Not too long ago, I came across AstralShift’s Little Goody Two Shoes. Completing the game intrigued me about the events of the studio’s previous game that serve as the sequel to the story of Elise. Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum is another indie horror with bone-chilling plot that requires you to shed blood and tears to uncover the entire story.
The first thing that this game attracts you with is the aesthetics, both fascinating and frightening, with just a pinch of surrealism, partly inspired by Lewis Carroll and his Alice. And the deeper you get into the game, the more it drives you in.
The game begins with the words: “Hold your memories close to your heart.”
The protagonist’s mother asks to never let it go, before the heroine wakes up in an unknown place, surrounded by flowers. The character does not know anything about herself, not even her own name. All that she has from her past life is a small pocket mirror and the fading voice of her mother. And the strangest thing is that the girl is stuck in a room with only a mirror that does not reflect her.
Buckle up, this is our Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum review for PC. If you haven’t had a chance to try out the game or its sequel Little Goody Two Shoes, note that there are spoilers ahead, referencing certain events from both games.
Without spoilers, the story revolves around our nameless heroine who is trying to remember who she is while escaping the terrible place she woke up in. The further you get through the game, the more characters you will meet, but they are also not as simple as it might seem at the first glance.
Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum is not a very complex but nevertheless very compelling, enjoyable and painstakingly made horror with a small number of mini-games and puzzles. However, the game will challenge you not only with puzzles and secrets, but also with common conversations. After all, one wrong word or action can destroy the heroine’s life and lead you to one of the unhappy endings.
The game has quite a few of them, and the endings depend on many factors. Failed the mini-games in the very first chapter of the game? Here’s one certain ending for you. Gave an affirmative answer to a certain question in the second chapter? Here’s another. Were you mean to a girl in Chapter 3?.. You can see where this is going.
This is the way it goes in every chapter, and the overall number of endings is quite impressive. No, it’s not like Nier Automata, but there are really quite a lot of them. And the game itself changes depending on your actions and words, even from seemingly insignificant little things that end up playing into the overarching plot. As an example, the final dialogue with one of the other heroines can take place under the blood red moon… or under the calm and clear one. Which will be the one you’ll get?
Some endings are quite quick and easy to get: all you have to do is lose, refuse or accept certain proposals coming from other girls in various chapters or even not make it somewhere on time. However, if you play it carefully, correctly answer girls’ questions by either actively supporting them or by avoiding offending them, they will provide the protagonist with regalia similar to her pocket mirror.
Each regalia opens a separate ending in the last chapter. Seriously, their number affects endings as well. Whether you approach the final chapter with 1, 2, 3 or 4 of these, each option provides players with a separate ending. And not every one of them is happy and light-hearted.
I remember each one of them because I had to try really hard to unlock it all. And getting it all together gives you an intimate understanding of the depth of the game’s plot and its unbreakable connection with the events of Little Goody Two Shoes. Every dialogue of the game is well thought-out (with the exception of Ch2 that features more dialogue than there is water in the Pacific Ocean), and the contrast is enough to give one emotional whiplash.
By unlocking 2-3 endings, you will start understanding the actual horror behind the events of the game. Be prepared, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on you.
Even though this game is technically a prequel to Little Goody Two Shoes due to its release date, the gameplay does not differ all that much. Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum is an adventure game with horror elements, dialogue-driven narrative arcs and mini-games, puzzles and riddles.
However, unlike most adventure games, you can’t solve everything by brute force or by picking at random until you guess right. The very first puzzle you encounter is to find a way to leave the room you find yourself in. And the answer is not to poke into every nook, cranny, and corner, it sits right in front of you.
In the next room you will find strange recesses, perfectly matching the balls scattered around. There is a meaning behind the colors that can be found as well, and it will add to the character. The heroine will then go on to face many more mysteries: find out the murderer at the party, play a deadly game of tag, guessing what the Queen’s favorite dish is, and so on.
The puzzles might look to be unrelated to the plot at the first glance, but the truth couldn’t be further away. I played through the game not once, not twice, not even four times, but somewhere around seven, and never regretted a second spent in Pocket Mirror. The game features a deep, involved narrative, but it is not presented to players on a silver platter, you literally need to rip it out from the game’s fingers, while also reading and researching whatever you find.
The surroundings of an abandoned castle you end up in pleasantly create the atmosphere of horror: a doll would move when you look away from it, then a door would close behind the protagonist, or the writing pen would spill red ink that looks so much like blood, or an unknown monster would ask you what the sky is like today. Or maybe you will get spooked by someone’s severed finger. Pay attention to the color of the manicure, even such little detail can add to the overall plot.
In addition to the protagonist, there are a number of interesting heroines: Fleta, Egliette, Harpae, Lisette, and Enjel. Each of them will control a chapter and a part of the narrative.
Fleta and Egliette rule the doll castle. Their dinner party, the ball, the theater and the plant labyrinth are quite impressive in their surrealism. Their story will help the protagonist a great deal in the future, while their games are quite strange and unsettling. Can you make friends with them, and is it really worth it? It is in their library that you will first find the story of the die Heilige family, their illness and their secrets. Our protagonist is in for the deadly game of hide and seek and a pursuit from the unusual maiden, among other bizarre adventures like helping a witch find her wand or passing through the mirror labyrinth.
Harpae is the second heroine you will encounter. She might seem caring and sweet, but you shouldn’t be mistaken about her. Her secret can also greatly aid you in figuring out all the secrets of the plot. Harpae immediately admits to knowing exactly who the protagonist is, but she cannot say her name. A tea party with her is full of surprises: not only was it not a normal tea, but exploring the castle afterward gives a lot of disjointed interesting information. The die Heilige family once again pops up in the annals of library, doctor reports and maids’ gossip.
Having managed to escape Harpae’s sweet speeches and toxic care, the heroine will manage to escape this nightmare and meet a girl in the reflection of a mirror. Her name is Enjel, and she immediately reveals that the protagonist IS Enjel, her other half, and the two have to reunite.
By the time the game lets the protagonist enter the turf of Lisette, the heroine is already on the verge of a breakdown, both mentally and physically. She is scared, still doesn’t understand who she is and, worst of all, she’s all alone. This chapter will really start to put pressure on your feelings. Riddles with coffins, the disjointed interrupted narration, terrible scenery, all of this will greatly affect our heroine.
And this is where you find the last part of the letter. Letter from Elise die Heilige, the protagonist of Little Goody Two Shoes. On that fateful night, she gained everything and lost everything with a single decision.
Refusing to help Lisette lands the heroine in the most surreal labyrinth I’d ever seen: eyes in the walls, a mouth instead of a door, the corridors that are actually bloody intestines, and many more indescribable things, all to find the real Lisette who accuses the protagonist of being “just like Elise”.
The final episode of the game is meeting Enjel in Elysium. Having found a mirror in the die Heilige family mansion, you will get to her area. But isn’t it strange to run into a creature so kind and sweet? This is where you will run into another performance, dedicated to Enjel herself.
The entire last chapter leads to the main endings. From the choices you’ve made in completion of the previous chapters, to whether you were able to get the golden regalia, to how you talked to the other heroines and solved riddles, and more.
Finishing the game for the first time, I didn’t get any special items, had a fight with all the other girls, lost a number of mini-games, and got my very first ending. A performance dedicated to the protagonist herself.
That is when you also get a chance to get the remaining endings. It might take quite a bit of time to open them all, but I don’t think you would regret it. Each new ending gives a small glimpse at the overall plot and shows a new side of our protagonist. Some will be sweet, others bittersweet.
Having explored all there was to it, I can only advise to first get 2 Golden Regalia, then 3. These two endings made me rethink the entire plot. It is up to you to decide which ending is the canon. Only you get to choose how this story ended, and whether it ended at all.
This game was a very interesting experience for me. It is not a masterpiece, there are certain drawbacks both in narrative and in gameplay, but there is still enough to suck you in for a few days in a row to explore all that it can offer.
If you love strong stories filled with symbolism and made even better with interesting gameplay, then this is the game for you.
