GAME REVIEW – PRIM (PC)

By Marty Mulrooney

PRIM is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Common Colors (founded by Jonas Fisch from Frankfurt a.M./Germany) and published by Application Systems Heidelberg (Unforeseen Incidents, LUNA The Shadow Dust). It tells the dark yet humorous story of Prim, a young girl who – after her mother’s passing – discovers that her long-absent father is Death himself…

The opening of PRIM does a fantastic job of setting the scene and quickly covering its inventory-based gameplay mechanics, which will be all too familiar to genre aficionados. This traditional adventure is clearly inspired by the likes of Discworld II: Missing Presumed…!? and The Curse of Monkey Island, yet it undoubtedly has its own unique identity.

The striking black-and-white visuals and Tim Burton-esque character designs immediately set PRIM apart from its forebears, as does the unusual premise. There is a sense of underlying sadness as the player takes control of Prim, who is clearly still mourning the recent loss of her mother, paired with a genuine sweetness as she talks and hangs out with her best friend, Tristan. Then, the Grim Reaper appears and kidnaps her…

You see, it turns out that Prim’s long-absent father, Thanatos, is still very much in the picture, even if he isn’t technically alive. According to the Sisters of Fate, who narrate key moments in the story, humans have absolutely no idea what to do when they encounter the Grim Reaper. So, after weighing up all their options, most of them pick the obvious thing and just drop dead…

Luckily for Prim, her father has made sure that this won’t happen to her. When they finally meet, she only dies a little bit. She also changes just enough so he can take her to his realm through a mysterious, one-way portal. It’s a good job she suits a darker hairstyle, isn’t it? Say goodbye to the Land of the Living, and welcome to the Realm of the Dead!

To say Prim isn’t happy about her sudden and involuntary relocation to the Underworld would be a massive understatement. Armed with only a Swiss pocket scythe (oh yeah, there are puns!), she sets out to defy her father and escape back to the Land of the Living so she can reunite with Tristan. The situation is surreal, but the dynamic between father and daughter is both humorous and authentic. Thanatos has no idea how to raise a teenage girl, but in this, he’s probably less alone than he realises…

Joined by a sentient spider-eyeball thing that somehow manages to be outrageously cute despite replacing one of her perfectly fine human eyeballs (you even get to name him, and he simply pops out when needed…), Prim’s first tentative steps in the Realm of the Dead see her confined to her bedroom following a blazing argument. The number of interaction points is a little overwhelming at first, but once Prim figures out how to open a glowing jar of fireflies that her father refers to as ‘hotspots’, she can highlight all objects, people and areas of interest with the click of a button.

This in-game explanation – delivered with a nod and a wink – for something that most other adventures would simply throw in as a given illustrates the passion that Jonas Fisch and the Common Colors team have poured into PRIM. This is an adventure that embraces the classics that came before while also blazing its own trail. The Realm of the Dead isn’t as big as it first appears, but each location is a joy to explore and the supporting characters are a hoot to interact with.

Take Hank, for example, a grumpy, bearded skeleton hanging from a tree who uses ventriloquism to speak on its behalf. He is hanging in protest against Persephone, who would quite like to bring the dead forest back to life. Speaking with Hank, Persephone and even the tree is a great showcase of the game’s strong comedic writing, and I was continually impressed with how subtle clues were worked into regular conversations. Ironically, that old-school sense of ‘Aha!’ as another piece of the puzzle clicks into place is alive and well in the Realm of the Dead.

As one puzzle cascades into the next – with multiple puzzle threads weaving in and out simultaneously – it’s hard not to smile. There is a built-in hints system in the form of Prim’s diary if the player gets stuck, but nearly all of the puzzles make sense despite the world’s twisted logic. Highlights include using multiple alarm clocks to talk to the three Sisters of Fate, helping a lovesick siren called Echo woo his one true love with the power of song, and disrupting a water ballet class on the River Styx.

If I had a very minor complaint, it’s that while the voice acting is excellent across the board and there are some catchy musical numbers (the end credits music is awesome!), the majority of the soundtrack is comprised of gentle background music that is often drowned out by the voice acting and everything else occurring on screen. Funnily enough, there are also a few mini-games that I was fully expecting to hate… but I really enjoyed them! Consider me a casketball card game convert…

PRIM is a well-written and beautifully drawn adventure that tells a surprisingly poignant story without ever losing its light-hearted sense of fun. It’s a little bit short perhaps, particularly in the final act, but the ending is highly satisfactory, and there’s plenty of mystery left surrounding Prim’s mother if the developers ever decide to follow up with a sequel. PRIM is one of the best adventures released in recent years and comes highly recommended – who would have thought that a black-and-white game could be so colourful?

9 OUT OF 10