''Still Life'' is a 2005

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

by Microïds. ''Still Life'' is a sequel to '' Post Mortem''. A sequel, '' Still Life 2'', was released in 2009. The game has since sold 240,000 copies worldwide. A major theme throughout the game is art, especially the technique of

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

that the game is named after. The game also uses a storytelling device of switching back and forth between two

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...

s. The Xbox version had online support on

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

with the "Live Aware" feature. ''Still Life'' is now supported on

Insignia An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body. An insignia, which is typically made of metal or fabric, is a standalone sy ...

, a revival server for original Xbox games.

Gameplay

''Still Life'' is a point-and-click graphic adventure. Unlike its predecessor, which featured

dialogue tree A dialogue tree, or conversation tree, is a gameplay mechanic that is used throughout many adventure games (including action-adventure games) and role-playing video games. When interacting with a non-player character, the player is given a choice ...

s and first-person navigation, the player controls Victoria from a fixed third-person angle and conversations are linear in nature. A variety of puzzles must be completed to progress the narrative, which sometimes require backtracking to different stages that have been unlocked on the map. The game features no hint system, nor an objective list, but the player may find clues on to what to do and where to go next by accessing documents obtained throughout the game in the menu. Also accessible is the inventory, which allows players to keep track of items obtained and examine them.

Plot

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Special Agent Victoria McPherson is investigating a series of brutal murders in 2004

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. While visiting her father for Christmas she discovers an old notebook that belonged to her grandfather, private investigator Gustav McPherson. Victoria is surprised to learn that Gus had been involved with investigating a very similar series of murders in 1920s

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The player alternates between these two characters as they work to hunt down what seems to be the same

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

more than 70 years apart. In both cases the murderer targets sex trade workers: street prostitutes in Prague, and employees of an exclusive Chicago massage parlor and S&M club called the Red Lantern. The killer or killers are disguised in a dark cloak, top hat, and silver mask. Gus eventually identifies the man responsible for the Prague murders, but the killer escapes justice and relocates to America. Near the end of the game Victoria discovers that similar murders occurred in 1931 Chicago and later in 1956

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The identity of the 2004 Chicago killer is never revealed. Victoria encounters him several times, but never sees behind his mask. She does not believe he is the same person as the Prague killer, but rather a younger person who has been influenced by the Prague killer in some way. At the climax of the game, Victoria manages to shoot the Chicago killer, but he plunges into the Chicago river and does not surface. As the game ends, the Chicago police are still searching the river for the killer's body. Victoria plans to travel to Los Angeles to learn more about the 1956 killings. A controversy surrounding the game is its lack of an ending. Originally planned as the second of a trilogy, with '' Post Mortem'' as the first, ''Still Life'' ends without revealing the villain. The story was meant to continue in a third game, but it seemed unlikely that the finalé would ever be made, as part of the development arm of Microïds in Canada was bought out by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

. However, on December 6, 2007, Microïds announced the development of a sequel, '' Still Life 2'', which was released in 2009. On September 19, 2008 a new ''Still Life'' series website was opened, covering the three games.

Development

''Still Life'' was made with Virtools applications; the same software as ''Post Mortem'' and some other Microïds games. The point and click gameplay is also based on the first two games in the ''

Syberia ''Syberia'' is a franchise of graphic adventure games created by Belgian comic artist and video game developer Benoît Sokal. Set within an alternate universe designed by Sokal and introduced in the 1999 video game ''Amerzone'', the series is ...

'' franchise.

Reception

According to Microïds, ''Still Life'' and its predecessor, '' Post Mortem'', were commercial successes. The publisher reported combined global sales for the series above 500,000 units by September 2008. The worldwide

sell-through Sell-through is the percentage of a product that is sold by a retailer after being shipped by its supplier, typically expressed as a percentage. Net sales essentially refers to the same thing, in absolute numbers. Sell-through is calculated during ...

of ''Still Life'' alone surpassed 240,000 units by May 2009. ''Still Life'' received fairly favorable reviews from critics. Its

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scores are 75/100 for PC and 70/100 for Xbox, based on reviews by respectively 27 and 29 critics. Its

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

scores are 75.77% for PC and 68.68% for Xbox, based on reviews by respectively 35 and 31 critics. David Clayman of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

commented: "''Still Life'' is an enjoyable albeit short diversion for fans of classic adventure games. As usual, this type of game controls better on a PC and character movement feels slow and clunky with the Xbox controller."

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

's John Walker: "There's a lot that ''Still Life'' does well, but in the same way adventure games were doing things well ten years ago. There is therefore no excuse for it to not manage other basic, fundamental elements when rehashing these decade-old ideas." Shannon Hall of Just Adventure: "Anyone who loves a mystery and has an investigative mind will get many hours of pleasure from ''Still Life''." Ryan Davis, writing for

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

: "Its slavish dedication to convention will scratch the methodical, cerebral itch all diehard adventure game fans have. As a genre exercise, though, it exerts little energy to draw in new players." ''Still Life'' was a finalist for ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

''s "Best Adventure Game 2005" award, which ultimately went to '' Indigo Prophecy''. In 2011,

Adventure Gamers ''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1999 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game de ...

named ''Still Life'' the 20th-best adventure game ever released.

References

External links

Lifes original official website
- Captured by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...