Gerda: A Flame in Winter

Gerda: A Flame in Winter is an isometric adventure game released by the developers of Life is Strange and Vampyr from DOTNOD studio. Instead of supernatural phenomena known from the previous games of the Parisian developer, here we have a story taken from the annals of World War II. It was developed by the Danish PortaPlay team, which had previously delivered to the world another Second World War title - tactical Broken Lines.

Plot

The action of the game begins in early 1945, during the German occupation of Denmark. Gerda is a nurse living in a small village whose husband Anders is arrested by the Gestapo. He leaves behind only a letter asking him to deliver suspicious documents to "Sparrow".

The story presented in Gerda: A Flame in Winter is to be based on actual events from the chronicles of the Danish resistance fighting against the German occupation in the last year of World War II.

Game mechanics

Gerda: A Flame in Winter uses an isometric view and - true to DONTNOD's tastes - is an adventure game focusing on the story, which is shaped by the choices we make throughout the game: In conversations with NPCs or by collecting items and so-called "relations points". Our decisions will eventually lead Gerda to one of several endings.

The heroine also has a handful of skills developed along with the progress in the game. However, here abilities are not talents or specializations, but Gerda's personality - each character trait opens new possibilities.

Technical aspects

The graphics of Gerda: A Flame in Winter has little to do with realism - the creators were inspired by impressionist paintings from Scandinavian countries. So we have strongly contrasting colors and blurred contours of objects, which makes the whole thing look as if we were watching a moving painting.