Game: Midnight Girl
Genre: Point-and-Click
System: Steam (for Windows and macOS)
Developer|Publisher: Italic
Controller Support: None
Price: UK £TBC | US $TBC | EU €TBC
Release Date: October 6th, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to Italic.
Midnight Girl is a point-and-click adventure game in a fun, cartoon-like style. The art style is simple, and the puzzles are fun, and there is a lot going on with this old-school-style game.
The Piece of the Puzzle
Midnight Girl follows a young woman who is planning to steal a crystal vase in order to help pay for a trip to see her father. She is currently in France and needs quite a bit of cash to head back home. You have to help her get ready to steal this expensive item in the first chapter. Unfortunately for us, we are caught and end up in jail early in the game. Now it’s time to continue her story from jail.
Like many point-and-click adventures, Midnight Girls feels like an old LucasArts game. The puzzles are cute fun, and it doesn’t have the nerve-wracking feeling that Sierra titles that make you check every pixel. Each chapter seems fairly self-contained, so you don’t have to worry about missing an object from chapter 1 that is vital to chapter 8 or something like that.
Feels Old But Also New
As a huge fan of point-and-click adventure titles, I really dove into Midnight Girls. The story is unique, and our main character is the anti-prelapsarian hero I wanted her to be. She’s ready to do whatever it takes to see her father, no matter what she has to beg for, borrow, or steal. Our heroine makes this adventure game unique in the genre; this is not a hero’s journey, and I am here for it.
The change in story perspective is refreshing. While the puzzles aren’t massively difficult, they have charming elements that make Midnight Girls worth a look for anyone who is a fan of the genre in general.
The Pros of Midnight Girls
The point-and-click genre is kind of infamous for having a whole lot of games that feel impossible to finish without help, but Midnight Girls leans harder into the story and the fun of exploring rather than trying to make the puzzles so challenging that they take days to complete. It has a beautiful story with interesting characters and a lot of unexpected beauty all over the little world Italics has created.
I love the characters, I love the challenge level, and I love the look. But not just that, I also loved the music. Each level had its own jam in the background, and the sound was perfect. Not too intrusive and great to listen to on repeat (as you tend to have to do in puzzle games).
The ease of use in Midnight Girls is also amazing. I love how intuitive the UI is. You pick up items, then to use them, you just click on the item, then click on the thing you want to use the item with. Easy as pie. There is a little pop-up when you can interact with something, so you don’t have to click every pixel to make sure you don’t miss anything. And it makes puzzle-solving smooth.
Also, Midnight Girls is a rather massive game; I was surprised at the sheer number of levels and puzzles in this little indie title.
The Cons of Midnight Girl
I like the sort of anti-hero we’ve been given as a protagonist, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. You will have to steal things to play this game; you don’t get to choose if you want to be a moral character or not. That’s not really the point of the story. In my opinion, it makes Midnight Girls more interesting rather than less, but some might not like the idea of stealing things. That being said, I think the story is worth diving into your less-than-upright side to delve deeper into.
Some of the puzzles are a little too easy; there is only one solution to all the puzzles I did (I haven’t finished the game, but so far, anyway). There were no extra items to trip you up. There was a single solution with only what you needed to get through the level. I would have liked a little more challenge, but perhaps the later levels will deliver this.
Conclusion
I love Midnight Girl. I love point-and-click adventures, and this scratches the itch I’ve had for a good one since I finished up Lucy Dreaming a whole year ago. It’s fun, it’s beautiful, it’s smooth and polished, and the music is good. I cannot recommend this game enough. It’s great fun with a whole lot of personality in it!
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot.
