Faded Stars

Wandering through the central sectors and studying the recent innovations of past years, I unexpectedly found myself in 2004. This is where the modest and charming woman began her journey Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet - an ode to a dying world and an endless longing for those days that can no longer be returned. Debates about the artistic value of kinetic short stories are still ongoing, but I personally liked the course of history, which cannot be influenced in any way.

Humanity has reached its limit. Long years of uncontrolled mining, pollution of the world's oceans and a crazy arms race have led to horrific consequences. Scientists, seeing the world choking in blood and sewage, began frantically looking for a way out of the current situation, but everything was in vain. The last ray of hope faded away along with the message about the failure of the space program for the colonization of distant planets, and numerous nuclear explosions put an end to the history of mankind. However, this could not stop the sprouts of life that made their way through the ruins of cities. People who survived the disaster became residents of underground shelters and surviving buildings. While hiding from military robots and radiation, they made a living by collecting junk and artifacts that could be sold at a good price. In narrow circles they were called “garbage men” and this mention disgusted many. But if it weren’t for these desperate adventurers, many colonies would have been left without food long ago.

The hero of our story https://nokyccasinos.org.uk/review/betfoxx/ will be a nameless scavenger who was looking for loot in one of the destroyed cities. It’s impossible to say exactly who he was in a past life, but fate had battered him pretty badly - his frowning brows, gloomy face and cold gaze revealed him as a man who had experienced a lot. Carefully examining buildings for valuables, our hero accidentally came across a surviving shopping center. Its halls were filled with ruin and desolation, but the scavenger continued to climb up the stairs until his foot set foot on the roof of the building. Here in the old days there was a planetarium, where tired visitors could pass the time watching the starry sky. Now it is difficult to see it with the naked eye due to the dense haze of chemical smog that has covered the entire sky. However, the planetarium was not empty and our hero was met by a gynoid robot in the form of a beautiful girl who was a guide to the starry sky and the secrets of space. At first, irritated by her excessive chatter, our hero was about to leave these ruins, but he soon realized that he had found the last piece of that very world that had long been dead.

Planetarian is a kinetic novel where the player cannot influence the events taking place in any way and all he can do is watch the development of history. This novel has nice settings like changing the preferred font, auto-reading speed and several slots for saving progress. The flow of the story is unhurried and does not cause fatigue from the abundance of text or irritation due to the amount of water. Despite the fact that I read the novel in English, I did not have a language barrier and was able to fully study the plot. After completing the game, we will have access to a gallery with images from the novel and a set of soundtracks for personal listening.

The visuals and soundtracks gave me a strange feeling of longing and regret for bygone times. Pictures of the destroyed Earth and the abandoned planetarium hall dispel the idea of ​​​​the entertainment role of this game. The entire novel is imbued with infectious nostalgia for a bygone era, and the presentation of such simple things as the movements of stars or the rotation of planets makes us listen more carefully to the story of our unusual guide. Planetarian literally breaks the fourth wall between the player and the novel, turning the narrative into a heart-to-heart conversation. You completely forget that in front of you is just text with pictures and eagerly read the details of the plot. The lack of opportunity to influence the course of events adds tragedy to what is happening and causes an acute sense of hopelessness. As in life, here you will have to come to terms with your pain and continue on your way, accepting the outcome of events as they are.

Planetarian is a message to future descendants that it is worth taking care of your planet and caring for it as if it were your own home. Despite the fact that the novella carries a life-affirming message, longing for the past and regret for bygone times are felt especially acutely. The images of the main character and his unusual companion quickly endear you and you want to know what their acquaintance will lead to. I finished the novel in one gulp in 5 hours of leisurely reading and was impressed by what I saw. It feels like I read an excellent science fiction novel in the style of Lem or Bradbury, where the picture of a bleak future is conveyed with amazing accuracy and the living feelings of the main characters are anxiously felt. I assumed that the ending of this story could not be rosy, but the way they decided to end this story made me very melancholy. Planetarian is an impressively sized kinetic novel, but its content is comparable to a quality science fiction novel. High-quality style, vivid feelings of the main characters and the intimacy of a heart-to-heart conversation in the scenery of the apocalypse resonate sharply in the heart and are remembered after passing. A fascinating story about painful nostalgia for bygone times that can no longer be returned.