Elsinore (video game)

Last updated

Elsinore
Elsinore Logo.png
Developer(s) Golden Glitch
Publisher(s) Golden Glitch
Designer(s)
  • Katie Chironis
  • Connor Fallon
Programmer(s)
  • Eric Butler
  • Kristin Siu
  • Duncan Boehle
Artist(s)
  • Wesley Martin
  • Valeria Reznitskaya
Engine
Platform(s)
ReleaseJuly 22, 2019
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Elsinore is a 2019 point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Golden Glitch for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The game follows the character of Ophelia from William Shakespeare's Hamlet . In Elsinore, Ophelia has a vision of the deaths of everyone in Elsinore Castle and relives the same four days again and again as she works to prevent the tragedy that will fall over everyone.

Contents

Development on Elsinore took over seven years, and was carried out on nights and weekends by its development team. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who noted that fans of Hamlet would appreciate it but that the game's slow pace could be sometimes frustrating.

Gameplay

Laertes and Hamlet duel as Ophelia watches. The journal and other ways the player can see what is happening in Elsinore Castle are found in the top left, while a map shows Ophelia's current location in the top right. Elsinorescreenshot.jpg
Laertes and Hamlet duel as Ophelia watches. The journal and other ways the player can see what is happening in Elsinore Castle are found in the top left, while a map shows Ophelia's current location in the top right.

Elsinore is a point-and-click adventure game based on William Shakespeare's play Hamlet . The player controls the character of Ophelia as she experiences a time loop leading up to the tragedy at the end of the play. [1] During the four days leading up to those events, the player moves Ophelia throughout Elsinore Castle and talks with its residents in order to manipulate the outcome of events. The conversations the player has leads to unforeseen outcomes in which tragedy still occurs in other ways—every time Ophelia dies, the time loop begins again, four days before the end of Hamlet. [2] [3]

To manipulate events, the player talks to the castle's residents about events that they have witnessed or expect to occur. The game provides a "Hearsay" menu, which shows which topics can be broached. [4] As Ophelia goes through multiple loops and witnesses scenes, she remembers these when she wakes up again and can bring them up to other characters. [4] The game includes a branching timeline that shows the player possibilities they can be aware of, showing both the location of an event to happen and the time of it. Outside of Ophelia's deaths, the game has 13 unique endings that change based on the player's choices throughout the game. [4]

Plot

The plot of Hamlet revolves around the Danish court of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Denmark fears that an invasion from Prince Fortinbras of Norway could be imminent. [5] Prince Hamlet, son of the recently deceased king and nephew to King Claudius, meets his father's ghost. [6] The ghost reveals that he was murdered by Claudius and makes Hamlet vow to avenge his death. [7] Believing him to be Claudius, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, enraging Polonius' son, Laertes. After an attempt to kill Hamlet fails, Claudius and Laertes plot to murder him in a duel by using a poisoned sword and poison in the prince's drink. [8] Ophelia, Laertes' sister, drowns [9] Hamlet returns for Ophelia's funeral and gets into a fight with Laertes. [10] Hamlet and Laertes duel, and through various means both of them die along with Claudius and Queen Gertrude. [11] Fortinbras arrives as Hamlet's heir and takes the crown of Denmark. [12]

Elsinore begins with a vision of the deaths of everyone in Elsinore Castle, similar to the play's ending. Ophelia then manipulates events to achieve a different outcome. If the player does nothing, the events unfold as in the play and everyone dies. [13] After Ophelia's first death, a time loop begins where she wakes up at the moment of Hamlet where Prince Hamlet is behaving erratically in her room. Ophelia's actions directly affect the plot in sometimes unpredictable ways. If Ophelia continually talks to people in Elsinore Castle about the supernatural dreams she has been having, the characters will send Ophelia off to an institution because they are convinced she has gone insane. [14] In order to convince Hamlet to ally with Ophelia and to have him trust her with his plot, the player must search Queen Gertrude's chambers for evidence that she was not complicit with the murder of her late husband. [14] By confronting King Claudius with evidence that he has murdered Queen Gertrude, Claudius arranges a private meeting with Ophelia and murders her.

The game enlarges Ophelia and Laertes' roles, and adds additional characters such as Othello, and Peter Quince from A Midsummer Night's Dream . Quince replaces the acting troupe from Hamlet, and is one of the few characters that is aware of Ophelia's time loop. [4] Several characters have also been adapted for the game, making Rosencrantz and Guildenstern female and Ophelia and Laertes are biracial with experience of racial discrimination. [14] [15] [16] A lady-in-waiting named Brit and a cook round out a more gender balanced cast. [14]

Development

In Hamlet, Ophelia has no agency and drowns herself at the end of act 4, making her an apt choice as the player character in Elsinore. Ophelie-Paul Albert Steck.jpg
In Hamlet , Ophelia has no agency and drowns herself at the end of act 4, making her an apt choice as the player character in Elsinore.

Team lead and writer Katie Chironis and game designer Connor Fallon originally met in Carnegie Mellon University's Game Creation Society. [13] Development of Elsinore began in 2010. [13] Chironis and Fallon originally created Elsinore as part of a game jam, scrapped the project entirely, and then decided to create it from the ground up again. [13] Chironis was inspired to make a Hamlet game by both her high school Shakespeare teacher and from the college writing classes she took at Carnegie Mellon. [13] Chironis and Fallon wanted to create a game that would have a tragic story but in an interactive medium, eschewing the "power fantasy" games that are commonly created. [18] By combining the tragedy of the play with the goal of "winning" games, the development team thought they could have a fresh take on Hamlet. [19]

Chironis and Fallon created their company, Golden Glitch, with five others that had been part of the Game Creation Society, and worked on the project during nights and weekends while keeping their day jobs. The founders received no payment until after the game went on sale, and the team's four contractors were paid from their personal salaries from their other jobs. [13] In 2015, Golden Glitch created a Kickstarter for Elsinore, which was successfully funded and raised over $32,000. [20] Despite an original targeted release date of September 2016, [21] the game was not released until 2019. [22]

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask provided inspiration for how to implement time loops in the game, and Golden Glitch drew inspiration from anime and visual novels which had many examples of time loops as a plot mechanic. [13] [23] Golden Glitch decided to focus on Ophelia as the protagonist because of her lack of agency in Hamlet. [13] [23] Her early exit by suicide in the play means that she is uninvolved in much of the action that comes later on, and it gave the development team room to try to make her a stronger character. [13] The team also decided to make Opheila a woman of color, and created her with the idea that she was of Moorish descent through her mother's line. [15] [24] The writers believed that this modification and some others allowed them to ensure that all of the characters had more fleshed out and unique storylines. [13]

Reception

Praise for the game was centered especially on the writing, and the mostly perceived success of adapting Hamlet towards a video game medium. Wired 's Julie Muncy praised Elsinore for its "beautiful writing" and "humanistic flourishes". [1] The Los Angeles Times 's Todd Martens commented positively on the game's parallels with modern experiences. [15] Polygon 's Cass Marshall compared the game positively to Long Live the Queen , but noted that unlike in that game, Elsinore's mechanics meant that progress always felt positive, praising the deep levels of character that can be explored. [14] GameSpot 's Phil Hornshaw listed the game in GameSpot's "Best of 2019: Editor's Spotlight Awards" and praised the game for being full of "well-executed ideas". [28]

Criticism for the game's long waiting periods was tempered by feelings on the overall game. Kotaku 's Heather Alexandra noted that the slow pace "wouldn't be for everyone" but felt that if players could make it through it, the game was a worthwhile experience. [29] US Gamer's Eric Van Allen noted that the waiting periods can "grate" after a while, but that the game was largely successful in creating a positive narrative experience. [26]

Accolades

The game was nominated for "Excellence in Design" and "Excellence in Narrative" at the IGF Awards, [30] and for "Best Original Choral Composition", "Best Original Song" with "Fair as a Rose", and "Best Original Soundtrack Album" at the 18th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards. [31] Elsinore won the award for "Best Adventure/Role Playing Game" at Intel Level Up 2016. [32] In 2024, Game Rant included the game on the list of the 10 Best Games Based On Shakespeare's Plays. [33]

Related Research Articles

<i>Hamlet</i> Tragedy by William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto ; the Second Quarto ; and the First Folio. Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others.

<i>Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead</i> 1966 play by Tom Stoppard

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the main setting is Denmark.

<i>Hamlet</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Laurence Olivier

Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director and the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed. Hamlet was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the first sound film of the play in English.

<i>Hamlet</i> (1996 film) Film by Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet is a 1996 British epic historical drama film serving as an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as Prince Hamlet. The film also features Derek Jacobi as King Claudius, Julie Christie as Queen Gertrude, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Michael Maloney as Laertes, Richard Briers as Polonius, and Nicholas Farrell as Horatio. Other cast members include Robin Williams, Gérard Depardieu, Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, Rufus Sewell, Charlton Heston, Richard Attenborough, Judi Dench, John Gielgud and Ken Dodd.

<i>Hamlet</i> (2000 film) 2000 film by Michael Almereyda

Hamlet, also known as Hamlet 2000, is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet as a film student, Kyle MacLachlan co-stars as Uncle Claudius, with Diane Venora as Gertrude, Liev Schreiber as Laertes, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Steve Zahn as Rosencrantz, Bill Murray as Polonius, and Sam Shepard as Hamlet's father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polonius</span> Character in Hamlet

Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, [who] is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent". In Act II, Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool" and taunts him as a latter day "Jephtha".

Laertes (<i>Hamlet</i>) Character in Hamlet

Laertes is a character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Laertes is Polonius' son and Ophelia's brother. In the final scene, he mortally stabs Hamlet with a poison-tipped sword to avenge the deaths of his father and sister, for which he blamed Hamlet. While dying of the same poison, he implicates King Claudius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Claudius</span> Character in Hamlet

King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow. He is loosely based on the Jutish chieftain Feng who appears in Chronicon Lethrense and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. There has never been an actual Danish king of that name.

<i>Hamlet</i> (1969 film) 1969 film by Tony Richardson

Hamlet is a 1969 British tragedy period drama film. It is a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, starring Nicol Williamson as Prince Hamlet. It was directed by Tony Richardson and based on his own stage production at the Roundhouse theatre in London. The film also stars Anthony Hopkins as King Claudius, Judy Parfitt as Queen Gertrude, Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia, Mark Dignam as Polonius, Gordon Jackson as Horatio, and Michael Pennington as Laertes.

<i>Hamlet: The Drama of Vengeance</i> 1921 film

Hamlet, or Hamlet: The Drama of Vengeance, is a 1921 German film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet starring and produced by Danish silent film actress Asta Nielsen. It was directed by Svend Gade and Heinz Schall. The film was shot at the Johannisthal Studios in Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Hamlet</span> Character in Hamlet

Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At the beginning of the play, he is conflicted whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two acquaintances of his from childhood. He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia (drowning) and of his mother Gertrude.

Cultural references to <i>Hamlet</i>

Numerous cultural references to Hamlet reflect the continued influence of this play. Hamlet is one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays, topping the list at the Royal Shakespeare Company since 1879, as of 2004.

<i>Hamlet</i> (Thomas) 1868 opera by Ambroise Thomas

Hamlet is a grand opera in five acts of 1868 by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

<i>Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead</i> (film) 1990 film by Tom Stoppard

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a 1990 period black comedy film written and directed by Tom Stoppard based on his 1966 play. Like the play, the film depicts two minor characters from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle at the behest of the King of Denmark.

Hamlet at Elsinore is a 1964 television version of the c. 1600 play by William Shakespeare. Produced by the BBC in association with Danmarks Radio, it was shown in the U.S. on NET. Winning wide acclaim both for its performances and for being shot entirely at Helsingør, in the castle in which the play is set. It is the only version of the play to have actually been shot at Elsinore Castle. This programme was recorded and edited on video tape and not 'filmed'. The director was Philip Saville. It was the longest version of the play telecast in one evening up to that time, running nearly three hours. A 1947 telecast of the play had split it up into two ninety-minute halves over two weeks.

What follows is an overview of the main characters in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, followed by a list and summary of the minor characters from the play. Three different early versions of the play survive: known as the First Quarto ("Q1"), Second Quarto ("Q2"), and First Folio ("F1"), each has lines—and even scenes—missing in the others, and some character names vary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ophelia</span> Character in Shakespeares drama Hamlet

Ophelia is a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultimately enters into a state of madness that leads to her drowning.

<i>Hamlet</i> (video game) 2010 video game

Hamlet or the Last Game without MMORPG Features, Shaders and Product Placement is an indie adventure game based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was developed and published by indie game developer Denis Galanin.

<i>Ophelia</i> (2018 film) 2018 film by Claire McCarthy

Ophelia is a 2018 historical drama film directed by Claire McCarthy and written by Semi Chellas about the character of the same name from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Based on the novel by Lisa Klein, the film follows the story of Hamlet from Ophelia's perspective. It stars Daisy Ridley in the title role, alongside Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, George MacKay, Tom Felton and Devon Terrell. The dialogue is in modern English.

<i>Hamlet. XXI Century</i> 2009 miniseries by Yuri Kara

Hamlet. XXI Century is a 2009 four-episode television miniseries by Yuri Kara. It is an adaptation and modernization of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

References

  1. 1 2 Muncy, Julie (August 8, 2019). "Elsinore Smartly Reimagines Hamlet with Ophelia as the Hero". Wired . Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ Wright, Steve (December 22, 2016). "Making Grand Video Game Tragedy in Elsinore". vice.com . Archived from the original on November 21, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  3. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (April 27, 2017). "Ophelia tries to save Hamlet in the alternate universe of Elsinore". VentureBeat . Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Morganti, Emily (October 25, 2019). "Elsinore review". Adventure Gamers . Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ Hamlet1.2/17 , Folger Shakespeare Library
  6. ↑ Hamlet1.4/42
  7. ↑ Hamlet1.5/11
  8. ↑ Hamlet4.7/141
  9. ↑ .Hamlet5.1/224
  10. ↑ Hamlet5.1/231
  11. ↑ Hamlet5.2/308
  12. ↑ Hamlet5.2/400
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Valentine, Rebekah (January 30, 2020). "In Elsinore, more matter is more art". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Marshall, Cass (July 23, 2019). "Elsinore revisits a classic political drama – with a time-loop twist". Polygon . Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  15. 1 2 3 Martens, Todd (August 9, 2019). "What to play: In the Hamlet remix Elsinore, Ophelia is caught in a time loop". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  16. ↑ Brown, Fraser (July 23, 2019). "Elsinore is a Shakespearean Groundhog Day". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  17. ↑ Hamlet4.7/187
  18. ↑ Rome, Emily (July 6, 2019). "Shakespeare's Ophelia gets bold new makeovers in a film and a video game". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  19. ↑ Lachenal, Jessica (May 2015). "The Mary Sue Interview: Katie Chironis and Connor Fallon on Elsinore". themarysue.com . Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Elsinore, a time-looping adventure game". Kickstarter . Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Elsinore seeks to be in Kickstarter for time-looping Hamlet reimagining". Adventure Gamers . Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Shakespearean Adventure Game Elsinore Coming in July". Only Single Player. June 4, 2019. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  23. 1 2 Ingram, Jackson (June 24, 2015). "Interview: Elsinore developer gives us new insights into Ophelia's heroic comeback". Game Skinny. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  24. ↑ Chironis, Katie (March 2, 2015). ""But It's Not Historically Accurate!" – Diversity in Elsinore". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on March 3, 2015. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Elsinore". Metacritic . Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  26. 1 2 Allen, Eric Van (July 22, 2019). "Elsinore Review". USgamer . Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  27. ↑ "2017 Indie Expo". Power of Play. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  28. ↑ Hornshaw, Phil (December 20, 2019). "GameSpot's Best Of 2019: Editor's Spotlight Awards". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  29. ↑ Alexandra, Heather (July 25, 2019). "A Game Where You Try To Prevent A Shakespearean Murder In Real Time". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Mutazione, Eliza, Untitled Goose Game Are Some of the Key Nominees for the 22nd Annual Independent Games Festival". GlobeNewswire (Press release). January 7, 2020. Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  31. ↑ Tangcay, Jazz (May 6, 2020). "'Death Stranding' Sweeps Gaming's G.A.N.G. Awards With Six Wins Including Audio of the Year". Variety . Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  32. ↑ "Hall of Glory". Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  33. ↑ Twinley, Matt (March 22, 2024). "10 Best Games Based On Shakespeare's Plays". Game Rant .
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