is a first person
slideshow point-and-click adventure game. It is the second game by indie
developer Viperante, whose first game, Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting,
was released in 2012. Unlike the full-length Corrosion, The
Death of Erin Myers is short -- only 1-2 hours of playtime. It is a
short story in game form, the first of a planned anthology series.
The game begins with a simple premise: Erin Myers is dead. You, the
player, experience key moments in her life to derive what happened and
why. The story of the game is fantastically written. The tone is dark
and gritty. Characters have distinct personalities, and Erin Myers is
both interesting and relatable. The central mystery of "what
happened?" is more than enough to drive players through the course
of the story. The story itself is told non-linearly, which is unique and
works well. There is a lot of material packed into the game's short
length, with surprisingly detailed development of its protagonist.
Visually, the game works. The cold, sterile grittiness of the
environments matches the tone of the story perfectly, and I was
impressed by the quality of the visuals for a one-man indie game. The
audio is even more impressive: the music creates a distinct atmosphere,
and the sound effects are of high quality. There are no voices in the
game; all dialog must be read. Distinctions between characters are
defined by the color of text onscreen.
Where The Death of Erin Myers really shines is in its puzzles.
As in Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting, the puzzles, which are
inventory-based, are both intuitive and highly logical. Every step the
player must take to proceed is carefully laid out in such a way that the
puzzles feel natural rather than tagged on. The game is appropriately
challenging. Puzzles are never too easy or too hard. There were two
points in the game in which I had to think for a few minutes to figure
out what to do next, but it didn't take long for an idea to pop into my
head. In both instances, it turned out to be the right one.
Overall, The Death of Erin Myers is a fantastic short story
game, and I definitely recommend it for fans of dark, story-focused
adventures. For its small price tag, you can't go wrong!
