"Florence" Review - Florence in the Machine

Available for: Android, IOS

Reviewed for: IOS

Even by the standards I've set with some of my reviews this year, this is gonna be a short one. I proudly voted in the Game Awards polls today, and I noticed a title popping up under the nominees for Games for Impact and Best Mobile Game that I'd never heard of: Florence. A little bit of research suggested that Florence was a short, story-based mobile game that meant a lot to a lot of people. I saw that the price was about $2, so I thought "a supposedly impactful game for $2? Why not." So I'm hammering out this review approximately ten minutes after finishing the game to let you know whether or not you should shell out the meager amount of cash.

Florence follows a 25-year old loner working a corporate job (all of which hits a little too close to home), Florence Yeoh, as she tries to survive adult life. One day Florence meets a cellist named Krish, and from there the story becomes about their dynamic as they fall for each other and their respective dreams. This is an unmistakably millennial love story (in spite of an unusually optimistic ending, which feels a bit out of place), so it ends up being a bit predictable, but as I'm going to go on to argue, that doesn't really matter. Continuing that thought, it also doesn't really matter that I'm puzzled as to why Florence is nominated for Games for Impact. One of this year's greatest titles, Celeste (another nominee for the award) used its gameplay and bosses to deliver a message along the lines of "your anxiety is a part of you, and the only way to survive it is to live with it, communicate with it, understand the important role that it plays, and set boundaries." I'm unsure what the story profundity is in Florence. It isn't about family acceptance of a relationship between a Japanese woman and an Indian man, because both families seem perfectly accepting of it with no conflict. It isn't about prioritizing your own dreams and not giving up on them because of a partner, because both Florence and Krish consistently encourage each other in that regard. It doesn't even seem to be about mental health at all, despite what the research suggests. The message here just seems to be "follow your dreams," period. And...you know...that is a good message, but it's hardly profound, and I guess I was just expecting more from a title with the kind of cult following that it has.

Now let me tell you why very little of what I just said matters. I wondered why a developer would choose to deliver a story-based game on mobile platforms of all things...but after playing Florence, I realized that this game could only work on mobile, and it utilizes the platform in creative ways I've never seen before. The story itself may be a bog standard millennial "love is hard because I'm an insecure human being" affair, but the way it's executed almost completely makes up for it. At times, the game will have you moving the hands of a clock to show how time eroded all of Florence's childhood friendships. At times, the game will have you simulate conversation by moving puzzle pieces into a dialogue bubble and show romance beginning to blossom by slowly reducing the amount of puzzle pieces involved, representing conversation becoming more natural. In nearly every chapter of this game, I found myself saying "wow" aloud because of how consistently clever the game is in its use of the mobile platform to tell this story. Even the most predictable story moments have you interacting with the game in a way that's unique, and that makes this game freaking brilliant.

This being a mobile title (and one that doesn't even take an hour to beat), there isn't much else to discuss. The few animations there are are clean, your taps and swipes register well, and the sound design is oddly good for a mobile game. Sound will actually travel from the left earbud to the right earbud and vice versa depending on what's going on onscreen. Further technical praise is warranted for the game's killer soundtrack. Florence's music is on the same level as the likes of To the Moon and Finding Paradise in that it's admittedly sappy, but darn it, it sounds good and it gets the job done. One final technical note, this game was developed with Unity, and I always feel compelled to call that out when a good game is developed on that engine.

In the end, I find Florence undeserving of one of its Game Awards nominations, but as a mobile game and as an interactive story, it's been a while since I've seen such clever innovation. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, but as I've made a point of saying, the execution here is key. For the low cost of $2, you have the ability to experience a great taste of what mobile devices can bring to the interactive storytelling table.

Let us praLet us review:
Weak story - 0.2

The final score for Florence is...


9.8/10 - Absolutely Outstanding
Excellent work, Mountains, excellent work