(Played on Steam Deck with Traditional Chinese text and Japanese voice-over. 7.6 hours to see the actual credits roll according to the Steam clock.)
Sigonos’ OPUS series grew in production value by installment. After the Mass Effect 2 planet scanning minigame as the whole short game, a top-down adventure akin to SNES titles and a side-scroller with “PS1 graphic”, Prism Peak jumped right into the that gap between PS2 and 3. Yet the 2026 title is more restrained in terms of world building while the first 3 OPUS games could all be in the same universe where humanity spread across the stars. Still me being 36 combined with the studio’s usual narrative chop still made this a worthwhile game.
Eugene (As his name is pronounced in both Japanese and English) felt that he had burnt out at the age of 40. After losing his interest in photography, he drove to his mountainside hometown to bury his grandfather, with whom he shared his earliest happy memory with. But he was stopped on his track and got dragged into a magical land with talking animals and a child who looked up to him for protection. Seemingly taking this child to their destination was also the only way Eugene had to get out.
After trying this February’s Steam Next Feast demo of this game, I thought its story can only go 2 ways, either “ripping off” the second Academy Award Best Animated Feature winner or that other more internalized thing I would not spoil. Turns out it’s “that other more internalized thing”, and yes aforementioned “talking animals” fall in the cliché of such narrative as well. It feels like a huge step down from OPUS series’ focusing on different corners of the same spacefaring universe.
However, Eugene’s tragedy littered sorry lot in life is presented convincingly and vividly in this game. From being ignored by one of his parents to his own failing as a parent, Eugene sure feels like a more authentic sad hairy dad than any of those homicidal bastards corporations tricked the masses into caring. Well, maybe except Yi from Nine Sols, not that he got much backing from corporate bastards.
That cat man is so much sadder, hairier and backing tracking in that game is about being a sugar dad. But Yi is still quite a fascinating bastard capable of shocking acts. Guess my Chinese-speaking brain is just more in line with struggling fatherhood depicted by writers in Taiwan.
Speaking of homicidal bastards and the corporations promote them. Prism Peak to me has “Naughty Dog should have made one like this” all written over it. This is without a doubt a point & click adventure presented cinematically. One core mechanic can be described as “first-person shooter”. No, not shoot to kill, just taking photos. After clicking on many objects, Eugene’s thought would be “I should take a picture of this”. Thus plug the right trigger, aim and shoot. Those photos are the keys to many doors.
This could be janky though, as there is no way to foresee whether the object is properly framed or not. I would prefer the left trigger to aim, left stick to move then right trigger to shoot control. But no, the game only allows right trigger to lift the camera up then right face button to put it down if the framing needs to be adjusted.
Outside the usual exploration, there are segments that can be considered action set-pieces. No, no killing there, just a lot of running from danger that would be hard to be made on actual PS2. Checkpoints and all.
As in 2021’s Echo of the Starsong, Prism Peak’s er, lore is hidden among many of its optional collectives. There is an alphabet to decipher and wall paintings to film. All point to that the relative loose connection to previous series installment might be hidden in those while the story on surface is an all too common tale about natural versus neutral, with landslide as a pivoting plot point.
Prism Peak is an interactive animated series for better and worse. Other than player character Eugene’s thoughts, it is full voiced. Japanese voice cast is quite jam packed with usual suspects. Its narrative scale is bit disappointing as a follow-up to a space opera. It’s a grounded tale in a quite mantling setting, even with natural disaster and talking animals. But Sigono had played to their narrative strength in delivering an authentic sad hairy dad story. If you are tired of so-called Sony Prestige ethos and wanting some real shit as I am, do please give this fated to be sidelined gem a try.