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Fade (computer game)
Encyclopedia
FADE is a point-and-click adventure game developed by the Fade Team and released for the Windows Mobile
Professional platform in 2001. The game was critically acclaimed as the first large-scale adventure game
for the platform. It is most often compared to Myst
, the first immersive
graphic adventure games for the PC
, and the games in the Zork
series.
The game was originally created in French, and was translated into English. This has resulted in some lines sounding rather awkward, and French remains in some parts of the game's dialogue. However, this has not posed a problem for many players.
The game's story is actually very complex. It has been compared to a similarly themed film, the critically acclaimed Memento.
FADE was broken up into chapters and re-released for the iPhone OS
under a different name, 1112, on November 24, 2008.
first-person
graphic adventure game along the lines of Myst
and The Journeyman Project
.
The story starts out as the player takes control of Louis Everett, a French
art dealer
, as he wakes up in his home. The player is also introduced to Anne, Louis' wife, is taking a shower at the time. This early in the story, it is learned that Louis suffers from random blackouts, and he usually has unusual dreams during those blackouts. Because of this, Louis takes medication for the blackouts.
The player soon receives a call from Félicienne, Louis' assistant at the antique shop he owns, regarding his latest client, one Mr. Belleville. Apparently, a file about a deal with Mr. Bellevile was sent to Louis, which he promptly finds in his mailbox. Louis then heads to his shop in a village called Saint Jeoire via his automobile. His wife tags along for the ride, and player is presented with an opportunity to talk to Anne along the way.
Upon arriving at the village, Louis finds Félicienne in the process of changing a broken light bulb. He helps her, yet gets rid of her after by lighting a cigarette, which she abhors. A few moments later, in his office, the player is alerted that Mr. Belleville has arrived at the shop. This apparently is the first time that Louis is to meet his client as all their previous meetings have been over the telephone. Right before meeting Mr. Belleville, Louis succumbs to a blackout.
The player regains control of Louis, now in an unknown hotel in Paris
. He has no recollection of how he had arrived, and no memory of what he was doing there in the first place. Louis finds his way downstairs and is directed by the hotel's receptionist to a bar across the street.
At the bar, Louis discovers that he has left his wallet in his room and goes back for it. Along the way, it is found that the receptionist is not at the lobby desk. A newspaper he was reading however, is on the desk, which the player may read. In the newspaper, there is a certain article about a serial killer in an area called 'Robertville sur Angeais'. It is also learned that all the killers' victims had their hearts removed with complete surgical precision. Louis then proceeds to his room, but is blocked by a chambermaid who does not want him to pass. He bypasses her by convincing a man he had met earlier in the bar to propose to the chambermaid.
After taking his wallet from his room, Louis goes back to the bar for a cup of coffee. He is directed by another man to the train
station in the town, and Louis buys a ticket for 'Robertville sur Angeais'. After a long wait for the ticket, the player finally boards the train, where Louis meets a beautiful woman in his cab. Not long after, the player is treated to another one of Louis' blackouts.
Once again, the player finds that Louis has switched locations again before awakening from his last blackout. This time, Louis finds out that he is in the house of Jean, a friend of his. Louis talks to Jean for a while, about some seeming trouble with Anne. Louis walks to his house, discovers a strange occult
symbol
painted on his mailbox, and finds that Anne is not there. Apparently, the house does not have any electricity, so the player is forced to find a flashlight in order to restore power to the house. Louis runs over to Jean's place to find it empty. He uses a fuse he finds in Jean's house (after repairing it) to restore power to his house and almost immediately, the phone rings. Upon answering it, only a faint, buzzing sound can be heard. Louis decides to ask around the neighborhood.
Surprisingly, as the player moves from neighbor to neighbor, it is apparent that the neighbors believe that Anne was a battered wife. Louis flees the neighborhood to the bus stop, then to Saint Jeoire. It is still night when he arrives to discover his shop ransacked, with Felicienne sobbing in the back. After going back and forth in the town, the player finds Louis in the house of a friend of his wife, Astrid. She gives Louis the key to the dairy that Anne apparently owns and he promptly heads there. Breaking into the cash register, he finds a tape recorder
inside, which he listens to. There appears to be a conversation between Anne and an unknown man on the tape, but the vocals aren't clear. Louis then uses a camera to take pictures of his vandalized mailbox and globe, and uses the tape recorder to record the sound emanating from his phone. But when he plays the tape again, he finds himself falling into another blackout.
Louis regains consciousness to find himself sitting on a fountain. After a few minutes of inquisitive exploration, the player finds out that Louis is now committed in a mental asylum. He is forcefully confined to his cell after an altercation with the receptionist, where he spends the night until breakfast the next day. In a scene reminiscent of the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
, the player is given the chance to converse (rather uselessly) with the mental patients. After more exploration (and an encounter with Zampano, the asylum's beefy tough guy) and interaction with the asylum's colorful residents, Louis is taken to the "doctor". He is interviewed and thrown back in his cell, where he formulates an escape plan. Louis starts a fire in one of the huts to create a distraction, which he uses to attempt an escape, but he is caught. Waking up in a heavily padded isolation cell, Louis finds the door unlocked. He eventually makes his way to an underground cavern where he witnesses a ritual
involving his wife as a human sacrifice
. Afterwards, he blacks out again.
Once again, Louis wakes up in his house, similar to the beginning of the game. Anne, once more, is not in the house. The phone then rings and Louis learns from the police that they have found Anne. To his horror, Louis finds that the police have actually discovered Anne's naked body in some woods near their home. There is some confusion, as Louis asserts that the body is his wife's, but not the girl's face. Eventually, the player finds clues that Anne is alive and well in Louis' mother's apartment in Paris
.
In Paris, Louis finds himself in the apartment that he grew up in. The player is given the chance to explore around the house. In one of the bathrooms, it is discovered that Anne was growing some marijuana
in the bathtub. He finds a notebook with names and telephone numbers of many people, including one Gisele Montfort, who he calls. She hangs up, but Louis decides to talk to her in person and heads to her house.
At Gisele's, Louis learns that his wife had been to a swingers' bar
in town a few days before. He goes to the bar, accompanied by his assistant (who apparently had come along), and meets a girl named Christine. After some more exploration, the player ends up trying to break into Belleville's house. He takes several documents from the garage and heads back to his mother's house. The phone rings again and Louis is invited over by a man named Alex. Unfortunately, upon reaching Alex's place, the player discovers that the former had somehow hanged himself.
The player is now lead to a mysterious man named St. Arman, who appears to have information about his wife. After a long conversation, an altercation ensues with some cult
members and St. Arman sends Louis off alone to conduct a particular ritual. When Louis undertakes the ritual, he blacks out.
Upon waking up, the player now finds Louis on a boat en route to the Isle of the Dead
, a painting of which was hanging in his room in the beginning of the game. There is a lot of puzzle-solving involved on the island, involving huge marble statues of Christine and Jean. Eventually, in the middle of the island is a mountain with a well in the center, into which Louis jumps.
Within is a huge cavern of lava
and brimstone, similar to the christian
vision of hell
. Belleville is in the cavern, along with Louis' wife Anne. A conversation ensues, which soon changes into an argument, which turns into open conflict. Belleville is thrown into the lava and dies, but not before mortally wounding Anne with a handgun. Anne then gives Louis a pendant
, which he places in a statue's hand which causes him to black out once more.
Louis is shocked to wake up naked in an alien room, made mostly of metal. He finds himself on some sort of space ship, and Anne is in a capsule with him. Two people break into the room and explain to Louis the truth about his experiences.
Apparently, it is the far future and Louis is part of a deep space expedition
. In order to conserve energy and survive the long travel, he and Anne have been in suspended animation
for some time now. Everything he has experienced so far is but a figment of his imagination, a side-effect of being in suspended animation. Somehow, the program controlling the suspended animation malfunctioned, and the couple could not be woken up. Anne found out the truth earlier and hoped to release Louis as well. Unfortunately, her last act of freeing Louis' mind cost her her own life.
The game ends on that note as Louis breaks down, not knowing what to believe.
(for Pocket PC) and Scrabble
.
The game was praised for the depth, addictiveness and uniqueness of its story and its highly detailed graphics, which were very advanced compared to other Pocket PC games of the time. In fact, it is regarded as one of the most beautifully rendered games for the Pocket PC.
Over the years, Fade has garnered numerous awards and recognition from many notable news sites focusing on mobile software. Fade was awarded five out of five stars by Mobile Tech Review in 2003.
In 2004, years after its release, Fade was included as one of the "must-have games for the Pocket PC" in an article on Pocket PC Thoughts.
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
Professional platform in 2001. The game was critically acclaimed as the first large-scale adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
for the platform. It is most often compared to Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
, the first immersive
Immersion (virtual reality)
Immersion is the state of consciousness where an immersant's awareness of physical self is diminished or lost by being surrounded in an engrossing total environment; often artificial. This mental state is frequently accompanied with spatial excess, intense focus, a distorted sense of time, and...
graphic adventure games for the PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
, and the games in the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
series.
The game was originally created in French, and was translated into English. This has resulted in some lines sounding rather awkward, and French remains in some parts of the game's dialogue. However, this has not posed a problem for many players.
The game's story is actually very complex. It has been compared to a similarly themed film, the critically acclaimed Memento.
FADE was broken up into chapters and re-released for the iPhone OS
IPhone OS
iOS is Apple's mobile operating system. Originally developed for the iPhone, it has since been extended to support other Apple, Inc. devices such as the iPod Touch, iPad, and Apple TV. Apple, Inc. does not license iOS for installation on third-party hardware...
under a different name, 1112, on November 24, 2008.
Gameplay
FADE is essentially a point-and-clickPoint-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
first-person
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
graphic adventure game along the lines of Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
and The Journeyman Project
The Journeyman Project
The Journeyman Project is a time travel adventure computer game developed by Presto Studios.-Gameplay:The game features a first-person perspective. The protagonist sees a display, a rectangle shaped visor . This user interface helps to reduce the movie size and maintain relatively high frame rates...
.
Summary
Fade takes place in present-day France, and the player steps into the shoes of Louis, a married Frenchman suffering from amnesia since childhood. Throughout the game, he will explore various locations and will slowly discover the truth behind the mysterious blackouts that he occasionally has.Expanded overview
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
, as he wakes up in his home. The player is also introduced to Anne, Louis' wife, is taking a shower at the time. This early in the story, it is learned that Louis suffers from random blackouts, and he usually has unusual dreams during those blackouts. Because of this, Louis takes medication for the blackouts.
The player soon receives a call from Félicienne, Louis' assistant at the antique shop he owns, regarding his latest client, one Mr. Belleville. Apparently, a file about a deal with Mr. Bellevile was sent to Louis, which he promptly finds in his mailbox. Louis then heads to his shop in a village called Saint Jeoire via his automobile. His wife tags along for the ride, and player is presented with an opportunity to talk to Anne along the way.
Upon arriving at the village, Louis finds Félicienne in the process of changing a broken light bulb. He helps her, yet gets rid of her after by lighting a cigarette, which she abhors. A few moments later, in his office, the player is alerted that Mr. Belleville has arrived at the shop. This apparently is the first time that Louis is to meet his client as all their previous meetings have been over the telephone. Right before meeting Mr. Belleville, Louis succumbs to a blackout.
The player regains control of Louis, now in an unknown hotel in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He has no recollection of how he had arrived, and no memory of what he was doing there in the first place. Louis finds his way downstairs and is directed by the hotel's receptionist to a bar across the street.
After taking his wallet from his room, Louis goes back to the bar for a cup of coffee. He is directed by another man to the train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
station in the town, and Louis buys a ticket for 'Robertville sur Angeais'. After a long wait for the ticket, the player finally boards the train, where Louis meets a beautiful woman in his cab. Not long after, the player is treated to another one of Louis' blackouts.
Once again, the player finds that Louis has switched locations again before awakening from his last blackout. This time, Louis finds out that he is in the house of Jean, a friend of his. Louis talks to Jean for a while, about some seeming trouble with Anne. Louis walks to his house, discovers a strange occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
painted on his mailbox, and finds that Anne is not there. Apparently, the house does not have any electricity, so the player is forced to find a flashlight in order to restore power to the house. Louis runs over to Jean's place to find it empty. He uses a fuse he finds in Jean's house (after repairing it) to restore power to his house and almost immediately, the phone rings. Upon answering it, only a faint, buzzing sound can be heard. Louis decides to ask around the neighborhood.
Surprisingly, as the player moves from neighbor to neighbor, it is apparent that the neighbors believe that Anne was a battered wife. Louis flees the neighborhood to the bus stop, then to Saint Jeoire. It is still night when he arrives to discover his shop ransacked, with Felicienne sobbing in the back. After going back and forth in the town, the player finds Louis in the house of a friend of his wife, Astrid. She gives Louis the key to the dairy that Anne apparently owns and he promptly heads there. Breaking into the cash register, he finds a tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
inside, which he listens to. There appears to be a conversation between Anne and an unknown man on the tape, but the vocals aren't clear. Louis then uses a camera to take pictures of his vandalized mailbox and globe, and uses the tape recorder to record the sound emanating from his phone. But when he plays the tape again, he finds himself falling into another blackout.
Louis regains consciousness to find himself sitting on a fountain. After a few minutes of inquisitive exploration, the player finds out that Louis is now committed in a mental asylum. He is forcefully confined to his cell after an altercation with the receptionist, where he spends the night until breakfast the next day. In a scene reminiscent of the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
, the player is given the chance to converse (rather uselessly) with the mental patients. After more exploration (and an encounter with Zampano, the asylum's beefy tough guy) and interaction with the asylum's colorful residents, Louis is taken to the "doctor". He is interviewed and thrown back in his cell, where he formulates an escape plan. Louis starts a fire in one of the huts to create a distraction, which he uses to attempt an escape, but he is caught. Waking up in a heavily padded isolation cell, Louis finds the door unlocked. He eventually makes his way to an underground cavern where he witnesses a ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
involving his wife as a human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
. Afterwards, he blacks out again.
Once again, Louis wakes up in his house, similar to the beginning of the game. Anne, once more, is not in the house. The phone then rings and Louis learns from the police that they have found Anne. To his horror, Louis finds that the police have actually discovered Anne's naked body in some woods near their home. There is some confusion, as Louis asserts that the body is his wife's, but not the girl's face. Eventually, the player finds clues that Anne is alive and well in Louis' mother's apartment in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In Paris, Louis finds himself in the apartment that he grew up in. The player is given the chance to explore around the house. In one of the bathrooms, it is discovered that Anne was growing some marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
in the bathtub. He finds a notebook with names and telephone numbers of many people, including one Gisele Montfort, who he calls. She hangs up, but Louis decides to talk to her in person and heads to her house.
At Gisele's, Louis learns that his wife had been to a swingers' bar
Swinging
Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...
in town a few days before. He goes to the bar, accompanied by his assistant (who apparently had come along), and meets a girl named Christine. After some more exploration, the player ends up trying to break into Belleville's house. He takes several documents from the garage and heads back to his mother's house. The phone rings again and Louis is invited over by a man named Alex. Unfortunately, upon reaching Alex's place, the player discovers that the former had somehow hanged himself.
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
members and St. Arman sends Louis off alone to conduct a particular ritual. When Louis undertakes the ritual, he blacks out.
Upon waking up, the player now finds Louis on a boat en route to the Isle of the Dead
Isle of the Dead (painting)
Isle of the Dead is the best known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin . Prints of the work were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century — Vladimir Nabokov observed that they were to be "found in every Berlin home." Freud, Lenin, and Clemenceau all had prints of it...
, a painting of which was hanging in his room in the beginning of the game. There is a lot of puzzle-solving involved on the island, involving huge marble statues of Christine and Jean. Eventually, in the middle of the island is a mountain with a well in the center, into which Louis jumps.
Within is a huge cavern of lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
and brimstone, similar to the christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
vision of hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. Belleville is in the cavern, along with Louis' wife Anne. A conversation ensues, which soon changes into an argument, which turns into open conflict. Belleville is thrown into the lava and dies, but not before mortally wounding Anne with a handgun. Anne then gives Louis a pendant
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
, which he places in a statue's hand which causes him to black out once more.
Louis is shocked to wake up naked in an alien room, made mostly of metal. He finds himself on some sort of space ship, and Anne is in a capsule with him. Two people break into the room and explain to Louis the truth about his experiences.
Apparently, it is the far future and Louis is part of a deep space expedition
Deep space exploration
Deep space exploration is the term used for the exploration of deep space and which is usually described as being quite distant away from Earth, within or away from the solar system....
. In order to conserve energy and survive the long travel, he and Anne have been in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
for some time now. Everything he has experienced so far is but a figment of his imagination, a side-effect of being in suspended animation. Somehow, the program controlling the suspended animation malfunctioned, and the couple could not be woken up. Anne found out the truth earlier and hoped to release Louis as well. Unfortunately, her last act of freeing Louis' mind cost her her own life.
The game ends on that note as Louis breaks down, not knowing what to believe.
Reception
The game was a finalist in Pocket PC Magazine's Best Software Awards in 2005, along with other renowned titles such as MystMyst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
(for Pocket PC) and Scrabble
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
.
The game was praised for the depth, addictiveness and uniqueness of its story and its highly detailed graphics, which were very advanced compared to other Pocket PC games of the time. In fact, it is regarded as one of the most beautifully rendered games for the Pocket PC.
Over the years, Fade has garnered numerous awards and recognition from many notable news sites focusing on mobile software. Fade was awarded five out of five stars by Mobile Tech Review in 2003.
In 2004, years after its release, Fade was included as one of the "must-have games for the Pocket PC" in an article on Pocket PC Thoughts.