Cherry-picking titles has never been my thing, but sometimes I dive straight into a game without knowing anything about it. A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950, from Monkey Tale, was one such title.
It’s a quaint tale, unsurprisingly about a painter who’s a bit down in the dumps. Separated into three acts, it follows Tommaso on his trip to the underwater town of Curon, Northern Italy.
Tommaso is a bit of a sad sack, and a few times when he was moping about, I wanted there to be a button that slapped him. Even when he runs, he has the world on his shoulders. Fortunately, his life is about to turn upside down.
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 (PC Review)
Beginning in 2020, Tommaso is somehow transported to the late 1940s, leading to the event that will sink the town. Based on actual events, an artificial lake was constructed to provide power for neighbouring settlements. At first, the lake would have been raised by 5 metres, but it was raised to 22 metres without telling the citizens.
As a result, they were forced to leave their homes for make-do accommodation significantly smaller than their own home and poorly insulated. Despite their protests and the Pope’s involvement, the town was demolished and sunk, leaving only the protruding bell tower that stands today.
Tensions were high, and numerous accounts are on record from the various parties involved. A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 transports you back to the time leading up to, during and after the destruction of Curon. Is Tommaso really in 1950 Curon? Is it a dream?
The Past Is Revealing
Rebuilding his memories, Tommaso moves around the town, interacting with real-life artefacts and locations, recreated in the voxel aesthetic. I loved the direction with the camera angles, editing…show-off word – mise-en-scène. Though a brief playthrough, it had an immediate presence.
The character designs weren’t my thing. I wasn’t a fan of the garlic noses or eyebrows – perhaps The Touryst minimalist approach would have been my preference, but it’s precisely that: preference. Additionally, movement around town, notably on slopes, is clumsy. However, it’s the story that sells it.
Any game that has me diving deeper into a subject is a big thumbs up. We could pin the tail on the actual history being the fascinating element, but no: A Painter’s Tale is immersive, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent. Ignoring my preference for the character designs, Monkey Tales are raconteurs and recreate a slice of history in this voxel playground.
A Living Painting
Besides being drawn to the story and the overall poignant feeling that this game evoked, I must say that the score throughout is wonderful. It captured the emotions I was experiencing from the character’s plight, more so than if these events had happened (though the protagonist’s story is fictional). Could you imagine being forced out of your home in this manner?
For fact fans who get absorbed with the lore of a fantasy game or even historical piece, Tommaso carries around a notebook that is essentially a scrapbook of real-life facts and images, paintings in the era’s style, and sketches of the residents.
Again, it’s a short piece, but you end up taking your time exploring the town as if it were a living painting, mingling with the locals, then jumping on the internet to search ‘what is speck?’.
A Painter’s Tale Curon 1950 Review Summary
The introduction of the voxel characters put me off at first, but within a few minutes, I felt like I, too, had been whisked away to the past, taking in the sights and reflecting on the piano composition. Not only is A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 inspirational in learning about a fragment of time, but you might pick up a bit of German and Italian in the process.
