Versailles 1685 Review

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            Versailles 1685

Review by OrbSeptember 2002

The job in edutainment, it would appear, is how exactly to spoon-feed the player what’s good for him while keeping him jolly. When this works, the gamer feels educated and entertained but without any sanctimonious preaching about what he needs to know. Versailles 1685, published by Cryo in the halcyon days of 1996 when the world of adventure gaming was ahead of rather than behind it, is such a good example of how to lay the education within the entertainment that anyone attempting to put together one of these suckers should sit up and play it.

The finest thing about Versailles is the attention to historical detail. Truthfully, if the player wanted to roll through the game and ignore anything that smelled of learning, she could fairly easily accomplish this. But the game is written in such a way so as to draw the player into the intrigue of the seventeenth century court, and in doing so it causes one to want to learn more about the cast of characters and the environment in which they find themselves.

Now I have to say many are the times I have played some “epic” game where I’d just put the headphones down so I’d be relieved of the experience of listening to some badly written and overplayed dialogue, spewing forth some fetid, half-baked story.

In other words, I’ll go out of my way to skip the in-game encyclopedia or the monster tomb that seems chained like an anchor around the necks of many an adventure game or edutainment title.

But not so with Versailles. Designed in a charming style, with a love-it or skip-it system for learning more about French court, history, and the people who dwelled there in real life, this system is like a breath of fresh air. Breathe in.

The game reconstructs the palace as it was found in 1685, and it skillfully allows the player to explore and learn from this exploration just how the architecture looked, how the rooms were decorated, and what they were used for. The quality of this is comparable to other “recreation” games, such as Titanic: Adventure out of Time, The Legend of Lotus Spring, Golden Gate and Hell. Okay, I’m kidding about that last one.

The game story could very well be taken from historical fact, as it involves the sorts of things that did go on in the king’s court of that day and the sorts of situations the people living there were most likely on constant guard against. The story takes place during the reign of Louis XIV. The First Valet to Louis, Monsieur Bontemps (a man we learn in real life had a considerable amount of power and position) has discovered that a mysterious and unidentified pamphleteer is at work in the court to undermine the king and destroy Versailles. Playing as Lalande, Valet of the Bedchamber, you are given the job of tracking clues and uncovering the plot in full to foil it. And you have just one day to do it. 

Played in the first person, the story unfolds in seven acts and in a well-organized manner. As each act unfolds, cutscenes show the formality and duty of the King’s day as it progresses. Here again is an aspect where the story and gaming melds nicely with historical information.

Graphics are at times a bit dated and pixelated, but with any game that is put together properly, this is not a distraction.  The attention to detail as far as the textiles and paintings throughout is nothing short of remarkable. The prerendering is delicate and accurate. I wish I had a swatch or two for my interior designer.  That is, if I had an interior designer. When first published, the game was touted as having an “Omni 3D engine,” which enables the player to get a look at the surroundings in a 360-degree spin, but only in a smattering of fixed locations.

Clues to the mystery are in places cleverly dished as Lalande overhears court gossip, which again ties the gameplay into how the court at that time was run. Puzzles involve correct gameplay sequences and the use of inventory. The inventory system is a bit cumbersome—all items retain fixed positions in the tray, and often holes in between items are left so that the player must scroll through a larger amount of space than necessary to retrieve a needed item.

The soundtrack is exceptional. Throughout the game Baroque symphonic pieces in period style lay the foundation for immersion.

Very entertaining in an almost melancholy way, Versailles is a game made exactly how an edutainment title should be, reflecting the moment of now-defunct Cryo’s publishing ascendancy. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Canal+ Multimedia Publisher: Cryo Release Date: 1996

Available for: Macintosh Windows

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System Requirements

PC: Win 95 Pentium 90 16 MB RAM DirectX 3 graphics card 4X CD-ROM drive 2 MB free hard drive space

Mac: System 7.1 or later 68030 processor 8 MB RAM 2X CD ROM drive 40 MB hard drive space

Where to Find It

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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