Edna & Harvey: The Breakout

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout is a point-and-click game originally developed as a project in the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Gameplay-wise, The Breakout is no different from other games from the same genre; however, the story, the characters, the music and the puzzle solving are really something noteworthy.

After a rather confusing introductory cut scene, you meet the main character, Edna, trapped in a paddle wall room, along with her best friend, a stuffed rabbit by the name Harvey. Harvey plays a very important role in the game and in Edna’s life, for he is, as mentioned by himself, a figment of Edna’s subconscious, and, as such, can help her through her quest for answers.

We know Edna’s a patient in a psychiatric asylum; however, neither we nor Edna knows anything else about why she is being kept there. Memory loss and recover are fundamental pieces in the narrative of the game. Harvey, as Edna’s sidekick –and sort of moral guide or mentor- has the ability to make Edna remember her past through a process called timemorphing, which will let Edna relive vividly episodes of her childhood that, eventually, will be of use in the present.

The antagonist in this, let’s say, twisted story is Dr. Marcel, an evil character on first impression with some sort of personal vendetta against Edna and her family. Dr. Marcel, his son, Edna and Edna’s father were involved in an incident that is not meant to be remembered by Edna, so that puts her in a really complicated position. The main goal, as you may figure, will be to set Edna free and regain her memory of what happened in the past. To do so, Edna will meet a wide collection of loveable characters, all of which possess their own personalities and type of craziness. Let’s remember, the game takes place, mostly, in a mental asylum.

These secondary characters will each play a different role towards Edna’s freedom and, I’m sure, you will end up liking them either way. Their personalities are incredibly well built and, in some point, you’ll start caring for them.

Puzzles are the core of any point-and-click game and, to be honest, I usually suck at them, and Edna and Harvey: The Breakout was no exception. Nevertheless, the game mechanics are so welt built that you’ll feel satisfied and even clever whenever you link the different elements and figure out how to get the answer right. Probably, the only thing I don’t like about the mechanics are the unnecessarily long dialogues between the characters, but, to be honest, voice acting is actually pretty neat.

This game is not meant to be judged by its graphics. They are, to say the last, sloppy. The low budget cultural channel cartoon style is not remarkable and the animation is often poor, but all that can be forgiven for the amazing story the game entails. I would dare to even call it a psychological thriller. It plays both with your minds and your emotions as you try to figure out what happened on that August the 3^rd evening. The game has the strange ability of shifting from a tender and melancholic childhood memory to an incredibly disturbing moment in a matter of minutes.

Music helps to that matter. The atmosphere each song creates is almost uncanny.  The tracks complement perfectly each part is being played on. However, as there aren’t that much tracks to begin with, you’ll sometimes feel it a bit repetitive. In lamest terms, the music is awesome, but there are no more than five tracks to pick from. There are specially two tunes from the score of the game I found amazing: the one playing during the timemoprhing sequences and the one playing once Edna and her gang escape the asylum. This last one reminds me of The End, by the Doors. It’s really something else.

Finally, the game can have two different endings, each with its own epilogue. To be honest, the final revelation is pretty obvious and it’s not that surprising; however, there is something to think about deeply. During the game, you get to see Edna’s life through her eyes and you empathize with her, but, as in great narrative –specially in short stories-, what the author is not telling is far more important than what we are seeing. We face the story of a disturbed child, with sever psychiatric problems, a father that isn’t able to control her –we don’t get to see a mother, so we can imply a single dad scenario- and a psychiatrist and his son that don’t make things easier for anyone.  That’s some profound storytelling there.

Anyways, even though I’m not a big fan of these games, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout really talked to me in a whole different level. The lesson is: no matter how sloppy graphics are or how frustrated one can get with the gameplay, if they are telling you a great story, you’ll stick with the game until the end, and you will not be disappointed.

Jonathan Coutiño, NoobFeed
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