Oddly written and oddly atmospheric. Not a great game by any means, but still oddly appealing. That is the best way I can think of how to describe the offbeat sci-fi adventure Trüberbrook. Another way would be to describe it as a kind of homage to Twin Peaks and X-Files without crime and violence.
Hans Tannhauser arrives at a small German village of Trüberbrook after having won a trip there from a lottery he has no memory of participating in. It's a sleepy village, a former mining town, that has now turned sleepy in the cold war era Germany during the swinging 60s. There's not much to see there, a lake, a movie theatre and an inn, where Hans is staying. In a proper Dale Cooper fashion, Hans dictates his thoughts on a tape, addressing them to never seen entity, a secretary perhaps?
It doesn't sound much of a sci-fi story opening, but after Hans runs into Gretchen, a fellow scientist looking for ancient ruins, a story of dimensional portals and time travel opens up. Hans's offbeat vacation in a secluded village turns into an offbeat attempt of rescuing a traveller from another dimension and perhaps rescuing the world as well.
It's a shame, really, that the only thing that doesn't work in Trüberbrook is the writing. Visually it looks awesome with its 3D characters who live in a meticulously handcrafted miniature model world. The buildings and the settings are well built and designed and the 3D characters seem to fit right in it. The odd atmosphere is enhanced by the soundtrack. And yet, despite all the artistry that has gone into the game, the same can't be said about the script.
This is one of the cases, where I can't fully say if it's again a fault of a poorly done English translation or not - the developers are German - or if the English dialogue is intentionally the way it is. Then again, there are turns in the narrative which don't quite mesh in with the bigger whole. But anyhow, the quality dialogue is also reflected in the voice acting, as there are quite a few occasions when the actors sound like there weren't quite sure how they were meant to deliver the lines or in what situation the lines were spoken. Though, that is also a problem in direction or lack of it.
Trüberbrook has a lot of charm. It has a lot of good things going for it, the great atmosphere and the fantastic looking settings thanks to the nicely done miniature model world. What is lacks, is a well-written story and the puzzle and the game design leave quite a bit of room for improvement. I do hope, that the devs and artists who made Trüberbrook continue from here, improving upon what doesn't work here, as the style shown here has a lot of potential.
Trüberbrook can be bought for PC from GOG and Steam. You can also get it for consoles as well as Android and i-devices. I wouldn't buy it for a full price tag, but if you get it from a sale, then it's a decent experience if nothing else.
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