Would you like to have an adventure in a beautiful but mysterious place? Oh, there is only one other human, but she has lost her memories! If this sounds interesting, you’ll love Opus: Prism Peak.
The Backstory of Opus: Prism Peak
The Opus: Prism Peak demo begins with scenes of Eugene, the main character, at the ages of 5,6 and 7. Through flashbacks, I learned that Eugene spent a lot of time with his Grandfather, a professional photographer.
Eugene’s parents argued a lot, and his mother lived apart from Eugene and his father. His Grandfather sounds like the perfect role model for a young boy. He was very caring and kind. He taught Eugene all about photography. He and Eugene spent a lot of time together, and they love each other very much.
Next, there are scenes of Eugene becoming a man. He moves to the city, learns to be a photographer just like his Grandfather, gets a nice job and gets married. Sadly, his marriage ends, and the company he works for goes out of business. He’s dejected but pulls himself up and opens a coffee shop with some friends. That business also fails. Then his Grandfather dies.
We meet Eugene at age 40 as he’s driving home to attend his grandfather’s funeral. He is a jaded and unhappy person. To make matters worse, during this trip, he’s involved in a very serious car crash. He wakes to find he is suddenly stranded at an old abandoned train station in a mysterious place called the Dusklands. He is about to begin an adventure with a young girl who has lost her memories. What a compelling storyline!
The Physical Environment of Opus: Prism Peak
The graphics in Opus: Prism Peak are excellent! Within the old abandoned train station, there are a lot of items on the walls and in the building that I was able to click on to look at and learn about. Everything looked so realistic! There’s also a very quiet and soothing soundtrack in the background. The game has excellent voice acting and is narrated by Eugene.
For much of the demo, he is stranded in the train station with a young girl whom he has just met. She has strangely lost all of her memories; she isn’t even sure what her name is. She does know that she needs to take the train to the Nameless City, where the Seer lives. He will show her the way to a distant mountain where she can recover her memories. Eugene decides this girl should not make the trip alone; he will accompany her. And the adventure begins!
The world that Eugene and the girl inhabit looks like reality, but there are no other humans. Instead, there are spirits in the form of animals that they can speak to. Very mysterious.
The Gameplay of Opus: Prism Peak
I am a person who requires a lot of handholding when I begin a game. I understood everything in Opus: Prism Peak immediately. It was all explained clearly and slowly. Not too much at one time. Lovely!!
A main mechanic in this game is taking pictures. As the demo progressed, the girl looked at the wooden bench at the train station and commented to Eugene that she saw a spirit for a second, but it had disappeared. She told Eugene to try and make it appear by taking a picture of it. He tried and succeeded; this particular spirit took the form of a dog. It told Eugene and the girl that it knew the Seer and was waiting for them to come back for him. Other than that, the dog had also lost its memory. Somehow, when Eugene photographs things, they can be seen again and can regain some of their memories, too.
I learned that there is also a Sacred Firebowl, which can give me hints on my adventure. I began the game with a number of unknown seeds. When I put one in the Sacred Firebowl, I sometimes get a hint of what to do next, or I am given more equipment for my camera. (Sometimes I need to use more than one seed to get my hint.)
During the demo, the Sacred Firebowl gave me a hint to take a photo of an item. The hint was a kind of riddle that I had to solve and then take the picture. When I succeeded at that, I showed the picture to the Firebowl and was given a train ticket to the Nameless City.
I played on a PC with a controller. Objects that I was to interact with had a very visible dot near them. As I got closer, the letter A appeared on the dot, meaning I had to press the A button. It was very easy!
I was given a notebook. I love the look of it. It looks exactly like a familiar marble composition book. That’s great attention to detail. When I have a new entry in my notebook, there are incomplete sentences, and I need to choose the right word from some available options. The notebook tells me if I have succeeded and uncovered truths. I don’t have much in it yet, but I’m sure I’ll fill it up by the end of the game.
What is the Shade?
This is still a bit mysterious and unclear to me. The shade is something that causes people to forget. It smells cold and lonely. Apparently, the girl smells like shade to the dog. That’s all I really know at this point. I’ll bet this is explored deeper in the full game. However, the demo does tell us that the two need to travel to the Nameless City to end the curse of the shade.
Near the end of my playtime in the Opus: Prism Peak demo, the girl saw a butterfly and suddenly thought she remembered her name. She thought her name was Ren, which had a huge effect on Eugene. Why? What other mysteries will we encounter? Shortly after that, the train arrived. After Eugene and Ren got on the train, there was a black screen, and he woke up in a foggy, mysterious place with new things to discover. What on earth is happening? I’ll have to play the full game to find out!!
Final Thoughts
I loved the demo of Opus: Prism Peak, which was developed by Shigono Inc. Please note that the demo does not have a save feature. I spent an hour playing, but I played slowly. You should plan for a similar amount of time, though, just in case.
I can’t wait for the final game to release so I can continue the adventure with Eugene and Ren. Opus: Prism Peak is really unique!
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