Sunset Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Sunset
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Sunset panorama

Sunset is a video game created by Tale of Tales that tries to do something new with the idea of narrative in the video game space, using just one character that gamers control and actually interact with while also making an apartment a sort of medium that allows others to express themselves.

The game can be mysterious and opaque but also direct and shocking, and this mix seems designed to keep the player interested as time goes by, even if the main mechanics do not evolve in any significant ways.

Sunset has some interesting ideas and some very emotional moments, but I fear that it lacks a strong enough hook to keep players interested in the long-term.

Story

Sunset asks the player to become Angela Burns, who is a housekeeper for a wealthy and powerful man named Gabriel Ortega, in a fictional country somewhere in South America, and then delivers a narrative that can branch off in a few ways and tends to introduce some interesting twists and surprises as it progresses.

The year is 1972 and in the city of San Bavon and the country of Anchuria the political situation is very fluid, with a powerful military faction aiming to take control of the government and most of the power players in the country still on the fence when it comes to their own allegiance.

Ortega has money and his living space shows him as being both educated and capable of appreciating luxury, which means that his position could become problematic given the general feeling that the initial coup will not be able to deal with a new and left-leaning guerrilla movement.

Sunset light sources
Sunset light sources

Angela might be working a lowly job but she is a university graduate and the lines created for her by Tales of Tales makes it clear that she is both smart and a little too emphatic, both when it comes to her brother and Ortega.

The development team has managed to create a thrilling story in Sunset, one which moves relatively slowly but makes the apartment and the characters moving through it feel like they exist at the center of a very interesting world.

In many ways the game feels like a one woman play with excellent pacing and plotting that gives gamers the chance to feel like they are in control, even through the ending suggests that there's just one way that the narrative can play out.

But the journey created by Sunset is great and I love the sense of discovery that exists for the first 10 to 15 apartment visits or so and the way small details tend to constantly appear to surprise gamers and make them question their own ideas about where the narrative is going.

Gameplay

Sunset is a game about doing chores, at least initially, with players controlling Angela as she visits the apartment that Ortega has somewhere in the city an hour before the sun disappears from the sky in order to perform a number of tasks that he sets out.

The twist is that for each of the required activities the protagonist gets a choice to interact with the world around her and with her boss in two ways, one which tends to be familiar and sometimes even flirty and another more business-like and cold.

The action takes place over the course of about one full year and while the gameplay does not evolve gamers will feel that they become more involved in the relationship between Angela, the apartment itself and the man who owns it (who never actually meets her when we are watching).

Angela delivers a monologue as she works, talking about her week and about the situation around her, and players will feel a clear pressure to finish their tasks, which sometimes seem a little obscure, while also getting all the details the narration delivers.

As time progresses in Sunset the politics of the country become more present, especially as the brother gets more involved with the left-leaning rebellion, and the ways that Angela can influence the course of the conflict increase.

The interesting thing is that players are never able to see anything that Angela or another character does outside the apartment, and it's unclear whether she has clear contact with Ortega or how she deals with the brother.

Despite the fact that gamers control the protagonist and can choose how she deals with situations, there's no way to know everything required to make sense of the narrative.

There are strong suggestions that the main character and Ortega have a relationship outside the apartment, but there's no way of knowing about it.

Sunset is a game about the apparent importance of small gestures, about the way those who perform them see them as important and even crucial even if they do not matter in any way in the long -term.

The biggest problem with the actual gameplay is that it becomes repetitive after a few short days of working in the apartment and once meaning is drained from the choices between warmth and coldness the game lacks a clear long-term appeal.

Graphics and audio

Sunset is a beautiful but very monotone video game, which benefits a lot from the fact that all the action takes place in one apartment.

The fact that the moment when Angela enters the environment and interacts with it is always in the hour before the sun disappears means that there's a warm glow and a familiarity that sometimes blunts the fact that a civil war is taking place all around.

The way the place evolves over time is also interesting, although by the end I was a little too focused on the relatively problematic textures and on the great use of light.

Sunset also does a great job with the voice work for Angela Burns, who manages to express a wide range of emotions with her lines even if she basically has to act with partners that might not even exist.

The rest of the sound design for the title is pretty limited, outside of a few musical moments that add a melancholy air to the action.


The Good

  • Focus on narrative
  • Detailed environment
  • Voice acting

The Bad

  • Limited gameplay
  • Some narrative issues

Conclusion

Sunset is a video game that dares to create an experience that challenges gamers to carefully consider scraps of information even as they are performing somewhat repetitive tasks, while also focusing on just one character that reacts to an entire universe that evolves around him.

Tale of Tales is clearly skilled when it comes to world building, and they create an effective set of mysteries to draw the player into the story.

Unfortunately, the game seems to be unable to decide on what it wants to focus: the relationship between Angela and Ortega? The political situation in this fictional country? The way an apartment can reflect internal struggles and moments of clarity?

I would have loved for the development team to strive for a little more clarity, but I do understand why a certain segment of the public will appreciate the mystery.

As commentary about our tendency, as humans, to give importance to seemingly intelligent and cultured characters in a strange situation even if they do not deserve it Sunset is interesting but a little unsatisfying.

Sunset might ultimately be an unsatisfying game but the only way for a player to decide how he feels about it is to play through at least 15 days as Angela and see whether he starts to fall in love with her story.

story 9
gameplay 7
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 9
multiplayer 0
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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