PEGBRJE: Nonsense at Nightfall and Marie’s Room
Time to explore.
Nonsense at Nightfall is a small bizarre adventure game made by Siegfried Croes, a pixel artist and game developer based out of Belgium. Created for Ludum dare, it features a small individual who can’t seem to sleep — we’ve all been there — so he decides to take some sleeping pills to induce that sweet snooze he craves. For some reason, however, it appears to have a few… side effects. Like, oh, turning in to a cat.
Featuring a retro aesthetic, players will be exploring this apartment complex to solve the issues that our little protagonist finds themselves in at every turn, from wanting to eat a tasty mouse to attempting to order a pizza. Each of these quests will require players to search throughout the rooms for clues on how exactly each can be solved, usually focusing on simple searching skills and moving from one area to the next. Rarely does it require super strong memory or technical skills, focusing primarily on its strong writing and hilariously silly premise to carry the experience as one explores. Some of the puzzles can be a tad challenging due to simply not catching on to the solution that they are aiming for, but in general many of them only require a bit of patience and perception to clue in and continue forward.
Nonsense at Nightfall wants to focus primarily on its retro roots rather than trying to innovate on puzzle solving, and it does so beautifully. The music made me reminisce on my GBA days, and the little walking animations were a fantastic touch as you explore the detailed pixel world. It’s not terribly long, clocking in between 30 minutes to under an hour, but it’s self-aware writing and adventurous spirit will keep you hooked as you do. If you’re looking for a small retro-themed adventure with some fun writing and hints at a sequel, try this out and see if you can help our friend solve their problem.
Marie’s Room is a narrative experience created by like Charlie, the game studio started by Kenny Guillaume out of Belgium. Within this encapsulating story, players will follow the story of Kelsey as she returns to a room of her friend Marie to grab her journal, only to reminisce on the events of twenty years ago. What exactly happened then, one can only wonder? What exactly happened to Marie?
Marie’s Room plays very similarly to a theatrical escape room, if that analogy makes sense; players will find themselves within the memory of Marie’s room from the past, ‘trapped’ until they are able to find all of the pieces and return the journal to its originally completed state. Players will then interact with the items of the room, listening to Kelsey explain each item and the story it holds to piece together the memories that she and Marie had left behind all those years ago. Some items are just for flavour, while others will give an indicator that they have filled in a journal entry, readding that memory back to Marie’s journal; only instead now from Marie’s point of view instead of Kelsey’s. This contrast helps to give players the understanding of both individuals, how they think and interacted with each other while still creating their own ‘version’ of what they recall. It’s through these two narratives that players are able to piece together not only what happened back then, but also what lead to the events that none dare to say outright.
This style of storytelling brilliantly helps draw players in, immersing them in the seemingly simple setting of two high schoolers becoming friends. Kelsey and Marie’s meeting is not what one might consider an average way of creating friends, but it is their struggles that reinforce the gloriously messy dynamic of teenaged friendships. Each story Kelsey tells has a hint of longing for things to have been easier, constant pangs of regret as she is able to realize with hindsight how cruel she had been with Marie, especially when the journal entries highlight just how pure and quirky Marie is. Thanks to the little snippets of information that we are fed, players become attached to the idea of discovering what happened to them both as possibilities fly through the air as to what could’ve occurred that caused such a rift between the two that the journal implies. Seemingly random events slowly come together as items are discovered, and once the two puzzles are unlocked the story unravels to its completion.
I’d say more about their dynamic, or how the room itself creates its own pacing, but Marie’s Room is a short story that really needs first hand experience to understand. There is no save mechanism, as it is meant to be played within one sitting, and clocking in under an hour it achieves this with flying colours. Honestly by the end I was left somewhat wanting, not because the plot didn’t resolve but because I wanted to know more about the two of them after being so heavily invested in their plights leading up to the finale. If you are looking for a short story to experience that will immerse you completely, give this a try.
