As French as using a baguette as a weapon in civil unrest, Dordogne is something I’ve had my eyes on since it appeared in the 2021 Wholesome Direct. If it isn’t obvious, it is that really beautiful game that looks like it was hand-painted with watercolors because that is exactly what it was, according to the trailer. When it was shown off, I think many of us thought of it as complete nostalgic happiness and color, though within about 5 minutes Granny Nora is dead, Dad is shouting at protagonist Mimi because she wants to remember her past, and we’re plunged into the sad reality of family strife through a child’s eyes.

None of that is bad in terms of plot. Mimi has more or less forgotten her childhood of 20+ years prior and Nora had kept those memories in her house by the Dordogne. As Mimi, you travel back in time to her childhood and relive those memories as you fill out a scrapbook, putting together all the memories that were lost with this gorgeous art style being front and center. It can be a little heavy when it comes to explaining the world. Additionally, the mix of voice-over and text-box exposition on what is happening can be a little too ham-fisted on getting the point across.

Adventure is the name of the game (not literally) so you spend a large amount of your time exploring and looking at stuff. It seems like a reduction of what Dordogne is all about, but it very much is the case. Normally I’d opt for a controller to play something like this as you’re exploring enclosed environments with a static (MGS 2-style) camera for each location you come across. However, due to the exploration and gameplay featuring a lot of world interaction, a keyboard and mouse was the better option. There is a lot of click and drag, turn, push, pull, and so on.

Set between 1982 and 2002, the young Mimi is an angry/upset young child that was sent to live with her granny for the summer before the family moved to the US. This is also the summer before daddy dearest had a falling out with Nora. Adorned with a plume of long dark hair and a massive sun hat, the sullen little madame is like all of us when we were that age. If we didn’t get what we wanted we went into a mood. That said, a large portion of the actions you perform are somewhat pretentious in that “we are masterfully telling a story” sort of way. It is the video game equivalent of looking down your nose.

That is somewhat a criticism of Dordogne. I understand why that is often the choice when developers like UN JE NE SAIS QUOI and UMANIMATION opt for these types of “weighted” control options. That still doesn’t get past the fact that it doesn’t feel great to play. One example is when you get the camera in Chapter 2, as you add the clips to it for the strap, the movement of your mouse (or analog stick) is much slower than it is anywhere else. You know the speed and weight of your mouse, so when something like this happens it feels off. It feels sluggish and overall uncomfortable.

This doesn’t wholly detract from the game named after the region (or department) and river that runs through it to Bordeaux, but it is no less annoying to an otherwise charming and brutally-honest game. Dordogne is an exploration into a child caught between a conflict they didn’t understand that they revisit years later with more context. Sent to live with Nora during the summer of 1982, Mimi doesn’t understand the standoff-ish nature between parent and grandparent. Later she finds letters and details from those perspectives that offer her something new.

Without making this self-centered, I think most of us have experienced this type of story, or at least those of us who have moved around a lot and gone to stay with family for a short time. The loneliness and sadness of being somewhere you aren’t used to, the change of routine, and the difference in the rules can be hard for a kid. I think UN JE NE SAIS QUOI and UMANIMATION nail the story beats and how they actually feel both as a child and adult thinking back to those moments. That’s where Dordogne shines.

A story about family, loss, and memories, Dordogne lets those moments and allows the childish wonder of exploration to breathe. I won’t say it is a great exploration into what it is like to grow up though. I’m not pretentious enough to conflate a charming story in a game and whatever we consider high art nowadays. I enjoy the story, but not just because I see similarities in my own life, the visual storytelling at times captures and conveys some of that wonder of being 12. There is nothing too deep, the gameplay isn’t the focus but it supports a simple and delightful story.

Ultimately, it is quite short, endlessly beautiful, and charming in the story being told. I think Dordogne very much is a wholesome couple of hours exploring the memories of someone caught in the middle of something they can only understand now. The scrapbook with the stickers, tapes, photos, and “poetry” gives a sense of personality that otherwise wouldn’t be there, possibly giving a better sense of player involvement that the exploration and story itself doesn’t. There isn’t really a way to convince you one way or the other on Dordogne beyond the desire to play something with a story being told well and beautifully. It is that simple.

A PC review copy of Dordogne was provided by Focus Entertainment for the purposes of this review.

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Dordogne

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Absolutely stunning art direction.
• A great and simple story told well.
• Creating your own pages in the scrapbook.

Cons

• Some gameplay elements can feel needlessly slow.