Lou is a happy-go-lucky guy that has had some bad luck but is ready to start anew after his parents died a year ago, by moving to the beautiful city of Lisbon. In the start of this free indie point-and-click adventure game (which might not be so happy-go-lucky), A Date in the Park by Cloak and Dagger Games, you find Lou, well, about to go on a date in the park with the woman of his dreams he just met the night before. Lou feels as if she is truly the one, and for those who have met a person in an unfamiliar bar and then plan the rest of their lives together, we know that this probably won't end the way he thinks it will. Lou is optimistic to a fault about his life and is rather a sappy gent himself that perhaps we can ignore the slight hints that something is off and join him in his haze of puppy love.
A Date in the Park starts off a little slow. You have to explore the whole park before anything happens, and that's over 20 luscious serene scenes. Thankfully instead of having to switch through action choices as in Mudlarks, you either left-click to interact, or right-click to examine. When you right click on the exit of the area, you pop right into the next one instead of having to watch Lou walk across the entire way, so if you like you can just pop though the areas and get the show on the road. For those who enjoy the aesthetics of a game, you're going to enjoy the tranquil moseying around. In the end, however, you're going to find you can't shake off the feeling that something just isn't right. If you have your sound up, and are listening quite carefully then perhaps you'll gain a few clues before the finale. While this game sets up to look and feel like a long adventure, it'll likely take you thirty minutes to an hour depending on how you play. Since this game takes place in Portugal, everyone but Lou speaks the native language and even he doesn't know what they are saying. I don't speak any Portuguese either, but if you do, I have a feeling this will be a very different game from the get go. I really don't want to give too much away, but I'll just say this is a grand telling of a story, and that's all I'll say. This is something that must really be experienced first hand.
Windows:
Get the free full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Great game.
In case you are stuck at the beginning:
There is a pathway to the right of the statue without a head
This sounds like an interesting game. I'm already trying to guess what is going to happen:
Is she actually a he, as the ...less dainty features and use of the word 'boy' in that picture hint at?
Does she tell him to meet there so she can murder him?
Is she actually a duck by day, like the opposite version of Princess Fiona's ogre curse?
I hope a Portuguese speaker can tell us if knowing the language changes the gameplay. I know in some Cracked article I read once, that a movie that had a bit of a twist at the end would have been different if we'd heard the one line in French said by a background character near the start.
What a charmingly strange game. Loved the audio.
Catherine:
Just a friendly reminder that having masculine bits does not make a woman a 'he'.
I also feel it's worth noting that the idea of transsexual women preying on straight men is an ugly myth that does not happen in real life. Fortunately, no, that doesn't actually happen in this game.
Well. That was most unsettling.
I'm still not quite sure I understand what happened, heh.
So...did she magically resurrect Squash (I named my duckling Squash. Don't judge me)? Did she coerce the momma duck into maiming Squash, knowing Lou would eventually pick him up and tuck him into his jacket, thereby giving Lou a reason to suddenly reach inside his jacket and cause the cop to shoot him?
Am I reading too much into this? Either way...I was thoroughly weirded out and yet totally entranced by the scenery. Cool game. Oh--another question: what were the sounds to listen for to clue us in to the finale?
Requesting information given the tags in the review
Given that there's a horror tag but no trigger warning I'd like to know as someone who's too anxious to handle finding out for myself at the moment: Are there jump scares or references to abuse?
Troy,
There is nothing about abuse in this game of any nature. Nor are there jump scares or screamers,
However,
There is a very disturbing image of a violent nature that turns up when you least expect it. I guess it could be seen as a jumpscare but not in the traditional sense.
Hope that clarified things =)
Sessie,
There is one major sound that gives a hint. When you are fishing out the music box, in the background is the Wilhelm scream. I barely caught it and when my friend played the game she didn't hear it again, though I did as I was expecting it.
I assumed there is probably one or two more that I just didn't catch but the scream is probably the biggest one.
That was.....something.
What I thought was going to happen did happen. I can't say I enjoyed, but it had potential.
Ok, it was weird and scary and masterfully done, but... what's the point with this
"head of a statue with an A letter"
thing? Was it just a red herring? Can not understand.
This game really needs a walkthrough or some hints at least. Couldn't find anything on the net.
Reiko
Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just exaggerating from the very few clues available before playing the game.
And yes Smallfish, I agree. That's why I'm back here. Or maybe I don't have the patience to keep wandering around the park.
Hints so far:
Some of the paths might be a little difficult to figure out. If you don't see an Exit, then left click near the edge of the screen and sometimes there will be one that was just out of reach.
Keep clicking through until you witness the attempted duckicide. The thing you need to pick it up with is in your inventory, you don't get to rummage through the gardener's bag.
The balloon floats over to the other pond. You can click near the left edge of the pond to walk closer and see that it definitely has a note attached.
You have to find something to help you get the note, even though it looks close enough that you could get it if you get your shoes wet or something. Maybe you're actually the Wicked Witch of the West?
I'm still trying to over-think what's happening, but one thing I'm sure about is
if I can get the pigeons to shoo from that one spot, there's probably something nasty there.
Reiko,
Where are you stuck at? Have you visited every screen of the park?
Catherine,
You can mess with the gardener's bag, just not at first
Is that where you are stuck? Also I love your theories. I wasn't that creative when I first played.
I think I got... some of it?
There's a house of Adrasteia in the park. In Greek mythology, Adtasteia is a nymph who was babysitting the god Zeus when he was a baby - he needed to be hidden because his father Kronos wanted to eat him alive (this just in mythology is f****d-up).
If you pay attention to the big duck in the pond that mauls the duckling, it is MALE. Like Kronos. So the duckling is a Zeus in this game, and Catarina is like Adrasteia, because she saves him, nurturing him with the man's blood?...
Now I'm really tempted to see what happens if you name the duckling Zeus.
I feel that if you decipher all the mythology references and translate the Portuguese, the game will probably start making sense. On the topic of Portuguese,
I don't speak it, but I know a couple of words. The gardener at the pond tells the protag to "ser cuidado" (be careful) and mentions a "mulher" (woman). Hmmm...
Another mythology reference:
In Roman mythology, Priapus is a minor god who was suffering (or enjoying, durhur) permanent erection (hence the word "priapism"). In the park, the statue of Priapus is missing a head - a head which you find half-buried in the earth with an "A" on its forehead. Catarina says in her note that she has lost her head for you. So... if Catarina is Adrasteia ("A", geddit?), does this mean that by tearing off people's and statues' heads, she hints that when men get erections, say, for her, they lose their (upper) heads?... And that the gardener was probably once on a date, as well?...
Igor Savchenko, maybe it clears things up a bit?
Another mythology reference:
In Roman mythology, Priapus is a minor god who was suffering from (or enjoying, durhur) permanent erection (hence the word "priapism"). In the park, the statue of Priapus is missing a head - a head which you find half-buried in the earth with an "A" on its forehead. Catarina says in her note that she has lost her head for you. So... if Catarina is Adrasteia ("A", geddit?), does this mean that by tearing off people's and statues' heads, she hints that when men get erections, say, for her, they lose their (upper) heads?... And that the gardener was probably once on a date, as well?...
Igor Savchenko, maybe it clears things up a bit?
So if Google Translate doesn't fail me,
the gardener tells Lou that he has seen a woman in the bushes and that the woman had a crazy look in her eyes. He also tells Lou to be very careful.
Concerning the rest of the references, the god Sancus, whose statue you also see in the park, is supposed to be the god of truth, honesty and oaths. He was also supposedly very close in his functions to the god Jupiter/Zeus, to the point that he is now considered either a genius of this god or just another name for him.
Am I reading too much into it? I'm probably reading too much into it.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do
after picking up the hurt duckling.
SmallFish,
just leave the scene (through the exit to the left, for example). After that, there will be a sound and Lou will say that you need to go back.
Wow, thanks. I swear I left the scene but to the right and got no noise...
I've gotten to a point where I can't progress because my game keeps crashing.....can anyone help me??
Okay.
I ran into a couple of bugs (unless I'm just stupid and couldn't pixel-hunt the right way).
I couldn't zoom in the view on the dome building's door. This didn't turn out to matter but it was something I noticed.
I also couldn't see the music box in the pipe, which essentially prevented me from finishing the game.
Since the bugs kept me from completing the game (and because I had already been desperate for a walkthrough) I resorted to a YouTube video. And I have an opinion. Or three.
Whoever said the gross image of violence would come out when you were least expecting it....WASN'T. LYING. O.0 EEEeeeeWwWWww! It was unnerving enough to be the only three people in that gigantic park, but then for one to be a murderer and the other to be murdered was kind of terrifying. Mission accomplished, devs.
The being shot and killed because of a language barrier was creepy as heck and made me wary of travel. Good thing I don't tend to strike out on my own :).
I spent an embarrassingly long time searching for the door that unlocked with that key from the gardener's bag. It was the FREAKING LAST ONE I TRIED. Because I actually forgot about that secret building behind the other weird larger building. The map needs some improvement.
Regarding the ending.
Can you spell A-B-R-U-P-T? No closure whatsoever...just OMGDEADGARDENER, RUUUUNNNN!!!!!!!, and then you're killed by the discriminatory po-po and then...WAIT, Catarina shows up out of nowhere and kills the po-po herself?? WTF was that?? We had all those locked doors and the creepy duck and all this lead-up about how AWESOMEEE Catarina was, and then, BOOM! She's suddenly this creepy psycho who gets you killed. Why did she kill the gardener? Why frame you? Where was the park entrance dude in all this? What do the freaking ducks have to do with anything? And who was this woman really?
Oh, and about all that walking around...not appreciated. Just so tedious. It was what sent me to the YouTube video in the first place, because even with the map I could hardly keep track of where I was or where I should go next. Someone needs to make this game a walkthrough, preferably those who made the game!
So really, this game was not at all what I expected. I don't know what I did expect really, but it wasn't this. *Shudders*
Oh, sorry, one more thing. What was the moral of the story?
Don't go on dates with random women you meet in foreign bars, or learn the language before traveling/moving to another country lest you be framed for grisly murder?
I'd love to hear the inspiration for this game.
:)
I know enough portuguese to understand what thw characters say, I havent finished the game actually, because the gardener creeped me out so bas i just went to sleep
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