By James Johnson

The third-person adventure genre of video games isn’t really thriving in the current gaming market. Indigo Prophecy may breath some life into this segment, and do it in a unique way, but the game still lacks the fast action and gameplay that attracts, and then holds, the attention of the majority of PC video game players. To make matters worse, playing with a traditional mouse/keyboard combo is a total bear and not recommended. The most redeeming feature of the game, by far, is the intriguing storyline with it’s morbid murder-mystery tale that unfolds before your very eyes.

Carla is on the case.

Indigo Prophecy tells a story that is overwhelming dark and violent. You are, as the central character, Lucas Kane. As just another average guy you suddenly find yourself hallucinating and murdering a complete stranger in the restroom at a New York City diner. Lucas has absolutely no idea as to why he has committed this heinous act and what’s worse, he has no idea why he carved occult type snake symbols into his forearms. You are made aware of all this by watching through Lucas’ eyes in the opening cut-scene. You witness the hallucinations and you watch yourself examine the man in the restroom. Still watching, you violently and repeatedly stab the knife into the stranger, and watch him fall to the ground in a large pool of blood. At this moment the game begins and you, as Lucas Kane, must clean up your tracks and escape the diner without causing a disturbance. Hot on your heels are two NYC police detectives, a buxom Carla Valenti, and a shaft-lookalike Tyler Miles. While playing Indigo Prophecy you will unravel the story behind the strange hallucinations and sudden outbreaks of homicidal violence by playing as all three characters. The story behind Indigo Prophecy takes mystery, murder, the occult, and conventional slasher thrills and blends them all together into a well constructed narrative that is easily superior to the average video game saga.

The uniqueness of the story is found not only in the story itself but also in the quasi choose-your-own-adventure format that the developers chose to provide to you, the player, during various points in the game. The drawback, however, is that the prevailing story and plot don’t change and your decisions only affect the smaller details and sub plots, such as Lucas Kane’s relationship with his ex-girlfriend. Here’s a hint: play the guitar well and show your sensitive side with Tiffany and Lucas will “hit a home run” and enjoy her company for one more night. The most immediate example of the consequences of this unique format occurs during the first scene. There are a number of things you can do to help Lucas cover his tracks at the diner, and if you happen to slip-up the detectives will use it to their advantage. In addition to this characteristic, the decisions you make will also affect your mental health in the game. Interestingly, mental health during the game basically ranges from depressed to neutral, there is no “happy” or “content” available.

Perhaps the worst part of the entire game, and the largest detractor from the game’s unique story are the controls. First off, in discussing the controls you should be warned that playing this game with the mouse/keyboard is possible but it is absolutely not recommended. The majority of the commands during the game (when using the mouse/keyboard) involve clicking the mouse and dragging in a certain direction: up, down, left, right, half circles, etc. Although this might not seem difficult at first (it’s really not) it becomes infinitely easier with a gamepad with dual analog controls. Additionally, with the keyboard you’ll get frustrated by the awkward camera controls and difficulty associated with maneuvering the character. The default keys are bad, to put it mildly. But don’t worry, it gets worse. Adding insult to injury you will notice when playing with that you must work two sets of d-pads. Again, this is easy with dual analog controls, but not so fun with the mouse/keyboard. This final characteristic, and major drawback, is present in *every single action sequence* during the game. For some reason, Quantic Dream thought we would all enjoy a little Dance Dance Revolution and gave us two big “Simon-Style” pads as graphics with colors corresponding to up/down and left/right on each of the d-pads. Once the action sequence starts you will be prompted to hit the correct button on each d-pad in the correct order, very much like DDR and Simon. Actually, it’s not “like Simon or DDR”, it is Simon and DDR…Your first look at the two large color Simon pads will come pretty early on during the game and you may find yourself wondering why it is that you have little to no control of your player during the biggest points of the entire game. Each of these control characteristics suggests that the developers meant for a gamepad to be used, and it honestly should be listed as “recommended” under the system requirements.

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