The tragic myth of Orpheus's quest to bring his wife Eurydice back from the underworld has inspired art from the classical era all the way through to Flash games (such as JIG favorite Don't Look Back). Now Mitchell Brien and Finnian Millour have made a game that takes the musical core of the Orpheus character and translates it naturally into puzzles, in the simply titled Orpheus.

The controls for the game are a bit unusual. While using [WASD] or [arrow] keys to move is pretty standard, your only "weapon" is your lyre, which you can play via the number keys [1] through [7], representing the notes A through G. All your lyre can do is play music, but luckily for you, you are playing Orpheus, the most amazing musician who ever lived. Ever heard of the music that charmed a savage breast (yes, breast not beast, William Congreve, look it up)? Anyway, Orpheus was the undisputed king of that. Three headed hell dog? Take a nap. Flowers? Bursting into bloom at a pluck of the strings! Yep, you're pretty much all-powerful. But that won't help you much if you can't follow directions...

Orpheus was made in a mere 8 weeks as a final project for a class, so it's to be expected that it's a little on the short side, with a few typos and other similar minor errors. The developers sacrified length for the quality of the art, which is simple yet lush, abstract yet accessible. The game asks a lot of you: colorblind players are sadly excluded, and even color-sighted people may have difficulty distinguishing two hues of blue. You must also have your sound on and have enough musical talent to copy back a played melody. As if that weren't enough, in order for the sudden ending to make any sense, you must already be familiar with the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. If you're willing to exert that extra effort and meet the game a little more than halfway, however, you'll be amply rewarded for your trouble.

Play Orpheus