In my ongoing effort to play through some of the games I have owned for quite a while, I thought it high time I got back to Drizzlepath: Genie, which I had started just after release but never quite made it back to. Today, I sat down and played through both of the branching paths along with the nice bonus section provided by Tonguç Bodur as a thank you of sorts to those who actually finished the entire game. So, how was Drizzlepath: Genie?
Ultimately, in my opinion, Drizzlepath: Genie is about accepting your mortality and embracing life as opposed to living for your eventual death. I completely agree with the philosophical ideas presented in this game. Most people forget to live their lives, so consumed are they by religion, acquisition of wealth, and so on. Generally, it takes a traumatic event for people to really appreciate life.
For me, the prose was a little much, but the ideology was spot on, and I think it takes a brave soul to confront those ideas head on. I really appreciated the two distinct paths which would define your experience as positive or negative. I was actually reminded of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, which seemed apropos for this game. Additionally, both Led Zeppelin and Tonguç Bodur seem to share a fascination with the Lord of the Rings and the journey to Mordor, which you will definitely notice as you play through this game, so an additional tie in there to Zep’s library (despite their music not actually making it into the game). Overall I quite enjoyed the story as it was presented in Drizzlepath: Genie, along with the twist at the end of each story path.
8 out of 10
This is a true walking simulator in every sense of the genre. In Drizzlepath: Genie, the choices you make are basically just which path you choose and whether you care to explore off path or not. There are a couple minor platforming sections and a couple simple puzzles, but overall, this game doesn’t stray very far from the path, so to speak, and seeks to provide an honest exploration of the world while conveying the story. At the very beginning, the game explains why there is no running, but despite that, there is both a one click jogging feature as well as auto walk, which was a surprisingly awesome addition. You can choose to basically just kick back and steer Lula as she wanders about.
There are a couple features related to screenshots which are a recognition of the fact that people like to wander about in walking simulators trying to find that perfect capture. As such, a filter is available as is the ability to pan out pretty much as far as you might like. These two features led to my abusing the F12 button lol. I believe I took something like 510 screenshots.
8 out of 10
Drizzlepath: Genie is a stunning looking game. Use of the Unreal Engine has really been elevated over the years and Tonguç is a practiced hand. There is a reason why I took more than 500 screenshots. The game is simply that amazing. There is also a variety of geographical areas, from forest to almost swamp areas to mountains to underground cavern systems, and plenty in between. It’s really everything you could hope for and more.
9.5 out of 10
The audio tracks are mostly comprised of mood setting but gentle background orchestrations. There are some ambient noises, most notably when the dragon is near the path (that’s right, there is a dragon). It all sounds very nice. I will note however that in the bonus unlockable section, the music switches to metal riffs which I found quite enjoyable and a little surprising.
In the first Drizzlepath, I thought the voice actor sounded amazing, but I found it difficult to understand what she was saying due to a very heavy accent. In Drizzlepath: Genie, I found the voice acting to be completely clear and in fact, it seemed the voice actor took pains to enunciate at times. However, her delivery for all of the blue path and a fair amount of the red path felt forced and very much as if she was reading the script rather than feeling it. I wish the acting had conveyed more emotion than it did.
6 out of 10
All told, Drizzlepath: Genie was an excellent game and an excellent follow up to the original Drizzlepath. There were some things I enjoyed more with the original, but this installment was excellent nonetheless. One further note: My total playtime was right at 5 hours completing both story paths and enjoying the bonus section as well.
