A Golden Wake

It's June in Miami. The only game where Majorie Stoneman Douglas, Al Capone, and William Jennings Bryan fill out a roster . People who have played this game seem to have been fans of this developer's previous work. I had found out about this game because I live in the city that this was based off and they had just celebrated their 100th year. It came up on the Wikipedia page of the city and the rest is history. I love point and click adventure games and I thought the developer did a fantastic job making this as an homage to those games from the 90s. Genuinely shocked I hadn't heard of this game until now since I'm a fan of local history and this genre. It's so surreal to see so many spots that I frequent in real life as set pieces in a video game. I actually live a block away from the Merrick house and the Biltmore Hotel. I won't be getting this level of immersion in a game until Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out. I'm sure my experience on this game will be a unique one since most people from Miami probably haven't heard of this and the ones who did are from out of town. I played with the commentary track on because I wanted to experience this game as Edutainment. It was a really fun way to learn local history and I'm just lucky enough that that developer is someone who had the game making skills and had enough appreciation to make this a local passion project. Really a project like this is an anomaly to come out of Miami. As educational as this was, I learned a lot, I felt it glazed George Merrick far too much, He came off too much like Andrew Ryan in BioShock but played completely straight. I'm very lucky to live in a city that had so much thought put into its aesthetic right from its founding. I especially liked the conversation at the end that other city founders wouldn't have been as lofty with their ideas and would have immediately tore down the landmarks if it meant more revenue coming in. I literally live surrounded by these landmarks and see them everyday. The houses still look like that, the Alhambra lighthouse is still standing, the Biltmore hotel looks exactly like it does in game, the Venetian pool is classic summer time past time. That said George Merrick was a racist and his prejudices may have played a part in his city planning, the developers may have wanted to stick to the positives about the city's founding but it a pretty noticeable omission. The art is pretty decent and so are the puzzles but the music really shines. I thought moral rise and fall of the fictional main character wasnt that interesting. it should have followed Merrick as the protagonist who was already the real main character of this story. I would really only recommend to people interested in history, the city of Miami, or someone who'll play any point and click adventure game.

Let's be frank, the history of Floridian real estate development isn't exactly the most thrilling elevator pitch in the world. Still, this is made with a lot of love by a lot of really talented people and if you like point & click adventure games and have a few hours this is absolutely worth your time checking out. Recommended! (That said, I STILL do not understand the persuasion mini-game and how it's any different from literally just guesswork.)

Completed it two times, one blind and the other listening to the commentary and achievement hunting. I had a great time, and this game reminds me why I love curated, relatively short experiences that give you a good story and solid gameplay. Kudos to the voice actors, they really added to the experience.