I must say right away that I have always liked thoughtful stories that make you empathize with the characters and are not so far from reality. Therefore, Gerda: A Flame in Winter from a small studio under the wing of DONTNOD, the creators of Life Is Strange, could not help but attract my attention.
Gerda: A Flame in Winter is an adventure with a truly non-linear plot, but globally the plot is linear in it: you can go through different paths from one key episode to another, but in the episode itself, the paths will be one-way. or other merging into a single event provided for by the plot.
And that’s not bad. After all, circumstances often turn out to be stronger than us. All that remains for us is each time to stubbornly make our own little choice here and now. We must decide whether we will make a deal with our conscience or remain ourselves. Will we look for acceptable compromises or shamefully uncomfortable? It’s up to us. Even in the case when the fate of not only ourselves but also a person close to us depends on us.
Plot
The Second World War. We live in an occupied Danish village, somehow coping with scarcity, but at least not under enemy fire.
Our heroine is the girl Gerda, a nurse of Danish-German origin, and therefore is between two fires, especially since the views of her relatives on this war are diametrically opposed.
And although we are not at the front, the heroine’s husband is under attack, and we have to try to free him, along the way asking the question – how far are we ready to go?
Collaborate with the occupiers or join the resistance? Maybe try sitting on two chairs? Guided only by personal interest to save her husband or to help others? We must answer all these questions.
Characters
The characters here are made … very realistic. Everyone operates exactly in the realities that the game shows us – in war conditions.
We have Germans: and yes, most of them are true to the ideals of Hitler, but there are also those who joined his troops only wanting to ensure the security of their own territories … or even for a much more personal and bitter reason – because of parental pressure.
The Danes are also divided into several camps: someone tolerates the established regime only, for the time being, someone closes in on himself and repeats like a mantra “well, we live somehow – and that’s okay”, but there are those who entered into resistance and want to end the regime.
The people in our environment are also different: there are frank assholes who only care about their own ideals and interests, but most are still shown in gray tones, reminding us at the most inconvenient moment that we are all human.
Take, for example, our father: he is just one of those who joined Hitler’s detachment voluntarily, not out of ideals, but out of a desire to defend their territories and live in peace. And although he is stubborn as a donkey in this matter, he loves his family and takes care of his daughter as best he can.
But, of course, Gerda remains the most important, most sincere character – and we ourselves create her character. Whether she will take sides, whether she will sympathize with others even to the detriment of herself, or whether she will go ahead to free her husband, not shunning sacrifices and her own principles, depends on us.
Choices
The whole game is built on our choices and relationships with other characters – in the future, they determine our success in various endeavors.
Do you want to calm a little girl, but have already managed to scare her with your appearance? It may be possible to correct the situation if we picked up a teddy bear in the house in advance.
You and a friend were caught on an abandoned road, where did you communicate with the resistance? Pressure on the patrol is possible if you have good relations with the occupiers.
The game almost immediately hits us in the forehead. The goal can be achieved in different ways. Through different people, different skills, and different collected items. But you never know for sure which choice will be right. Can I definitely trust this person, even if he is fighting for a just cause? Isn’t it worth it to bow before a scoundrel pursuing mercantile goals?
Some of these choices will not be so simple, and some, on the contrary, will cause absolutely no doubts. There are no “wrong” options here.
As for the elections: there are many of them, they are small, but all the pieces, the whole sequence of actions add up to a whole, albeit not always the right picture. There are about a dozen main options that will be kindly shown to us after the credits – and you know, the road to the desired outcome will not be easy.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere in the game is amazing. Yes, the graphics look clumsy, but the developers managed to create their own visual style – and within its framework, everything looks authentic.
Poor snowy streets, dim light of lamps, crisp snow underfoot, hooting of owls at night, and barking of dogs in the distance – all these little things hit right in the heart, making it shrink from longing.
Almost the entire soundtrack is made up of piano melodies – and they always come in handy, only reinforcing the feeling of hopelessness and hope for the best. You can’t say more here: words can’t convey this combination. It needs to be felt.
If you are a fan of story games with moral dilemmas, you are not embarrassed by simple graphics and the chosen theme of the project, then Gerda: A Flame in Winter is definitely for you. The game came out somehow “in the shadows”, there are only a couple of trailers on YouTube, because such games are very relevant and, most likely, will always be relevant.
