The Berlin Apartment Preview: A short but promising start to a century-long tale

“If these walls could talk...” A common, well-known phrase, yet rarely do we get the chance to immerse ourselves in the history of the spaces we inhabit. The Berlin Apartment, while not detailing lives lived in a specific, real-life building, does tell an emotive narrative based on real events. History and fiction come together to create an experience that spans a century.

Unlock the door and step into The Berlin Apartment

That’s a lot of world-building to fit into such an experience, and while I can’t speak of the final result having not played the full game, The Berlin Apartment demo holds much promise.

Any game that has a unique art style will grab my attention, but it takes more than a pleasing aesthetic to win me over. Thankfully, there’s meat on the bones of this indie title despite the shortness of the demo; it manages to present the basic concept, setup, and mechanics of the game without overstaying its welcome. In fact, I’d have preferred a slightly lengthier playthrough.

Putting aside my issue with its length, my time with this btf developed and published title had me eager to delve deeper into the lives of those who lived in the apartment. In just a few short scenes, the colourful, and sometimes painful, history of the place comes to life. We begin in an abode decorated with plants, our character walking around the house taking care of the foliage in need of a good drink.

While you check on your plants, an unexpected delivery through an open window leads to what I can only describe as the most infuriating mini-game I’ve played. Granted, my hand-eye coordination is appalling, but controlling the paper airplane my character decided to send felt unfairly challenging. Nonetheless, while I was glad to see the back of this mini-game, I loved the way it established the setting and the difficulties the Berlin Wall represented via the conduit of a paper airplane. This innocuous item suddenly brimmed with context and meaning.

You don’t stay in this time period for long though, for after you successfully return a message to the mysterious sender beyond the wall you’re taken to another, much darker time in history. Again, you’re not initially aware of this context until small segments of the story subtly start to slot into place. The call to pack your bags; the disgruntled neighbour; the sudden rock through your window. All of these elements establish a story which uses subtlety as its greatest narrative tool.

The last snapshot of this apartment we get is from the perspective of the character who’s currently renovating it. Little pieces of the previous residents’ lives are referenced, connecting the past with the present in a full-circle moment that nicely rounds off the demo. To reference Sabrina Carpenter’s album, it’s short n’ sweet. Although The Berlin Apartment demo didn’t blow me away, it revealed enough of its story to have me interested in returning to this history-laden building upon its launch.