the small talk. You all came to look at the comics, right? Or you accidentally clicked a link to this blog and are wondering what the hell these MS Paint squiggles are all about? Well then, allow me to elucidate:

The Characters

Ed is the first guy you play as. While quite awkward and meek, Ed's the most desperate to find out what happened to Resonance, the breakthrough scientific study he and his boss Dr Javier Morales were working on.
Ed is the first guy you play as. While quite awkward and meek, Ed's the most desperate to find out what happened to Resonance, the breakthrough scientific study he and his boss Dr Javier Morales were working on.
Detective Bennet is a slovenly senior cop and the game's closest thing to a wild card. Dude's definitely got the
Detective Bennet is a slovenly senior cop and the game's closest thing to a wild card. Dude's definitely got the "I'm getting too old for this shit" angle covered.
Ray's kind of an asshole. He's also a delightfully uncomplicated unscrupulous blogger with an over-reliance on using pretentious wordplay and has a severe overestimation of his own talent and importance. Can't help but feel a kinship, honestly.
Ray's kind of an asshole. He's also a delightfully uncomplicated unscrupulous blogger with an over-reliance on using pretentious wordplay and has a severe overestimation of his own talent and importance. Can't help but feel a kinship, honestly.
Anna's kind of the tragic heroine in all this, as she's never not being put through some awful situation, whether in the real world or in one of her dream flashbacks. I guess you could say she's the soul of the piece? She's the only regular person, at least.
Anna's kind of the tragic heroine in all this, as she's never not being put through some awful situation, whether in the real world or in one of her dream flashbacks. I guess you could say she's the soul of the piece? She's the only regular person, at least.

The Puzzles

Resonance really has three types of special puzzle, beyond the traditional "use X on Y" set-up that is in every graphic adventure game ever. They are:

Co-operation Puzzles: Such as when one character runs interference while others do sneaky shit. There's a few cases of this in the game, though not nearly enough of them to justify this premise. I mean, it is ostensibly why we have four playable characters, right?
Co-operation Puzzles: Such as when one character runs interference while others do sneaky shit. There's a few cases of this in the game, though not nearly enough of them to justify this premise. I mean, it is ostensibly why we have four playable characters, right?
Timed Puzzles: These aren't as bad as they can sometimes get. The few timed puzzles in this game (usually involving Anna running away from something) tend to be fraught with tension because you know something bad will happen if the bad guy catches up. Because she's the most identifiable character, it's easy to be in her shoes and be terrified for one's life. Or at least terrified that we'd have to redo the last four or five puzzles if we fuck up.
Timed Puzzles: These aren't as bad as they can sometimes get. The few timed puzzles in this game (usually involving Anna running away from something) tend to be fraught with tension because you know something bad will happen if the bad guy catches up. Because she's the most identifiable character, it's easy to be in her shoes and be terrified for one's life. Or at least terrified that we'd have to redo the last four or five puzzles if we fuck up.
Layton Puzzles: I don't really know what is a better term for this kind of thing. Such a name has the same problem as
Layton Puzzles: I don't really know what is a better term for this kind of thing. Such a name has the same problem as "Doom Clone". A Layton puzzle, as featured in the Layton games as well as quite a few others now, is a self-contained mini-puzzle involving numbers or logic or spatial reasoning that tests your intellect rather than your resourcefulness. The few that are in this game are pretty clever but won't fry your melon in the process, including one that can be made infinitely easier with the right item.

I'll be writing up a review presently (or have done, even), but I hope these goofy illustrations give you some general idea of how this game sets itself apart from its graphic adventure peers, or at least tries to. As a budget game made by a fledgling (but improving) studio on third-party open source AGS software, it's an impressive enough adventure with a decent (if a little goofy) thriller plot that I'd be happy to recommend to fans of the genre. Should it find itself in some affordable Indie Brain Pack or Wadjet Eye Collection down the line, y'all should definitely consider it.

Thanks again to for giving me this game to tinker with as well as his continued support and I'll be back a little later with perhaps another "A Brief Jaunt Through" for the rest of you. I did threaten to do one more of those, after all.

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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

Blogging is sexy? Then I should be drowning in pussy.

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sparky_buzzsaw

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Edited By sparky_buzzsaw

Hah, great read, Mento. I've been curious about this game, and it's good to have a new, creative take on it.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel

@Video_Game_King said:

Blogging is sexy? Then I should be drowning in pussy.

Careful what you wish for.

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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

@Hailinel said:

@Video_Game_King said:

Blogging is sexy? Then I should be drowning in pussy.

Careful what you wish for.

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Dude, I made it through Shizune's bad ending in Katawa Shoujo; clearly, I am able to handle the most hideous of genitals.

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Tordah

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Edited By Tordah

After watching the quick looks for this and Gemini Rue, it certainly seems like Wadjet Eye Games has found a niche that works for them. I mean, how many other adventure game developers that specialize in atmosphere and noir trappings can you name?

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@Mento: Nice. This game is awesome. Everyone who's a fan of Gemini Rue should get this.

I like that "acute" joke you did btw haha. That scene was awkwardly adorable in a way.

Did you finish it already? I took a break after getting to the part where all the characters meet up for the first time.

The intruder scenes and nightmare scenes were pretty scary to me...

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Edited By Winternet

Not as good as Gemini Rue, but still pretty cool game.

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Edited By ZombiePie

I'm really interested in playing Gemini Rue as well as this but just haven't gotten around to it. I'll certainly keep this on my radar.

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I can't stop loving your drawings.

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Edited By Oni

I like Resonance more than Gemini Rue, but I haven't finished Gemini Rue. Got to the part where the two characters meet up iirc. The story in Resonance was more immediately gripping to me. Gemini Rue takes too long to tell you what it's actually about.