Wednesdays Releases
Family Friendly Gaming News
Paris, March 26th in the year of our Lord 2025 -
ARTE, The Pixel Hunt and Pierre Corbinais announce that Wednesdays,
a real-life game combining storytelling and management, is now
available on PC and Mac via Steam and itch.io. The demo is available
for free here.
In the form of an interactive visual novel strip and a memory trail
supported by a bright narrative, Wednesdays aims to encourage
players to question and understand for themselves the complexity of
the subject and the situation of victims of sexual violence.
Through the fragmented memories of a victim, Tim, this real-life
game combines storytelling and the management of a theme park to
raise awareness and help make amends with kindness and optimism.
A fragmented, choral narrative
Players take on the role of the victim's family and friends through
17 vignettes, as they delve into fragmented memories and unravel
memories. Florent Maurin, President of The Pixel Hunt, explains:
“Each memory is an opportunity to put yourself in the shoes of
someone close to you: a friend, a girlfriend, a schoolteacher...
We're not playing Tim or his abuser, but the people 'around' him, of
which we're all a part.”
A journey between comics and video games
Wednesdays features two graphic styles that are deliberately poles
apart, yet share the same clean lines.
Memories come to life thanks to comics writer Exaheva (Mekka Nikki,
Still Heroes): “Having already experimented a lot with interactive
comics, I was able to think about a hybrid form between what I'd
done previously and a more classic visual novel. The art direction
had to evoke an intimate comic strip, both through the colors, but
also through the framing approach, adapted according to the
vignette. I tried to have a similar approach to my work in comics,
with different staging for each memory.”
Nico Nowak (There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension) designed the theme
park, the gateway to Tim's memories: “The theme park acts as a link
between the various scenes and stages of the story. Within this
universe, the game exists, and the character played it as a child.
It had to be realistic and familiar, like a real game from the 90s,
but also consistent with the vignettes created by Exaheva. I
therefore chose to work with two dominant colors, as in the rest of
the game. This imaginary park is very nostalgic, both within the
story and for the player”, she says.
“The hardest part is not to speak up. It’s being heard.”
Beyond its clever gameplay and original art direction, Wednesdays is
also a game that has given many of its developers the opportunity to
make their voices heard, not only as video game artists and
creators, but also as victims for some of them. Pierre Corbinais,
the author, adds: “I don't have many answers to give on the subject
of child sexual abuse, but I hope I succeed in raising a lot of
questions.”
No word on a physical copy version of this
product on this system(s)
in the US at this time.
Families are required to pay for Internet usage fees to download
this game. For more information click
here.
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