Broken Pieces review: an intriguing mystery let down by mediocre gameplay

If I had to encapsulate Broken Pieces in a single word, it would be unexpected. From the mysteries I unearthed to the gameplay itself, Broken Pieces is a game that subverts expectations with varying degrees of success. Set in the French coastal village of Saint-Exil, players assume the role of Elise who finds herself completely alone in the village. Not only has everyone else gone missing, Saint-Exil is now stuck outside the flow of time. Don’t worry if you’re confused already, so was I when I started.

There are several strands to this mystery. Perhaps most obviously, there’s the phenomenon which has led to the disappearance of the townsfolk. There’s also a strange murmuring coming from the ocean, plus a creepy cult to deal with. That’s not to mention the almost-crystalised evil creatures that now plague the town. Thankfully, our hero Elise was left unaffected by the aforementioned phenomenon thanks to a handy magical bracelet which also allows her to change the weather, season, and repel the crystalised evil fellas. It’s a lot to wrap your head around.

Check out the trailer for Broken Pieces below.

Created by indie studio Elsewhere Experience, Broken Pieces sounds a little chaotic on paper, but this web of mystery is actually the game’s greatest strength. You soon discover that another before you has been investigating the village’s three key mysteries, leaving you a series of tapes that push you to follow three lines of enquiry. I won’t be delving into each mystery for spoiler’s sake but I will say that what feels like three disjointed stories at the beginning soon melds into quite the intriguing tale. As I rushed from one end of Saint-Exil to the other, I lacked faith in the long-term appeal of the game but I stand corrected. Broken Pieces has a lot to wrap your head around and almost all of the game’s secrets are revealed by listening to tapes so you need to stay attentive. I would’ve liked to have seen a little more variety in how these secrets are revealed but I can safely say I was satisfied when I hit the credits and that’s important in a game of this type.

Like I said, Elise is alone in Saint-Exil so secrets are uncovered by listening to tape recordings. It’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s repetitive. There’s no mistaking that, but it also plays into the game’s Silent Hill-esque atmosphere. Elise will muse out loud from time to time if prompted, but otherwise the sleepy, hazy coastal town of Saint-Exil is a quiet, isolating place. All you have to accompany you is the sound of the seagulls or the whistling gust of the wind. It’s a very minimalist approach to audio design but Broken Pieces never felt lacking in depth because of it. In fact, the quietness helped me to identify with Elise. Listening to the tapes (and there are many) felt like less of a chore because it was a relief to hear the voice of another person. A clever move, if you ask me.

Freedom Games

My main gripe with Broken Pieces is that it couldn’t quite decide what type of game it wanted to be. On Steam, Broken Pieces is described as a psychological thriller. Over on Epic Games, it’s an action-adventure RPG. On the Elsewhere Experience homepage, Broken Pieces is a narrative thriller. There’s no denying that there’s also a big puzzler component. It’s clear when you’re playing Broken Pieces that it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. The combat encounters with the crystalised mysterious beings were few and far between with underdeveloped mechanics. The dodge function requires precision timing but you’re never quite taught what that ideal timing is. On a few occasions, I died and was gutted to find out I’d have to retread many of the steps I’d taken in solving the mystery which was infuriating to say the least. On the whole, I’m glad the combat encounters were included. You don’t know they’re coming. Instead, Elise is suddenly fenced in by a sudden battle arena and it’s a necessary shake-up to an otherwise slow-burning narrative but it’s something that would have benefitted from some extra attention.

I also was expecting Broken Pieces to be a little spookier than it was. In fact, it was rarely more than occasionally eerie which, as someone who is scared of anything remotely spooky, was a relief yet also a disappointment. Broken Pieces’ time mechanic perfectly encapsulates this missed opportunity. You have to use Elise’s watch to keep track of time as you move around Saint-Exil as you could become overrun by those pesky creatures if you stay out past 8pm. It takes a certain amount of time to visit each section of the village and then return to Elise’s home. When the idea was introduced, I expected to feel panicked at times, knowing I only had so long to reach the safety of home yet that moment never came. I could easily complete a section of the game, return home at 5pm, sleep and start afresh the next morning. It was too easy to stay safe. If Broken Pieces is to call itself a thriller, it could’ve done with making life a little more difficult for the player.

Freedom Games

All in all, Broken Pieces is a compelling mystery title that’s guaranteed to pull you in if you have it within you to overlook the fact that the game is trying to tackle too many genres at once. It’s a testament to Broken Pieces’ ambition though. The time-management and combat mechanics had the potential to add real urgency to an already intriguing tale, but lacked the refinement to truly achieve that goal. Still, I pushed on - rooting for Broken Pieces. It may not be perfect, but Broken Pieces is a promising start for Elsewhere Experience that shows that this indie studio is one that’ll surely make a name for itself in the world of narrative games.

Pros: Intriguing mystery with a satisfying conclusion, fun puzzles

Cons: Combat can be awkward, time management is too easy

For fans of: Detroit: Become Human, Life Is Strange, Heavy Rain

6/10: Good

Broken Pieces is out now on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. Code for review (PS5) was supplied by the publisher. Find a complete guide to GAMINGbible's review scores here.