A new interactive story and puzzle title called Florence, which was created in partnership with the lead designer of Monument Valley, has now hit the Google Play Store for Android. The game actually represents the first Android app to be published by Annapurna Interactive and developed by Mountains but it looks like an intriguing experience, to say the least. That’s because unlike other games in the puzzle genre, Florence doesn’t seem to center around the gameplay to nearly the same degree as the story. Florence follows the relationship of 25-year-old Florence and a Cello player named Krish as the two grow together, fall in love, and then begin to drift apart. It’s an emotionally heavy narrative, drawn in a modern graphic novel style.
Since this is more of a novella than a full-fledged puzzle game, most of the gameplay mechanics in the title are really straightforward and simple whether the on-screen couple is flirting or fighting. Interactions involve solving basic puzzles of the classic, table-top variety, moving items around the screen to enable interactions between characters, or completing other touch-based actions. It is rated for “Everyone,” and the puzzle mechanics match that rating. The story itself is fairly short-lived but, as already stated, hits relatively hard on the emotions front. That may just be enough to make this one of the most endearing titles – or at least to earn a featured spot – over the coming months.
Games that cost money are typically judged a bit more harshly than free titles, for obvious reasons. Since Florence costs $2.99 and is really very simplistic, it might stand to reason that it wouldn’t get very good ratings from at least some users. With that said, despite its simplicity and that was only just added on March 5, Florence already enjoys a very high rating on the Google Play Store – at 4.9-stars from 237 reviews. So it may very well be worth a look for those Android users who are into easy puzzle mechanics or stories told with this kind of art-style and depth. Anybody interested can hit the Google Play store button below to check it out.
